Writing

A TRANSFORMATIVE OPPORTUNITY: a 2nd Life "Writing: a 2nd Life" is a guide to prepare aspiring writers to learn the basics of the trade while they are too busy to commit to a writing avocation. The author, Donn Doyle, was adjunct faculty in communications subjects, at two colleges in Connecticut, MBA graduate school, University of Bridgeport; and undergraduate students at Sacred Heart University, in Fairfield, both in Connecticut. At the latter college he was part of an innovative program upgrading Creative Writing and English vocabulary and punctuation for incoming freshmen. "To improve writing skills for application to all four years. Before retirement he was in the American Studies graduate program at Fairfield University and had been a member of the college's writing workshops for a number of years. With retirement he initiated a Creative Writing program at The Villages in North Central Florida, in conjunction with Lake Sumter Community College, where he also taught. His career spanned newspaper writer, reporter, editor and corporate and community communication programs and public relations for General Electric, Anaconda Industries, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) Metals, as well as consulting services as an ad agency VP for business and community service organizations, including the Boy Scouts and United Fund. "A 2nd Life" is structured for the aspiring writer to spend about two-hours a week exploring the people, places and activities essential to developing the senses: see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. To observe and contrast those in various settings, and with groups and individuals. Participants can begin the journey toward writing, knowing many friends appreciate their keen sense of life, an eye for detail, and an ability to put into words things others envy. Bit by bit the kernels of wisdom that writers require for good writing are self-learned, but lacking only the opportunity to sit at a desk writing by hand their innermost thoughts, for a memoir. And, when time permits they will have mastered the elements to write good -, better -, best, as they progress at their own pace. "2nd Life" will take them to familiar places as they visit anew, for the first time with a mission, and eagerness to dig deeper into people's motivations. Places will no longer be just with a view of wonderful sights, blurred by day-to-day living. What was once just a fleeting scene whisking past a car windshield, or sidewalks now with people to observe at a bus stop, or a winter landscape already past before a smart phone could capture its beauty. Journaling the fruit of each week's collected insights is a journeyman's (or woman's) road map to a story not yet unearthed. Capturing the personality and style of a person and comparing how each differs, opens wide vistas where character creation, and depth to scenes of early life with playmates and adults exhibit characteristics and thoughts that contribute to a growing wealth of knowledgeable and information. All this can be expanded, revised, and with the genius of the individual will be projected into a story to captivate relatives, as memoir. And, when the spirit so dictates, can easily be elevated to short story, and with practice and dedication could rocket to a novel. The ability to project the possibility of story is the critical aspect of this guide. The beauty is that it all comes to the emerging writer. Next comes a transformation by the person who takes the challenge to do what she knew could be done. She changes from a casual observer to an insightful writer, in less time than most people might expect. Individual effort determines that portion of the project proposed in a "a 2nd Life" that has created a new, better being, able now to share what was once shrouded in her mind because she knew not where, or how, to look for the things a writer needs to be a writer.
About the Author: Donn Doyle was adjunct faculty at colleges during a writing-related career at universities, Fortune 500 companies, and from 2002 to 2010 taught creative writing at "The Villages College" in an 80,000-population retirement community in North Central, Florida. He was a newspaper reporter and editor, edited business publications for employees and management and for 11 years taught management communication courses in an MBA graduate program. Doyle's assignments ranged from speech writing, crisis communication, community and public relations, and corporate training programs for companies including General Electric, Atlantic Richfield, and Motorola, in Connecticut, Illinois, and Seattle, WA.