Stephen Kings’ Top 20 Rules for Writers is not one size fits all, but it is very informative and has some good tips if you’re interested in becoming a writer. I read through the rules, and I thought well, this makes a lot of sense if your life’s goal is to be a writer, or if it is your occupation. The first thing I noticed about all the rules was that they are very clear, and they are geared to a specific audience, the writer who wants to improve. Some people just write for fun and then there is people like Stephen King who write as a career. One of the rules that stood out to me the most was rule 14 “Stick to your own style” I think I love this rule the most because I recently had a conversation about writing styles with a few classmates. This sounds like it shouldn’t be a rule, but many people need this advice because some writers become so inspired by other authors be find themselves writing like them. It’s one thing to be inspired but it’s a different thing to sound like a knock off or the real deal, and avid readers will know when the work is a shabby copy. My writing style is unique to me, and I don’t think I would like to copy another author’s style, I will admire and draw inspiration, but I will always use my own style.
How to Write a Cover Letter That Gets You Hired by Mulvey gives great advice on exactly what the title says, how to write cover letters that gets you hired. I was blown away by advice because I have made many of these mistakes on cover letters before. I like how the author explains that you should look at it from the employers’ point of view. I think I began to think about jobs I have applied for in the past, I was essentially asking for the employer to pick me out of all the people who might have been more qualified, why would they pick me. After reading this post I understood why they didn’t choose me for the job. Outside of not having any prior experience, I pitch myself as a burden to the company. I would potentially be a new employee with a lack of experience and would require company time and resources to train me. I never thought of looking at it from the employer’s perspective, and I am glad I did.
Professionally this article have given me confidence when I am ready to write a cover letter for a specific job, and I will be purchasing the book to learn more about the topic. Writing the Conventional Resume by Joe Schall delves into the structure of the resume. It breaks down the resume into smaller sections and give you an understanding of where things should go to keep the structure. It talks about the objective and that it should include a statement that is specific to the job which you are applying for. He mentions to avoid generic statements like “challenging position” . Joe Schall gave very detailed information on how to write a resume for a specific job and I find this article very useful because of how easy it was to read and how useful this information will be many years from now.
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