Brain Spew in Lieu of Wit

Note: This article was originally published December 12, 2020 on my now-defunct website for AMA Creative Solutions. I have completed the most minor of edits, so what you see is what was published (barring a glaring and obnoxious error). There are many, many ways to organize a resume. Looking at resume samples and advice can be overwhelming and the advice on what to include can be confusing. Here are the basics of what to include in a resume (in a US context – I’m not sure how well it translates in other parts of the world) and a simple format to get you started designing your own. So, what is a resume? Your resume acts as a summary of your work experience. It gives hiring managers and recruiters a snapshot of your experience, skills, and formal education. The detail you use and the skills you focus on can vary depending on your field and hiring level, but you generally want to highlight what you bring to a specific role. Resumes are usually short documents – not more than two pages, b...

  Note: This article was originally published August 30, 2020 on my now-defunct website for AMA Creative Solutions. I have completed the most minor of edits, so what you see is what was published (barring a glaring and obnoxious error). What even is an essay?! Essays are a non-fiction prose form that is used to explore an idea or experience. The core components are the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. More creative non-fiction essays, like you might see from David Sedaris and other memoirists, may not have a traditional structure. However, even these styles introduce the topic, often through a descriptive account of an event or memory, then use the body to explore or process the impact, and the conclusion may be a “take-away” or closing observation about the experience. Most U.S. schools teach essay writing using a “three-point thesis” model. In this structure, the writer uses the introduction to provide context for the thesis, or core argument, of the essay. The thesis ...

Note: This article was originally published July 29, 2020 on my now-defunct website for AMA Creative Solutions. I have completed the most minor of edits, so what you see is what was published (barring a glaring and obnoxious error). We are rarely taught writing warm-ups, which you spend 10 or 15 minutes on before getting into your immediate project. These warm-ups help you develop your skills, narrow your focus to what you will be working on in a session, and help build a transition point in your writing routine. One of my personal challenges is shifting from other tasks into writing, which prevents me from focusing on the words and usually leads me to work on chores (or checking social media or working on administrative work or going back to conversations or any number of other hurdles to actively writing). We are (sort of) taught how to outline and draft in school, but these are often expected to be stages of a project more than a warm-up to dive into a project. The way they are des...

  Note: This article was originally published May 17, 2020 on my now-defunct website for AMA Creative Solutions. I have completed the most minor of edits, so what you see is what was published (barring a glaring and obnoxious error). Semicolons act as a middle point between commas and periods. They can connect two closely related sentences, separate complex lists, and separate individual ideas in complicated sentences. One of the biggest complaints I hear from students about reading social theory, older literature, and philosophy is that the sentences make the ideas too difficult to follow. These writers tend to have long, winding sentences with several clauses separated by semicolons and commas. I tend to recommend using semicolons sparingly, but many writers & editors have distinct stylistic preferences and the rules can change depending on your (or your audience's) region. Here are some general rules to follow when using semicolons. As always, double-check your style guide f...

  Note: This article was originally published May 17, 2020 on my now-defunct website for AMA Creative Solutions. I have completed the most minor of edits, so what you see is what was published (barring a glaring and obnoxious error). Commas are one of the most misused (and misunderstood) punctuation marks. Not only are comma rules complicated, they also have a great deal of stylistic variation. 1. How they are used has changed over time. I love complicated sentences with many phrases offset by commas and semicolons because many of my favorite literary works are from 19th-century England. Some people prefer the shorter, more concise sentences seen in US writing since the mid-20th century. We often develop our writing styles and grammatical preferences from the writing we love, which can also cause a lot of consternation between people of different stylistic origins. 2. There is a lot of variation in regional, professional, and personal styles. Comma usage changes depending on wher...

Note: This article was originally published July 7, 2020 on my now-defunct AMA Creative Solutions website. I have made only the most minor edits in cases of particularly obvious or obnoxious grammatical errors. There are three different dashes that each have their own purpose. Hyphens are used within words to show a specific meaning. The en dash is most often used in date ranges and point scores. The em dash is a stylistic punctuation mark that is used to reflect a pronounced pause or to highlight specific information. I will be explaining how each of these types of dashes is used in general writing. As always, if you are writing professionally, double-check your organization’s style guide. Hyphens Hyphens are placed within words to demonstrate specific meanings or to show that the word continues on the next line. They are entered into a word processor by pressing the dash key (most U.S. keyboards have it placed to the right of the number row) or the minus key on the number pad. You c...

Note: This article was originally published June 10, 2020 on my now-defunct website for AMA Creative Solutions. I have completed the most minor of edits, so what you see is what was published (barring a glaring and obnoxious error). Perhaps it’s just me, but I find the colon the most mysterious of all punctuation. While we often have a general “sense” of how and where to use commas and semicolons, the colon seems to be less straightforward. They aren’t used as often in modern writing as the comma or semicolon and are most often found in citations. Regardless, colons are useful punctuation marks to draw attention to the words or phrases that follow them. Here are the general rules for using colons (and, as always, refer to your style guide for how colons are used in citations and quotations). Between two independent clauses Colons are used between independent clauses when you are using the second clause to clarify or explain what you mean in the first clause. The first letter following...

 I suppose it's fitting that I write my return post the day before Father's Day. My dad, of course, is a central figure in the creation of this blog.  For those of you just joining me on this journey, I started this project when I was in therapy. It was recommended that I start a journal, as many therapists advise. Despite my best efforts, I have never been able to maintain a personal journal. The closest I really have would be my poetry, but those are...incomplete for this purpose. So, I thought I would do better with an audience - I am a writer, after all.  This choice came with many consequences, though thankfully nothing so permanent as a lost relationship or impact on my "day" life. I do well enough of that without a public forum. I'm taking this project up with a better understanding of myself, a firmer grasp on how to discuss deeply personal experiences without being cruel to those included, and the wisdom that comes with three? five? years of hard-won grow...

I have had conflicted feelings about  positive thinking  for as long as I’ve been aware of the concept. I want to support it. There is increasing  scientific evidence  to suggest that positive thinking can improve mental health, stress coping strategies, recovery from trauma, and self-esteem. There are copious resources in  self-help books ,  therapy ,  motivational speakers , and  websites . Positive thinking proponents insist that you can change your outlook, rewire your brain, be more successful, and be healthier just by turning your frown upside down and stop thinking “cannot” and start believing “can do!” It takes some core components from  cognitive behavior therapy , in that the goal is to change how you interact with the environment and to consciously shape how you process stimuli. I use similar techniques to change my self-perception, cope with anxiety, and to help stall  catastrophizing . There is certainly something t...

I'm not entirely sure when I last did a general update, so I figured I would give you an idea of what's happening on my journey. As I've said in a few of my previous posts, I am back on Venlafaxine ER (the generic for Effexor XR). The dosage is significantly lower than I had been taking - I spent most of my adult life taking 150mg, but I'm currently on the 37.5mg dose. I have been entertaining the idea of going up to the 75mg to see if it helps my depressive episodes and nerve pain, but it's not at a critical point. As it stands, my depressive episodes are significantly shorter and less severe than they have been in my whole life. I'm able to recognize the spiraling thought patterns for what they are and have started using the tools that have been gifted to me over the years to treat myself gently. My pain levels have diminished greatly. In all honestly, my day-to-day is still between 3-5 on a 10 point pain scale, but that's a vast improvement of 5-8. My...

There are so many difficulties with mental and chronic illness, and not the least of these is how we manage them. We are inundated with advice and solutions, but a lot of it misses some of the core challenges with treatment in the first place. I want to explore some of why it's so hard to seek treatment and to keep up with it. This is not to keep people from trying medication. I want to give a voice to all of the things people who do  seek (and continue) treatment overcome. I largely focus on medications, as they're a very tangible element of treatment, but many of these also apply to therapy, exercise, and procedures (such as surgeries, hormone treatments, ect , or tms ). Do I even need help? One of the hardest parts of seeking treatment is recognizing that there might be a problem to begin with. Seeing there's a problem isn't just recognizing how symptoms are affecting you, as the ill person, or the people around you. It can be really hard to realize your ex...