The PLINKY prompt of the day on September 23 is: You’re writing your autobiography. What is your opening sentence?
“Jack of all trades, Master of none and that was Fathom’s biggest regret.
From the time I was little, the one expression I heard more than any other was, “if it doesn’t work one way then try another.” This of course was typically when I would whine and complain that I couldn’t do it and my parents were usually at their wits end. This of course moved into other portions of my life and I soon became good at many different things. Normally this came from the fact I would play with something and tweak it until I got the desired result.
But alas, when I figured it out was when I would stop and go on to something completely different. My grandmother called jumping horses mid-stream. Today it would probably be considered ADD. It wasn’t though or at least not in my book. The thing was I figured out what I wanted to know that was good enough for me. And of course that whole concept continued into my adult years. By this time, I should probably call it a habit.
When I was young, I thought this was cool that I knew and could do many things. I just thought I was eclectic in my interests. Today I wish I had stopped jumping from thing to thing, just learning what I needed to know and starting the next project. I wish I really learned it, I mean from beginning to end or inside and out. Hence the Master of none.
I have heard it said that it is a plus to know a little bit of a lot of things but maybe it is just my ego talking when I want to be really, really good at a something.
How would you start your autobiography?
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September 25, 2012 at 7:30 am
Cyranette
“No one really knew me.”
September 26, 2012 at 6:17 am
Fathom
This sounds interesting especailly since my English professor was going on and on about getting to know the great writers (Hawthorne is his current lecture point) by reading thier works.
Do you think that is true? Or do you think as writers we try to keep as much of us as possible out of our writing?