Write On

While my heart may lie in fiction, there is no denying the power of a well written non-fiction piece. Memoirs and biographies can entice you and even academic research papers can be fascinating in more ways than one.

Non-fiction has not always spoken to me. I thought the only stories I had to tell, were those of distant fantasy worlds. It turns out, my own story has a lot of meaning. As do the stories of others. Part of my job at OSU, is telling people’s stories through spotlight articles. I get to sit down with them and talk, to find out what makes them different and then showcase them in such a way to help inspire others. It honestly has strengthened my writing and my appreciation for anyone going down the journalism path. AP style is not something that I am particularly good at, but I try.

Before working for OSU, I also worked at Odyssey Online for a semester. It wasn’t the right fit for me, but it did teach me a lot.

Academic Papers

I was that crazy student that agreed to do a thesis my senior year of college. Except, I didn’t just do a single thesis. I completed two completely independent theses with two different professors. The only thing that connected the two theses was that I was writing them.

Being a part of the honors college entailed completing a thesis, which did not scare me like it scared so many of my cohorts. Finding a professor to mentor me and even more than that, a topic, was a bit more intimidating. I spent an entire semester reading contemporary short stories and meeting with my thesis director to come up with a direction. Then in fall 2019, I started the writing process and had just a few short months to write the longest paper of my life and then defend it. The story that started it all is entitled “Ugly” by Mary Gordon and it branched out from compare works from 11 different authors.

The second theses focused on a short story by Seamus O’Kelly. I had taken an Irish Short Stories class and completed an honors contract for it, meaning I had to write an extra paper for honors credit. I had chosen to write about O’Kelly’s “The Weaver’s Grave.” After turning it in, my professor told me that if I had been a grad student, she would tell me to go further because there is practically nothing published on this author in terms of research. Even though I was an undergrad, I asked if she would continue to mentor me if I went further and she agreed.

Non-fiction Highlights