Writing for a Living by Deborah Brandt of the University of Wisconsin explores the relationship between writers and their writings. For this reading, Deborah Brandt interviews 12 individuals who write for their careers. Throughout these interviews, it is evident that 12 workers are asked about all sorts of different questions—but particularly the importance of texts/readings in the workplace. All 12 of the interviews were employed for writing based positions. Brandt noted they worked in ‘knowledge making’ and ‘knowledge selling’ fields. During the reading, it was stated that regulations and organization can create a certain guideline they must follow.
When I was reading about the concern, I immediately thought of The Office. During one of the episodes, there was a scene where Michael had to do a counseling session with Toby of Human Resources. During the scene, Michael wanted Toby to sign off on the counseling session so he could be down. Toby obviously follows the guidelines in everything, so he would not allow that to happen. I was drawn to this example because of the importance of regulations in the workplace. Often times, I believe employees feel as though they do not need to know certain rules—they just want to know relevant laws for their position. As a writer, it is important that you state everything for which needs to be heard pretty straightforward, otherwise there’s a fairly good chance it can be confused. From this reading, a takeaway that I will have is that being direct is often the most safe option.
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