On Writing and Competing Passions

     One can have a multitude of passions!  I have been reflecting on that lately.  I am now inclined to pursue more writing after being somewhat lax about my efforts to put my thoughts into this blog and other writing opportunities.  

    In following one's passions it often is necessary to get some training to be good enough to have excellence in your efforts.  In skiing I took lessons many years ago which helped me to be more accomplished in the sport.  Probably didn't take enough since I never reached the pinnacle of performance that I would like,

    Regarding writing, I have been reviewing my journey to become at least a competent writer.   However every writer should be connected to an editor.  I am delighted to have a wonderful wife as editor.  She is an excellent writer and  even taught English at one time. She edits my scribblings and makes them much better than my raw product.

   My real journey to becoming a "writer" started with my Freshman year at Syracuse University in 1952.  My writing was so poor that I was assigned to a remedial writing class for Liberal Arts Majors.   Even though I moved on to Cornell University to an Engineering Major, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The skills I picked up in that remedial class have served me well over the 72 years that have followed.  From the Freshman year at SU, I moved on to completing three degrees in engineering culminating in a Ph.D.  And remarkably, for a naive farm boy of the 1950's I was blessed with a long academic career at Cornell University.  All of this ties into developing  a smoldering passion for excellence in writing.   Writing both my Master's and Ph.D.'s theses forced me develop clarity in communication of complex subjects.   That clarity rewarded me later in my professional career with multiple research paper awards from my engineering professional society.  

    After retirement, I have enjoyed writing projects primarily connected with history.  Every once in a while, my curiosity about something has thrown me into the joy of exposition of past events that correlate with my intellectual interest in technology,  agriculture and reflections on sociological changes. Although I am mostly writing for my own satisfaction, I am  pleased to observe that some of my readers are entertained. 

    My readers, if you are not into writing, I suggest you give it a try. It can be lots of fun exploring prose and poetry to stimulate the mind and relieve stress.  Meanwhile, I think I have rambled enough, but hope this provides some insight to the possible existence of passion for writing regardless of what level of skill you attain.