Believing Game

In an unpublished essay by Peter Elbow, he discusses his believing game as an approach to life as well as an approach to writing. He challenges readers to try to believe in things, even for a moment, in which they currently do not believe. This is especially true when encountering new ideas.

He challenges his readers to use believing as a tool to test ideas. We often use doubting or skeptical thinking when encountering new ideas. Instead of looking for the "hidden flaws," look for the "hidden virtues" in new ideas and in your papers this week.

As we read our own paper during revision and as we read the work of our peers, take a moment to try to be positive and believe something good about your paper or your writing process. Have confidence in your idea before you being to revise, reword, and rethink your paper.

I believe everyone can learn to write. I believe we all have the potential to do a great job with this paper. Not matter the final grade on your paper, Believe that you are taking great steps in your learning and writing process by working so hard on this paper.

Happy Writing.

Another Successful Letter

In case you every wonder just how your current argument paper fits into your life, here is one example.

Just this week, I wrote an email (letter style) in an attempt to rectify very strange billing and scheduling being done by my son's gymnastics summer camp.

In this letter, I respectfully and firmly asked that the situation be rectified. Within minutes, the owner of the company, who I later found out was on vacation, answered my email, apologized, and offered me a free class (which I did not even suggest). This is the power of well done writing that is aware of audience, style, tone, and purpose.

Here is a copy of most of the email with names changed or blocked out. See if you can see the tone, audience and style I used.

Hi - LEFT BLANK FOR PRIVACY

I have been very pleased with Jump Gymnastics program. However, it seems we have serious payment and scheduling issues that need to be resolved.
To my knowledge I paid in full for the summer gymnastics session. However, this payment was not processed for 3 or four weeks. I am still not sure if the entire summer gymnastic class session is paid for.

Additionally, *my son* attended two days for the Healthy Body Camp, and it appears we were charged for three days. It also appears that he is signed up for a class we are not supposed to be signed up for. Perhaps I am misreading the payment schedules, but I need to know that we can take care of this matter. Also, we need to figure out a way to make payments at certain times. Payments cannot simply be taken out of the account at anytime. I prefer to pay upfront and all at one time.

I have attempted to schedule summer sessions online, in-person, and on the phone, and nothing seems to fully get the job done accurately. I am not sure how to rectify things at this point.

. . . . [Details about our attendance and issues here]

I am currently out of town. We are stuck for a few days unable to return home from vacations due to an illness. We will be back next week.

I can be reached via email or by phone at LEFT BLANK FOR PRIVACY

Thanks so much for your help. I am sure we can figure this out.

Melody

What is the last letter or serious email you wrote?

Notice that it is written like a formal letter even though it was an email.

Arguing to Save Your Life

Think about how you would argue if you had to save your life in a logical non begging fashion.

Okay, most of us don't have to argue for our lives in terms of breathing, but we do have to set boundaries everyday for how people can treat us.

Sometimes, for me, these boundaries take the form of letters. More than once in my life, I have written a letter to help get things done. I actually got one poor fellow fired, but he had been harassing me for a long time. I presented my argument in a very logical fashion backed with facts and evidence. Come to find out they had been wanting to fire him for a long time, but no one had every bothered to write a letter.

I wrote another letter this week, arguing to have the company responsible fix my air conditioner.

Sometimes these letters in life are necessary, to set boundaries, to get thing done, to protect the innocent.


Have you every written one of these letters?


Is there one you need to write?