Writing Styles

When Jay and I were dating in the summer of 1996, we took a spring term technical writing class together at BYU. We both needed to fulfill an advanced English writing requirement and English316 was the class most science and engineering majors took. (As Jay was a Spanish major, I'm pretty sure he could have fulfilled the requirement by taking a much more fun class but I think taking a class with me was lure enough). For one project, we were instructed to pair up (happy coincidence for us) and write a paper together as a lot of technical writing is done in teams. We spent a lot of time in the library researching and finding articles in academic journals to copy in the copy center and take home to highlight. Once we were both on the same page, we set about actually writing the paper.

Have you ever tried to write something with another person? I think they should have it be a part of any marriage prep class to truly find out if two people are compatible and can work together. Well, maybe not since we aren't very compatible co-authors but have a great marriage. But it was an excellent exercise for developing patience and flexibility. Jay is a great writer, a better writer than me, but we have vastly different styles. He thinks my writing is a bit frou frou (not to mention wordy) and some of his phrases sounded stuffy and uncomfortable to me. We have different work ethics. I like to procrastinate and then work for hours straight getting something done and he likes to take a lot of breaks throughout the entire process. We didn't actually say those things to each other because we were still in that starry eyed stage of our new love but I remember coming home from a class to see what progress he had made on his part of the paper and finding him playing solitaire on the computer during one of his breaks. I remember being annoyed when he wanted to delete some of my carefully worded sentences. I remember thinking that we should never write anything together again.

I've mentioned before how I love the Christmas letter. Some techniques I enjoy more than others (no offense, but I don't love letters written from the dog's perspective) but I always appreciate some information and a note more than a simple "Love...so and so". I think the best ones include the good times as well as some of the bad. Keep it real, you know?

I always write the Christmas letter. This year, I asked Jay if he wanted to write our letter and he accepted the challenge. Several times since then, he's asked me what I want him to write about but I think that misses the point. If he's going to write it, it should be completely from his perspective.

Weeks passed and no Johnson Christmas letter had been made. About to take over, I asked if he still wanted to do it and he immediately typed out a draft last night. It reminded me of our first exposure to each other's writing. He said I had full editorial power and could change or add anything. I read it.. What about our trips? Projects to the house? It's great...but not how I would have written it. But wasn't that the whole point? It's hard to let go of control over something that I love but I hope everyone enjoys Jay's version of things.