"How to Become a Writer"

"How to Become a Writer" is a witty short story by Lorrie Moore with a lot of panache.  In it she discusses the journey it takes to become a successful writer.  At the beginning she describes how her mother would disapprove of her writing as a child, and as she grew up her teachers would also criticize her writing for having no plot.  I found it amusing that "How to Become a Writer" also doesn't have a plot, which shows that she didn't stray from the kind of writer she was in high school and college.  Moore was never obsequious; she was always herself around people and she told things how they were.  She describes how she used to write about real-life situations, but with a bold twist.  This story embodies this type of writing as well, which shows that she was resilient toward the negative comments of her peers and teachers and instead of giving in to what others wanted her to do she stayed true to herself.

Moore also discusses how she was never completely confident in her decision to become a professional writer.  She took sinecure jobs throughout her life to pay the bills, and she took a variety of courses in college, but she always came back to writing.  This is because writing always piqued her curiosities about life and helped her to work out any problems she confronted.  In the end, she implies that she is happy with her career choice because she is doing something different everyday.