Tomorrow is testing day. I was reading ‘A Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry today and I got to the part where Maneck meets the proofreader on the train. Maneck compliments him by saying he talks like a poet and the proofreader says:

And why shouldn’t I? For twenty-four years, the triumphs and tragedies of our country quickened my breath, making my pulse sing with joy or quiver with sorrow. In twenty-four years of proofreading, flocks of words flew into my head through the windows of my soul. Some of them stayed on and built nests in there. Why should I not speak like a poet, with a commonwealth of language at my disposal, constantly invigorated by new arrivals?

I thought to myself: that’s what I need for tomorrow: a ‘commonwealth of language’. If I could write like the proofreader in Mistry’s book, I wouldn’t be worrying nearly as much. Then it made me wonder: is it possible to lose an ‘aptitude for writing’ (the main requirement for entry in to The Program)? If someone who had such an aptitude stopped reading for a month, would they have less of an aptitude? And is it possible to ‘cram aptitude’? Could I finish Mistry’s book tonight, and then absorb more aptitude for writing because I put more ‘language at my disposal’? I guess the best thing is to just do it rather than sitting here writing about it. Then again, if this is what I’m going to be doing tomorrow I might as well do more of it, right?

I don’t think public relations and communications is about being able to speak like a poet. It’s about saying what needs to be said clearly. Especially after reading Gary Schlee’s blog post on news releases (FYI I also found (through Gary’s blog) a blog by PR student Megan Ramsay, where she debunks PR myths… an industry newbie must read). So it looks like I won’t need to perform scribal gymnastics to get in to The Program. I’ll just have to say it plain.