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May 4, 2023

How to introduce yourself in an email with 14 samples and a template

Learn how to introduce yourself in an email as a new employee for a job, to clients, team, colleagues, or business partners with the help of our self-introduction email samples.

Lawrie Jones

Table of contents

Self-introduction email format

Imagine you've started a new job, and nobody knows who you are and what you do. An introduction email is an essential ice-breaker and a great way to kick off your time at a new company.

Introduction emails are essential if you're taking on a new account or working with a new contact at a business.

As well as saying hi, introduction emails are a way to clarify any details to avoid confusion or embarrassment. For example, you can share pronouns to ensure everyone understands who you are and how you want to be addressed.

Here are the essentials of the self-introduction email format ...

1. Self-introduction email subject line

The subject line for email introducing yourself is critical, as it's the first (and potentially only) thing your recipient will see.

Unless it's compelling, it'll be ignored. (Don't worry if you get no response, here's how to send a reminder email or a follow-up email .)

How do you create a great introduction email subject line? Here are a few examples:

• Introduction from <name>
• Hello from <name> at <organization>
• A quick hello
• Request to chat
• Interested in opportunities

Let's put this into practice and build an example:

2. Self-introduction email body

Your recipient has clicked the message and opened it. Start by delivering a personalized greeting with the person's name, if possible. Then get to the point and introduce yourself!

If someone has already made an intro between you and someone else, you don't necessarily need to give too many details here (and if you do, remove the CC ).

Here are some suitable opening email phrases include:

• Let me introduce myself
• First, let me introduce myself
• Please allow me to introduce myself
• I wanted to introduce myself
• I would like to introduce myself through email

We can build our example message out some more...

3. How to end an email introducing yourself

They know who you are and why you're emailing, so it's time to end. You can add contact details or another call to action (CTA). Always add a sign-off and include your signature.

Before signing off and sending your email introduction, proofread it and ensure you've included everything – including your critical contact details.

Here's the final instalment of our example to show you how it's done...

If you're struggling with formatting emails or writing professional emails, check out our other guides, including how to write professional emails .

15 email introduction examples

Constructing introduction emails should be easy if you follow the principles above.

When in doubt, you can use these professional self-introduction email examples. Remember that intro emails sent inside your company to colleagues can have some personality.

But, when communicating as a manager or externally with clients or customers, focus on being formal!

1. Self-introduction email to colleagues sample

This self-introduction email to colleagues is short and easy to understand. There's not much personality on show here, but the core of the message is there.

It's ideal to send it to an email list, for example. On the other hand, if you send this to individuals, take the time to personalize it a little (or a lot).

2. Introduce yourself to a new team email sample

The example above is a pretty anonymous email you could send to anyone. When introducing yourself to team members, it's a good idea to outline your skills and experiences.

You'll want to be positive and make a great first impression, as these are the people you'll be working with every day.

How do you do that? Check out this email to introduce yourself to a new team member example.

3. Self-introduction email sample on the first day of work

Ahh, that first day of work feeling where you don't know anyone, what you'll be doing, or even where you're sitting.

This intro email (you can also send it on Slack or another messaging tool you may use) is set-up to connect with colleagues as soon as you arrive. Don’t be a stranger!

4. Sample email to introduce yourself to someone you've never met

We all know that cold emailing can be intimidating. There's the fear of failure and rejection. But in our experience, most people are polite and cheerful (the ones worth working with, anyway!).

This sample demonstrates how to introduce yourself in an email to someone you've never met before.

5. Sample email introducing yourself as a new manager

As a manager, you're in charge of a team and need to lead from the front. You'll want to appear professional and focused but also want to show some personality and appear approachable. You're the boss, so build an email that suits your personality and style – but here are the basic building blocks.

6. How to introduce yourself in an email for a job

You must be careful when sending an email to introduce yourself for a job, as you need to hit the right tone. Be confident but not arrogant.

When planning out how to write an email introducing yourself for a job, think about what the other person is looking for. You can use the job advert for some strong ideas about what they're searching for.

Be formal, use a full name if possible, and always check it for grammar and spelling before sending, and don't forget to attach a resume . 

7. New employee self-introduction email sample

When joining a new company, it's common to send a first-time introduction email to your colleagues or your boss .

Your new employee self-introduction email may go to your department or directorate. Still, in some cases (for senior roles), it may include the entire organization. In this example, the self-introduction email is going out to a large group, so we're keeping it light on details. 

Here's a new employee self-introduction email sample that you can adapt and use on your first day at work. 

8. Self-introduction email to team

A self-introduction to a team is likely to include more specifics and details than a general email. These are the people you'll be working with daily, so it's worthwhile giving them more information. As part of your organizational induction, you'll likely meet with these people, so being as enthusiastic is encouraged.

9. Self-introduction email to client

If you're wondering how to introduce yourself in an email to clients, we're about to show you. When introducing yourself to a client, it's important to follow the established rules, express enthusiasm, and be optimistic for the future.  

We describe how to introduce yourself in an email to existing clients who have a relationship with your business and new ones you begin working with. In this self introduction email to client template, we're contacting someone to request a meeting.

10. Self-introduction email to new clients

A self-introduction email to new clients can establish a solid start to your relationship. When deciding how to introduce yourself in an email to a new client, we suggest being polite and keeping things short, giving them the initiative to continue the conversation.

11. Business email introducing yourself

A self-introduction email to business partners or potential contracts should focus on the detail and encourage them to contact you. In this example of how to introduce yourself in a business email, we provide a short and snappy intro without delving too far into the detail. 

12. Official introduction email sample

The ability to formally introduce yourself over email is necessary when writing to official figures, such as politicians or Government officials. Formally introducing yourself in an email is a more acceptable form of correspondence than a phone call and more immediate than sending a letter.

In this example of how to introduce yourself formally in an email, we provide a standard format and template for you to follow before you make your request .

13. Professional self-introduction email sample

Writing a professional introduction email is an essential skill for anyone who is employed. When deciding how to professionally introduce yourself in an email, we recommend following the rules and conventions of formal writing.

In this example of how to write a professional email to introduce yourself, we give you a pretty standard approach. 

14. Personal introduction email

In this personal introduction email, we strike a friendlier and more casual tone. Of course, it's entirely up to you whether you want to be this informal.

Still, in certain situations, it can be appropriate. For example, if a colleague or a friend has introduced you to someone already, just say thanks and keep it casual.

Here's one example of an informal personal introduction email.

Checklist for introducing yourself in an email:

By now, you should understand how to put together great introduction emails. If you need a reminder of the essentials, here's a checklist for introducing yourself in an email.

• Use a clear and concise subject line
• Start with a friendly greeting
• Introduce yourself and explain the purpose of your email
• Briefly describe your professional background and skills (optional)
• Mention any relevant qualifications or certifications (optional)
• End with a call-to-action or request for further communication (it's optional but definitely worth considering).
• Proofread and edit your email before sending

Self-introduction email template

The samples above are an essential primer, but you can use the template below as the basis for building your own introduction emails.

Work through the template from top to bottom and fill in the gaps. The customizable template can be cut, pasted, and adapted for almost an purpose.

Pssst. Here's a secret. You can use Flowrite to supercharge your self-introductions. Test it out here:

‍ Flowrite is an AI writing tool that turns your instructions into ready-to-send emails and messages. If you're still struggling to find the right words for introducing yourself by email, Flowrite can help you get started and offer some inspiration.

The next time you need to write a self introduction email just keep our samples in mind or pick up Flowrite to introduce yourself with confidence.

Let me introduce the conclusion…

It's been a pleasure guiding you through the fundamentals of creating engaging introduction emails.

The important thing is to ensure you stick to the structure and include all the information required. There's no need to be creative.

Just cut straight to the point and say who you are and why you're messaging — it's the ideal introduction.

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50 Inspiring Examples: Effective Self-Introductions

By Status.net Editorial Team on September 22, 2023 — 21 minutes to read

• Structure of a Good Self-introduction Part 1
• Examples of Self Introductions in a Job Interview Part 2
• Examples of Self Introductions in a Meeting Part 3
• Examples of Casual Self-Introductions in Group Settings Part 4
• Examples of Self-Introductions on the First Day of Work Part 5
• Examples of Good Self Introductions in a Social Setting Part 6
• Examples of Good Self Introductions on Social Media Part 7
• Self-Introductions in a Public Speaking Scenario Part 8
• Name-Role-Achievements Method Template and Examples Part 9
• Past-Present-Future Method Template and Examples Part 10
• Job Application Self-Introduction Email Example Part 11
• Networking Event Self-Introduction Email Example Part 12
• Conference Self-Introduction Email Example Part 13
• Freelance Work Self-Introduction Email Example Part 14
• New Job or Position Self-Introduction Email Example Part 15

Whether you’re navigating a job interview, networking event, or simply meeting new people, the way you introduce yourself sets the tone for the entire interaction. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll equip you with the essential tools and techniques to confidently and effectively introduce yourself in any situation, leaving a lasting and positive impression.

Part 1 Structure of a Good Self-introduction

• 1. Greeting and introduction: Start by greeting the person you’re speaking to and introducing yourself. For example, “Hi, my name is Jane. Nice to meet you!”
• 2. Brief personal background: Give a brief overview of your personal background, such as where you’re from or what you do. For example, “I’m originally from California, but I moved to New York a few years ago. I work in marketing for a tech company.” Related: 10 Smart Answers: “Tell Me About Yourself”
• 3. Professional experience: Highlight your relevant professional experience, including your current or previous job titles and any notable achievements. For example, “I’ve been working in marketing for about 5 years now, and I’m currently a Senior Marketing Manager at my company. Last year, I led a successful campaign that resulted in a 20% increase in sales.” Related: How to Describe Yourself (Best Examples for Job Interviews)
• 4. Skills and strengths: Mention any skills or strengths that are relevant to the conversation or the situation you’re in. For example, “I’m really passionate about data analysis and using insights to inform marketing strategy. I’m also a strong communicator and enjoy collaborating with cross-functional teams.” Related: 195 Positive Words to Describe Yourself [with Examples] 35 Smart Answers to “What Are Your Strengths?” What Are Your Strengths And Weaknesses? (Answers & Strategies)
• 5. Personal interests: Wrap up your self-introduction by mentioning a few personal interests or hobbies, which can help to humanize you and make you more relatable. For example, “In my free time, I love hiking and exploring new trails. I’m also a big fan of trying out new restaurants and cooking at home.”
• Related: Core Values List: 150+ Awesome Examples of Personal Values Best Examples of “Fun Facts About Me” What Are Your Values? How to Discover Your Values

Part 2 Examples of Good Self Introductions in a Job Interview

When introducing yourself in an interview, you should be confident, clear, and knowledgeable. Maintain eye contact, speak with a steady tone, and be concise. Prepare your introduction beforehand to avoid stumbling or getting too wordy. Try to cover these aspects:

• Current or most recent position/job
• A relevant accomplishment or strength
• Why you are excited about the company or role

Templates and Scripts

“Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I recently worked as a [Your Most Recent Position] at [Company/Organization]. I successfully managed a team of [Number] members, achieving a [Relevant Accomplishment or Growth]. I’m excited about the opportunity at [Interviewer’s Company] because [Reason Why You’re Interested].”

“Hi, I’m [Your Name], a [Current Job Title or Major Accomplishment]. I’m passionate about [Relevant Industry or Skillset] and have a proven track record of [Specific Result or Achievement]. I believe my skills and experience make me well-suited for this role at [Company], and I’m excited to explore how I can contribute to [Company Goal or Project].”

“Hi, my name is Jane Doe, and I’m the Assistant Marketing Manager at ABC Corp. I recently implemented a successful social media campaign, which increased engagement by 30%. I’m thrilled about the possibility of working with XYZ Inc. because of your innovative marketing strategies.”

“Hello, I’m John Smith, a financial analyst with five years of experience in the banking industry. I’ve consistently exceeded sales targets and helped my team win an award for excellent customer service. I’m excited to join DEF Ltd. because of your focus on sustainable and responsible investing.”

Remember to tailor your introduction to the specific interview situation and always show enthusiasm for the position and company. This will show the interviewer that you are the right fit.

Related: How to Describe Yourself (Best Examples for Job Interviews)

Part 3 Examples of Good Self Introductions in a Meeting

General tips.

When introducing yourself in a meeting, consider these tips:

• Start with a greeting: Begin with a simple “hello” or “good morning.”
• State your name clearly: Don’t assume everyone knows you already.
• Mention your role in the company: Help others understand your position.
• Share relevant experience or accomplishments: Give context to your expertise.
• Be brief: Save detailed explanations for later conversations.
• Show enthusiasm: Display interest in the meeting and its objectives.
• Welcome others: Encourage a sense of connection and camaraderie.

Here are some templates and scripts to use when introducing yourself in a meeting:

• Basic introduction : Hi, I’m [Name], and I work as a [Your Role] in the [Department]. It’s great to meet you all.
• Involvement-focused : Good morning, everyone. I’m [Name], [Your Role]. I handle [Responsibility] in our team, and I’m looking forward to working with you on [Project].
• Experience-based : Hello! My name is [Name] and I’m the [Your Role] here. I’ve [Number of Years] of experience in [Skills or Industry], so I hope to contribute to our discussions during the meeting.

Here are some examples of self-introductions in different scenarios:

• New team member : Hi, I’m [Name]. I just joined the [Department] team as the new [Your Role]. I have a background in [Relevant Experience] and am excited to start working with you on our projects!
• External consultant : Hello everyone, my name is [Name], and I’m here in my capacity as a [Your Role] with [Your Company]. I specialize in [Skill or Industry], and I’m looking forward to partnering with your team to achieve our goals.
• Guest speaker : Good morning, I’m [Name], a [Your Position] at [Organization]. I have expertise in [Subject], and I’m honored to be here today to share my insights with you.

Related: 10 Smart Answers: “Tell Me About Yourself”

Part 4 Examples of Casual Self-Introductions in Group Settings

Template 1:.

“Hi, I’m [your name], and I’m a [profession or role]. I love [personal hobby or interest].”

“Hi, I’m Emily, and I’m a pediatric nurse. I love gardening and spending my weekends tending to my colorful flower beds.”

“Hello, I’m Mark, and I work as a data analyst. I love reading science fiction novels and discussing the intricacies of the stories with fellow book enthusiasts.”

“Hey there, I’m Jessica, and I’m a chef. I have a passion for traveling and trying new cuisines from around the world, which complements my profession perfectly.”

Template 2:

“Hey everyone, my name is [your name]. I work as a [profession or role], and when I’m not doing that, I enjoy [activity].”

“Hey everyone, my name is Alex. I work as a marketing manager, and when I’m not doing that, I enjoy hiking in the wilderness and capturing the beauty of nature with my camera.”

“Hello, I’m Michael. I work as a software developer, and when I’m not coding, I enjoy playing chess competitively and participating in local tournaments.”

“Hi there, I’m Sarah. I work as a veterinarian, and when I’m not taking care of animals, I enjoy painting landscapes and creating art inspired by my love for wildlife.”

“Hi there! I’m [your name]. I’m currently working as a [profession or role], and I have a passion for [hobby or interest].”

“Hi there! I’m Rachel. I’m currently working as a social worker, and I have a passion for advocating for mental health awareness and supporting individuals on their journeys to recovery.”

“Hello, I’m David. I’m currently working as a financial analyst, and I have a passion for volunteering at local animal shelters and helping rescue animals find their forever homes.”

“Hey, I’m Lisa. I’m currently working as a marine biologist, and I have a passion for scuba diving and exploring the vibrant underwater ecosystems that our oceans hold.”

Related: 195 Positive Words to Describe Yourself [with Examples]

Part 5 Examples of Good Self-Introductions on the First Day of Work

On your first day of work, it’s crucial to make a good impression with a well-crafted self-introduction. Keep it brief and concise, focusing on your name, role, and background. Make sure to smile, maintain eye contact, and exude confidence. It’s fine to share a little about your personal life, but avoid oversharing.

Here are some templates and scripts to help guide your self-introduction:

• Simple Introduction : “Hi, my name is [Your name], and I’m the new [Your position] here. I recently graduated from [Your university or institution] and am excited to join the team. I’m looking forward to working with you all.”
• Professional Background : “Hello everyone, I’m [Your name]. I’ve joined as the new [Your position]. With my background in [Your skills or experience], I’m eager to contribute to our projects and learn from all of you. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.”
• Personal Touch : “Hey there! I’m [Your name], and I’ve recently joined as the new [Your position]. On the personal side, I enjoy [Your hobbies] during my free time. I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you and working together.”

Feel free to tweak these scripts as needed to fit your personality and work environment.

Here are some specific examples of self-introductions on the first day of work:

• “Hi, my name is Alex, and I’m excited to be the new Marketing Manager here. I’ve been in the marketing industry for five years and have worked on various campaigns. Outside of work, I love exploring new hiking trails and photography. I can’t wait to collaborate with you all.”
• “Hello, I’m Priya, your new Software Engineer. I graduated from XYZ University with a degree in computer science and have experience in Python, Java, and web development. In my free time, I enjoy playing the guitar and attending live concerts. I’m eager to contribute to our team’s success and learn from all of you.”

Related: Core Values List: 150+ Awesome Examples of Personal Values

Part 6 Examples of Good Self Introductions in a Social Setting

When introducing yourself in a social setting, it’s crucial to create a positive impression. Keep your body language open and approachable, maintain eye contact, smile, and project confidence. Start with a greeting and follow up with your name. Share something interesting or unique about yourself to engage others in conversation, but avoid oversharing or dominating the conversation. Listen actively and show interest in others, asking questions and seeking common ground.

Here are some templates and scripts to help with your self-introduction in various social settings:

Casual gatherings: “Hi, I’m [Name]. Nice to meet you! I’m a huge fan of [hobby]. How about you, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?”

Networking events: “Hello, I’m [Name] and I work as a [profession] at [company]. I’m excited to learn more about what everyone here does. What brings you here today?”

Parties at a friend’s house: “Hi there, my name is [Name]. I’m a friend of [host’s name] from [work/school/etc]. How do you know [host’s name]?”

Here are some examples of self-introductions in various social settings:

• Casual gathering: “Hey, my name is Jane. Great to meet you! I love exploring new coffee shops around the city. What’s your favorite thing to do on weekends?”
• Networking event: “Hi, I’m John, a website developer at XY Technologies. I’m eager to connect with people in the industry. What’s your field of expertise?”
• Party at a friend’s house: “Hello, I’m Laura. I met our host, Emily, in our college photography club. How did you and Emily become friends?”

Related: Best Examples of “Fun Facts About Me”

Part 7 Examples of Good Self Introductions on Social Media

When introducing yourself on social media, keep it concise, personable, and informative. Showcase your personality while maintaining a professional tone. To stand out, include unique interests or hobbies, and highlight your skills or achievements.

• Keep it brief: Social media is fast-paced, so stick to the essentials and keep your audience engaged.
• Show your personality: Let your audience know who you are beyond your job title or education.
• Include a call-to-action: Encourage your followers to engage with you by asking a question or directing them to your website or other social media profiles.

Template 1: Brief and professional

Hi, I’m [Your Name]. I’m a [Job Title/Field] with a passion for [Interests or Hobbies]. Connect with me to chat about [Subject Matter] or find more of my work at [Website or Social Media Handle].

Template 2: Casual and personal

Hey there! I’m [Your Name] and I love all things [Interest or Hobby]. In my day job, I work as a [Job Title/Field]. Let’s connect and talk about [Shared Interest] or find me on [Other Social Media Platforms]!

Template 3: Skill-focused

Hi, I’m [Your Name], a [Job Title/Field] specializing in [Skills or Expertise]. Excited to network and share insights on [Subject Matter]. Reach out if you need help with [Skill or Topic] or want to discuss [Related Interest]!

Example 1: Brief and professional

Hi, I’m Jane Doe. I’m a Marketing Manager with a passion for photography and blogging. Connect with me to chat about the latest digital marketing trends or find more of my work at jdoephotography.com.

Example 2: Casual and personal

Hey there! I’m John Smith and I love all things coffee and travel. In my day job, I work as a software developer. Let’s connect and talk about adventures or find me on Instagram at @johnsmithontour!

Example 3: Skill-focused

Hi, I’m Lisa Brown, a Graphic Designer specializing in branding and typography. Excited to network and share insights on design. Reach out if you need help with creating visually appealing brand identities or want to discuss minimalistic art!

Part 8 Self-Introductions in a Public Speaking Scenario

When introducing yourself in a public speaking scenario, maintain eye contact, speak clearly, and show enthusiasm. Keep it concise, focusing on your background and what you bring to the table. Stay genuine, along with sharing something relatable or interesting about yourself to form an emotional connection.

• Professional introduction: “Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I have [number of years] of experience working in [your field]. Throughout my career, I have [briefly mention one or two significant accomplishments]. Today, I am excited to share [the main point of your presentation].”
• Casual introduction: “Hey everyone, I’m [Your Name], and I [briefly describe yourself, e.g., your hobbies or interests]. I’m really thrilled to talk to you about [the main point of your presentation]. Let’s dive right into it!”
• Creative introduction: “Imagine [paint a visual with a relevant story]. That’s where my passion began for [the main point of your presentation]. My name is [Your Name], and [mention relevant background/information].”
• Professional introduction: “Hello, my name is Jane Smith, and I have 15 years of experience working in marketing and advertisement. Throughout my career, I have helped companies increase their revenue by up to 50% using creative marketing strategies. Today, I am excited to share my insights in implementing effective social media campaigns.”
• Casual introduction: “Hey everyone, I’m John Doe, and I love hiking and playing the guitar in my free time. I’m really thrilled to talk to you about the impact of music on mental well-being, a topic close to my heart. Let’s dive right into it!”
• Creative introduction: “Imagine standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down at the breathtaking view of nature. That’s where my passion began for landscape photography. My name is Alex Brown, and I’ve been fortunate enough to turn my hobby into a successful career. Today, I’ll share my expertise on capturing stunning images with just a few simple techniques.”

Effective Templates for Self-Introductions

Part 9 name-role-achievements method template and examples.

When introducing yourself, consider using the NAME-ROLE-ACHIEVEMENTS template. Start with your name, then mention the role you’re in, and highlight key achievements or experiences you’d like to share.

“Hello, I’m [Your Name]. I’m currently working as a [Your Current Role/Position] with [Your Current Company/Organization]. Some of my key achievements or experiences include [Highlight 2-3 Achievements or Experiences].”

“Hello, I’m Sarah Johnson. I’m a Senior Software Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. Some of my key achievements include leading a cross-functional team to develop a groundbreaking mobile app that garnered over 5 million downloads and receiving the ‘Tech Innovator of the Year’ award in 2020.”

“Hi there, my name is [Your Name]. I serve as a [Your Current Role] at [Your Current Workplace]. In my role, I’ve had the opportunity to [Describe What You Do]. One of my proudest achievements is [Highlight a Significant Achievement].”

“Hi there, my name is David Martinez. I currently serve as the Director of Marketing at XYZ Company. In my role, I’ve successfully executed several high-impact marketing campaigns, resulting in a 30% increase in brand visibility and a 15% boost in revenue last year.”

Template 3:

“Greetings, I’m [Your Name]. I hold the position of [Your Current Role] at [Your Current Company]. With [Number of Years] years of experience in [Your Industry], I’ve had the privilege of [Mention a Notable Experience].”

“Greetings, I’m Emily Anderson. I hold the position of Senior Marketing Manager at BrightStar Solutions. With over 8 years of experience in the technology and marketing industry, I’ve had the privilege of spearheading the launch of our flagship product, which led to a 40% increase in market share within just six months.”

Part 10 Past-Present-Future Method Template and Examples

Another template is the PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE method, where you talk about your past experiences, your current situation, and your future goals in a concise and engaging manner.

“In the past, I worked as a [Your Previous Role] where I [Briefly Describe Your Previous Role]. Currently, I am [Your Current Role] at [Your Current Workplace], where I [Briefly Describe Your Current Responsibilities]. Looking to the future, my goal is to [Your Future Aspirations].”

“In the past, I worked as a project manager at ABC Corporation, where I oversaw the successful delivery of multiple complex projects, each on time and within budget. Currently, I’m pursuing an MBA degree to enhance my business acumen and leadership skills. Looking to the future, my goal is to leverage my project management experience and MBA education to take on more strategic roles in the company and contribute to its long-term growth.”

“In my earlier career, I [Describe Your Past Career Experience]. Today, I’m [Your Current Role] at [Your Current Company], where I [Discuss Your Current Contributions]. As I look ahead, I’m excited to [Outline Your Future Plans and Aspirations].”

“In my previous role as a software developer, I had the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies, including AI and machine learning. Today, I’m a data scientist at XYZ Labs, where I analyze large datasets to extract valuable insights. In the future, I aspire to lead a team of data scientists and contribute to groundbreaking research in the field of artificial intelligence.”

“During my previous role as a [Your Previous Role], I [Discuss a Relevant Past Achievement or Experience]. Now, I am in the position of [Your Current Role] at [Your Current Company], focusing on [Describe Your Current Focus]. My vision for the future is to [Share Your Future Goals].”

“During my previous role as a Sales Associate at Maplewood Retail, I consistently exceeded monthly sales targets by fostering strong customer relationships and providing exceptional service. Now, I am in the position of Assistant Store Manager at Hillside Emporium, where I focus on optimizing store operations and training the sales team to deliver outstanding customer experiences. My vision for the future is to continue growing in the retail industry and eventually take on a leadership role in multi-store management.”

Examples of Self-introduction Emails

Part 11 job application self-introduction email example.

Subject: Introduction from [Your Name] – [Job Title] Application

Dear [Hiring Manager’s Name],

I am writing to introduce myself and express my interest in the [Job Title] position at [Company Name]. My name is [Your Name], and I am a [Your Profession] with [Number of Years] of experience in the field.

I am impressed with [Company Name]’s reputation for [Company’s Achievements or Mission]. I am confident that my skills and experience align with the requirements of the job, and I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to the company’s success.

Please find my resume attached for your review. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss my qualifications further and learn more about the position. Thank you for considering my application.

Sincerely, [Your Name]

Related: Get More Interviews: Follow Up on Job Applications (Templates)

Part 12 Networking Event Self-Introduction Email Example

Subject: Introduction from [Your Name]

Dear [Recipient’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. My name is [Your Name], and I am excited to introduce myself to you. I am currently working as a [Your Profession] and have been in the field for [Number of Years]. I am attending the [Networking Event Name] event next week and I am hoping to meet new people and expand my network.

I am interested in learning more about your work and experience in the industry. Would it be possible to schedule a quick call or meeting during the event to chat further?

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards, [Your Name]

Part 13 Conference Self-Introduction Email Example

Subject: Introduction from [Your Name] – [Conference or Event Name]

I am excited to introduce myself to you as a fellow attendee of [Conference or Event Name]. My name is [Your Name], and I am a [Your Profession or Industry].

I am looking forward to the conference and the opportunity to network with industry experts like yourself. I am particularly interested in [Conference or Event Topics], and I would love to discuss these topics further with you.

If you have some free time during the conference, would you be interested in meeting up for coffee or lunch? I would love to learn more about your experience and insights in the industry.

Part 14 Freelance Work Self-Introduction Email Example

Subject: Introduction from [Your Name] – Freelance Writer

Dear [Client’s Name],

My name is [Your Name], and I am a freelance writer with [Number of Years] of experience in the industry. I came across your website and was impressed by the quality of your content and the unique perspective you offer.

I am writing to introduce myself and express my interest in working with you on future projects. I specialize in [Your Writing Niche], and I believe my skills and experience would be a great fit for your content needs.

Please find my portfolio attached for your review. I would love to discuss your content needs further and explore how we can work together to achieve your goals. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Part 15 New Job or Position Self-Introduction Email Example

Subject: Introduction from [Your Name] – New [Job Title or Position]

Dear [Team or Department Name],

I am excited to introduce myself as the new [Job Title or Position] at [Company Name]. My name is [Your Name], and I am looking forward to working with all of you.

I have [Number of Years] of experience in the industry and have worked on [Your Achievements or Projects]. I am excited to bring my skills and experience to the team and contribute to the company’s success.

I would love to schedule some time to meet with each of you and learn more about your role in the company and how we can work together. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to meeting all of you soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can you create a powerful self-introduction script for job interviews.

To make a strong impression in job interviews, prepare a script that includes:

• Your name and current role or profession.
• Relevant past experiences and accomplishments.
• Personal skills or attributes relevant to the job.
• A brief mention of your motivation for applying.
• An engaging statement that connects your aspirations with the role or company.

Practice delivering your script with confidence and enthusiasm, maintaining eye-contact, and using a warm, professional tone.

How can students present a captivating self-introduction in class?

For an engaging self-introduction in class, consider mentioning:

• Your name and major.
• Where you’re from or something unique about your upbringing.
• Hobbies, interests, or extracurricular activities.
• An interesting fact or anecdote about yourself.
• Your academic or career goals and how they connect to the class.

Be sure to smile, maintain eye contact, and demonstrate enthusiasm and openness to making new connections.

What are tips for introducing yourself to a new team at work?

When introducing yourself to a new team at work, consider the following tips:

• Be friendly, respectful, and approachable.
• Start with your name and role, then briefly describe your responsibilities.
• Mention your background, skills, and relevant experiences.
• Share a personal interest or fun fact to add a personal touch.
• Express how excited you are to be part of the team and your desire to collaborate effectively.

How do you structure a self-introduction in English for various scenarios?

Regardless of the scenario, a well-structured self-introduction includes:

• Greeting and stating your name.
• Mentioning your role, profession, or status.
• Providing brief background information or relevant experiences.
• Sharing a personal touch or unique attribute.
• Concluding with an engaging statement, relevant to the context, that shows your enthusiasm or interest.
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Learn how to introduce yourself in conversation and in writing

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Why good introductions matter

Structuring your introduction, how to create a great self-introduction, personal introduction examples, hello world.

First impressions are important. While you’ll forget preconceived notions or awkward handshakes, the way someone presents themself to you lingers and affects how you feel about them later in the relationship . Unless you’re given the opportunity to learn otherwise, you likely already made up your mind about them.

A true first impression only takes seven seconds to form , so you need to start strong — from the first moment. 

And we make these first impressions all the time when dating, making friends, and networking . It can feel daunting knowing we must constantly present ourselves well. 

Luckily, acing self-introductions isn’t difficult. We’ll discuss how to introduce yourself verbally and in written form to leave a professional impression and offer some introduction examples for you to try.

Presenting yourself well means leaving a good first impression, which impacts the early stages of any relationship. You'll likely manage to change someone’s mind about you with time and patience if you have a rocky start. 

But if you can avoid misunderstandings from the beginning, it could set you up for opportunities you might otherwise miss.

For example, if you’re writing a letter of interest to a company you’d like to work for and forget to include personality traits and skills matching their organization values, they may move past your application. Remembering to include those sections helps you start that much further ahead in the application process.

Writing an introduction about yourself also allows you to consider your strengths and interests. Even professional introductions often involve discussing a few hobbies and favorite pastimes. You can self-reflect when creating these short introductions about yourself to improve your self-awareness and write a more authentic letter. 

Regularly updated self-intros on your platforms like LinkedIn also help prospective followers and professional connections know what you’re up to and what to expect when they connect.

In professional settings, a good introduction doesn't need to be formulaic and can be casual or lengthy, depending on the scenario. Here’s a general outline for an intro that covers all the bases: 

If you're wondering how to start an introduction about yourself, the best thing to do is keep it simple. Greet your conversation partner or audience, state your name, and mention why you're there, if relevant.

Let your audience know where you’re from and what you’ve been up to recently. Customize this to the situation. In some cases, you’ll discuss where you grew up and where you live now. In others, where you went to school and your profession will be your focus. 

In professional settings, mention any relevant skills and offer context by discussing why you’re mentioning or where you gained them. 

If this is a written introduction, like a cover letter or letter of intent , include skills mentioned in the job description to show you’ve prepared and know what’s required for the role. And ensuring your skills are aligned benefits you. According to Gallup, working where you can use your skills to the best of your ability reduces the likelihood of hypertension and high cholesterol .

Achievements

In most professional intros, it’s helpful to note things you’ve accomplished, like degrees or promotions . This might also be relevant when introducing yourself to new colleagues or clients. 

You can use an introduction to express to your community what you’d like to achieve and how you might get there. This subtle type of networking might help you gain help or land an opportunity you might’ve missed. 

To show your proactivity and sincerity, include examples of how you’re already taking action to realize these goals. For example, if you're interested in learning French, mention you're taking classes and have a language-exchange partner you meet once a week.

Expressing your values during an introduction doesn’t have to be explicit. The way you behave when meeting someone says more than stating you value a specific trait. Be honest, speak articulately and with kindness, and remain humble to show you value transparency, compassion, and humility. If this is a job search or workplace introduction, align your values with those expressed by the team or company. For example, if their mission statement mentions valuing teamwork skills , talk about your love of collaborating with others to achieve common goals. 

The best way to end an introduction is to leave the conversation open. For example, if the intro is for a job interview, ask the hiring manager how they'd like to proceed . If it’s a meet and greet where there’s only time for introductions, set a follow-up call to ask more questions .

Preparing a succinct and genuine introduction is valuable in every facet of your life. Here are five tips for composing the best introduction: 

1. Rehearse it 

A great way to make introducing yourself less nerve-wracking is to memorize a simple introduction. Customize this to each situation so you don’t have to think on the spot so much, or rehearse intros for various scenarios so you’re never caught off guard. 

Try recording yourself saying the introduction to ensure you’re speaking articulately and clearly. You could also rehearse it with a friend to get constructive feedback . 

2. Tell a story

Instead of summarizing easily-accessible online information about you, engage your audience by sprinkling in new details and formatting your intro like a story . 

A great way to do this is to replicate the STAR interview method . This is the framework: 

• Situation : Establish your career path , starting with where you came from and a challenge you faced.
• Task : Define what your position and responsibilities were during this time.
• Action : Tell them how you confronted this challenge.
• Result : Share what you achieved and the insights you gained along the way.

You can shorten or lengthen this story, depending on your circumstances.

3. Communicate your values

Communication skills are essential to making a good first impression. Demonstrate your confidence with good posture, show your values by remaining sincere, and express your consideration for others by actively listening .

4. Showcase your personality

Even in professional settings, your audience wants to know what kind of person you are. A hiring manager cares about your qualifications but also wants to ensure you’ll get along with your coworkers and enjoy the company culture .

Being yourself also shows your sincerity — you’re not about to completely hide qualities such as humor and nerdiness just because this is a formal introduction. 

5. End with a question

A great way to show your interest in the person on the other end is to complete your introduction with a question. In a professional setting, this might be asking something about a job description or probing about next steps. This shows you see them as active participants in the conversation and also keeps things moving smoothly. 

You understand the importance of a great self-intro, know how to format one, and are filled with tips and tricks for creating a great first impression. Here are two introduction templates for different scenarios to help you get started: 

Example 1 — Job interview intro

Hey [recruiter name], 

My name’s [name]. I completed my [qualifying course or training] in [year] and have [x] years of experience working as [relevant position]. While working for [previous company’s name], I developed [soft and hard skills], which I think will apply well to this role.

I’ve also been hoping to work on my [ambitions], and I know I’d get the opportunity to do so at [this company] since you value [insert value]. I look forward to telling you more about my qualifications throughout this call and thank you in advance for your time.

Do you have any questions about the resume I sent over?

Example 2 — New team member intro

Hello everyone,

I’m [your name]. I've just joined this department as [position]. I have [x] years of experience [list relevant tasks and situations]. I've had the pleasure of meeting some of you already and look forward to getting to know everyone here better. To start, maybe everyone could mention the position they’re in and the clients they’re focused on?

Composing a self-introduction is an excellent opportunity to reflect on where you’ve been, what you’d like to achieve, and what you have to offer. We make formal and informal intros all the time, be it with a new date or a potential employer, so it’s worth knowing how to introduce yourself. 

Consider asking friends, family, and colleagues for help if you find it hard to summarize your past and qualifications. Fresh perspectives are always helpful since it’s hard to pinpoint our own strengths and weaknesses. And once you’ve practiced a basic intro a few times, you’ll feel ready for every scenario.

Master your introductions

Explore personalized coaching to enhance your professional introduction skills and make impactful first impressions.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

How to introduce yourself in an interview: Examples & tips

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How to Introduce Yourself Professionally (In Person, Virtual Interview, Or Email)

3 Key Takeaways

• How to make a lasting positive impression in any professional setting.
• Ways to introduce yourself across different mediums: resumes, letters, and in-person encounters.
• How Teal’s AI resume builder can help you make a great first impression in your job search.

The importance of a professional introduction

First impressions matter. Well, to be more accurate, they matter a lot .

Research shows people form judgments within seconds of meeting someone new or encountering a new situation. That means how you introduce yourself in those first few moments has a powerful impact on how others perceive you.

A polished introduction can open doors and create opportunities. A lackluster introduction can close doors just as quickly. 

Whether you're networking, job hunting, or meeting potential clients, you need to learn how to introduce yourself to make a positive first impression.

How to introduce yourself professionally in a resume

Introducing yourself professionally in a resume is your first opportunity to make a powerful impression on a potential employer.

Your resume's introduction isn't just a polite greeting; it's a strategic, concise summary of your professional brand. This section aims to captivate recruiters, urging them to explore the depth of your experiences and consider you a top candidate for the position.

What is a resume introduction?

The resume introduction , often at the top of your resume, is a snapshot of your professional achievements and gives you a chance to highlight key skills.

It's the initial pitch to the hiring manager, summarizing why you're not only qualified but the best fit for the role.

Why are resume introductions important?

Your introduction sets the narrative for your entire resume. It's your chance to tell your professional story in a way that is compelling and aligned with your desired role

This narrative frames your application, making you memorable and encouraging recruiters to read on with interest.

Expert tips for writing a resume introduction

1. Start with a strong action verb : Kick off your resume introduction with dynamic action verbs like "Engineered," "Designed," "Led," or "Developed" to command attention and convey your proactive approach.

2. Quantify achievements : Wherever possible, use numbers to quantify your achievements. Statements like "Increased sales by 30%" or "Reduced operational costs by 20%" provide tangible evidence of your professional impact.

3. Tailor it to the job description : Customize your introduction to mirror the language and requirements of the job listing. Incorporating keywords and phrases from the job description makes your resume more relevant.

4. Highlight unique qualifications : Mention any unique qualifications or experiences that set you apart from other candidates. This could include specialized certifications, advanced training, or a unique blend of skills.

5. Keep it concise : While it's tempting to emphasize your experience by including every achievement and job title you've ever held, the key is to be selective. Your introduction should be a high-impact summary, not an exhaustive list. Aim for three to four sentences that encapsulate your professional identity.

Using Teal's AI-Powered Resume Builder

Teal's AI-powered Resume Builder simplifies the process of crafting a standout resume introduction.

By leveraging advanced AI technology, you can ensure your introduction is not only impactful but also perfectly tailored to your desired role. With personalized suggestions and a user-friendly interface, Teal helps you create an introduction that truly represents your professional narrative.

Some benefits of using Teal for your professional introduction include:

• Interactive guidance : Receive suggestions on improving your introduction based on your specific experiences and the job you're targeting.
• Customization tools : Easily tailor your introduction to include the right mix of keywords and phrases that resonate with the job description.
• Real-time examples : Draw inspiration from a library of examples and templates designed to spark ideas and help you articulate your professional story.

Read More: For more tips on how to introduce yourself in a resume, check out our guide here .

How to introduce yourself in the About Me section

Crafting an About Me section on your resume is about infusing your application with personality and providing a glimpse into who you are outside of your professional achievements.

This section is distinct from the resume introduction, as it dives deeper into your personal attributes, motivations, and the unique blend of experiences that shape your professional identity.

What is an About Me section?

An About Me section is a brief personal narrative that complements the factual, achievement-oriented, and professional tone of the rest of your resume.

While the introduction is designed to make a compelling case for your professional qualifications, the About Me section offers a narrative that humanizes you. It bridges the gap between your professional skills and personal qualities, presenting a holistic view of who you are as a potential employee.

Why is an About Me section important? 

There are many reasons you would want to include an About Me section on your resume, but here are three big ones:

• Personalization : In a sea of similar qualifications and experiences, your About Me section can make your application stand out by highlighting your unique personality and approach to work.
• Cultural fit : This section can give employers insight into how well you might mesh with their company culture and team dynamics.
• Engagement : By sharing a bit of your story, you engage readers on a more personal level, making your resume more memorable.

How to write a strong About Me section

1. Be genuine : Authenticity resonates. Share true aspects of your personality and professional ethos relevant to the role in question.

2. Highlight unique selling points : What makes you different from other candidates with similar professional backgrounds? Lean into your entrepreneurial spirit or your commitment to sustainability.

3. Address value addition : Articulate how your personal qualities can add value to the team and company. For example, your ability to foster a positive team environment or your innovative approach to problem-solving.

4. Keep it relevant : While it's personal, the About Me section should still tie back to your professional goals and the employer's needs as listed in the job description.

5. Be concise : Like the rest of your resume, this section should be succinct. Aim for a few sentences that capture your personality and professional demeanor.

Read More: Check out this post for information about how to write an About Me section .

How to introduce yourself professionally in a letter of introduction

A letter of introduction isn't just a formality but a strategic tool to establish connections with potential employers, clients, or new colleagues. It serves as a precursor to future interactions, laying the groundwork for productive professional relationships.

What is a letter of introduction?

A letter of introduction is a proactive approach to networking. It's your chance to say hello and express your interest in working with or for the recipient.

Unlike a cover letter, which is often attached to a resume for a specific job application, a letter of introduction may be sent independently to spark a professional relationship or explore potential opportunities.

How do you write a good letter of introduction?

1. Personalize your greeting : Address the recipient by name to establish a direct and personal connection from the start.

2. Clarify your purpose : Be clear about why you're reaching out. Whether it's seeking mentorship, exploring job opportunities, or proposing a collaboration, your intent should be clear.

3. Emphasize mutual benefits : Highlight what you bring to the table and how it aligns with the recipient’s goals or needs. This could be your expertise, experience, or a shared vision.

4. Be brief but impactful : Keep your letter concise, but ensure it contains enough detail to intrigue the recipient and encourage them to engage further.

5. Include a call to action : Conclude with a polite request for a meeting, phone call, or the best way to continue the conversation.

Read More: For more information on this, check out this comprehensive guide on how to create a letter of introduction .

How to introduce yourself professionally in person

There are a few ways you should be prepared to introduce yourself to others in person, including when you need an elevator pitch, what to discuss at networking events, and how to introduce yourself to a new team.

Elevator pitch 

An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that describes an idea, product, or service in a concise and compelling way. It's called an elevator pitch because it should be short enough to present during an elevator ride.

Here's how to make one: Craft a concise, memorable statement about your professional background, skills, and aspirations. Focus on what makes you unique and how you can solve the listener's problem.

Practice delivering it naturally within 30 seconds to 1 minute.

To craft an effective elevator pitch, consider these factors:

• Content : Briefly summarize your professional background, highlighting unique skills and experiences. Mention your current role or professional aspirations.
• Objective : Clearly state what you're looking for, whether it's a job opportunity, advice, or a professional connection.
• Personal touch : Add a personal anecdote or interest that makes your pitch memorable and relatable.
• Practice : Rehearse your pitch to ensure it's concise and can be delivered confidently within 30 to 60 seconds.
• Adaptability : Be prepared to adjust your pitch based on the listener's background and interests to make it more relevant and engaging.

Networking events 

When attending networking events, approach introductions with strategic preparation. 

Start by identifying your professional goals and how they align with the event's focus. Craft a brief introduction that not only presents your background and skills but also explicitly states what you're looking for, whether it's insights, opportunities, or connections in your field. 

Engage actively by asking others about their experiences and what brought them to the event. Then, share relevant aspects of your experience, to create a reciprocal dialogue. 

This approach fosters meaningful connections, positioning you as both interested and interesting to potential contacts.

What if you get nervous meeting new people? 

It's common for new job seekers to feel nervous when chatting with strangers at networking events. 

To alleviate this, start with small steps, such as setting a goal for the number of people you want to meet. Prepare a brief introduction about yourself, including what you do and what interests you professionally. 

Practice active listening, which helps you engage more naturally in conversations. Nodding your head can be a positive body language signal to your listener and keep the conversation flowing smoothly.

Remember, most attendees are there for similar reasons and likely feel just as nervous. Focus on making genuine connections rather than trying to meet everyone. Networking is a skill that improves with practice, so give yourself grace as you learn and grow in this area.

When meeting a new team, conveying a blend of your professional background and personal enthusiasm can be beneficial. 

To establish credibility, begin by summarizing your career milestones, particularly those relevant to your new role. Show genuine excitement about the opportunity to be part of the team, discussing how you plan to contribute based on your skills and experience. 

Emphasize past collaborative achievements to illustrate your teamwork capabilities and set a tone of mutual respect and anticipation for shared success.

Professional introduction examples: On paper

1. resume introduction example.

Objective: Introduce the candidate’s professional background and skills, setting the tone for the resume. 

Dynamic and results-driven marketing professional with over seven years of experience in leading successful digital campaigns. Proven track record of enhancing brand visibility and engagement through strategic SEO, content marketing, and social media tactics. Passionate about leveraging data analytics to drive business decisions and growth. Seeking to bring my expertise in digital marketing strategy and leadership to the Marketing Manager position at Innovatech Solutions.

Why it works : This introduction showcases the candidate's extensive experience and skill set in digital marketing, directly aligning with the job description.

The use of dynamic language and specific achievements (such as enhancing brand visibility and engagement) immediately grabs attention.

Stating the desire to bring expertise to a new position also demonstrates the candidate’s proactive approach and alignment with potential employer goals.

2. About Me section sample

Objective: Provide a personal narrative that offers insight into the candidate’s unique qualities and professional ethos.

Creative at heart and analytical in approach, I am a graphic designer who thrives on bringing brands to life through compelling visuals and storytelling. With a keen eye for design and a deep understanding of consumer psychology, I craft experiences that resonate and build connections. Beyond pixels and palettes, I am a collaborator and a continuous learner, always exploring new trends and technologies to stay at the forefront of the design world.

Why it works : This personal narrative balances professional competencies and personal passions, making the candidate more relatable and memorable.

The first few words act as a personal tagline of sorts, highlighting both creative and analytical skills, appealing to employers looking for well-rounded candidates. The emphasis on collaboration and continuous learning showcases the candidate as a valuable team player committed to growth and innovation.

3. Letter of introduction sample

Objective: Open a dialogue with potential employers, clients, or colleagues, showcasing interest and value. 

Dear [Recipient's Name],

I am writing to introduce myself as a seasoned Financial Analyst who has recently discovered the exciting work being done at [Company Name]. With over 10 years of experience in financial modeling, risk assessment, and strategic planning, I have consistently provided actionable insights that drive profitability and growth for organizations. What particularly excites me is that my passion for finance and technology is in perfect alignment with [Company Name]'s mission to redefine the financial landscape.

I am eager to explore how my background and skills can contribute to the success of your team. I would love the opportunity to discuss potential opportunities and how I can bring value to [Company Name]. Thank you for considering my application.

Sincerely, [Your Name]

Why it works : The letter establishes a direct connection with the recipient by expressing admiration for the company’s mission and relating the candidate's experience and skills to the company's needs.

It demonstrates a proactive attitude and a strong fit for the company’s culture and objectives.

The specific mention of years of experience and areas of expertise reinforces the candidate's qualifications and readiness to contribute.

4. Email introduction sample

Objective: Establish an async professional connection that communicates how your skills and aspirations can bridge a gap for the company, making you an ideal partner. 

Subject : Introduction - [Your Name], Web Developer Interested in Collaborative Opportunities 

Dear [Recipient’s Name], 

My name is [Your Name]. I’m a web developer specializing in creating intuitive, high-performance websites. With a strong foundation in both front-end and back-end technologies, I am passionate about developing solutions that enhance user experience and drive business success. 

I have been following [Company Name]’s work in the tech industry and am impressed by your innovative approach. I am interested in learning more about potential collaboration opportunities and how I can bring my technical skills and creativity to your projects.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[Your Name]

Why it works: This email is concise, making it easy for the recipient to quickly understand the candidate's background and interest.

The subject line is clear and relevant, ensuring the email is likely to be opened.

By mentioning admiration for the company and expressing a desire for collaboration, the candidate initiates a professional relationship on a positive note. The emphasis on both technical skills and a desire to contribute to the company's projects shows a blend of competence and cooperation.

Professional introduction examples: In person

1. elevator pitch example.

Hi, I'm Jordan, a software developer with over five years of experience specializing in mobile app development, particularly for Android platforms. I've led projects that have increased user engagement by up to 40%. I'm passionate about creating apps that solve real-world problems, and I'm currently exploring opportunities where I can bring my expertise in innovative tech solutions to a team that's as enthusiastic about technology as I am.

Why it works: This elevator pitch is succinct yet informative, providing a snapshot of Jordan's professional background, achievements, and aspirations.

It effectively communicates Jordan's core competencies and career goals within a brief time frame, making it ideal for quick professional introductions. 

The specific mention of increased user engagement adds credibility to their claims, while the mention of looking for new opportunities opens the door for further conversation.

2. Networking event introduction example

Hey, I'm Alex, a digital marketing strategist. I've made a career off increasing online presence and sales through targeted social media campaigns. I've worked with several startups to scale their business online, achieving up to a 30 percent increase in online revenue. I love discussing innovative marketing strategies and learning about new trends in digital advertising. What's your experience with digital marketing?

Why it works: Alex's introduction is tailored for a networking event, highlighting their expertise and results achieved.

Alex also ends with a question, transforming the introduction into a two-way conversation, inviting others to share their experiences, and fostering engagement immediately.

This approach not only showcases Alex's skills but also demonstrates their interest in mutual learning and collaboration.

3. New team introduction example

Good morning, everyone! I'm Samantha, the new project manager joining your team. I have more than 10 years of experience managing projects in the tech industry, where I've focused on streamlining processes and enhancing team collaboration to deliver projects on time and under budget. I'm excited to bring my passion for efficient project management to this team and help us achieve new heights together. I look forward to getting to know each of you and learning how we can collaborate effectively.

Why it works: Sam's introduction to the new team is clear and concise, outlining their professional background, specific areas of expertise, and achievements.

Sam creates a positive first impression by expressing excitement and eagerness to collaborate, signaling their readiness to contribute to the team's success and foster a collaborative working environment.

This approach helps in building rapport and establishing a foundation for future teamwork.

Final thoughts

The ability to introduce yourself professionally, whether through a resume, a letter, or in person, is a pivotal skill in today's competitive professional landscape. 

Mastering this art can significantly influence your career trajectory, opening doors to new opportunities and fostering meaningful connections.

By leveraging the insights and tools provided by Teal, including the AI-powered Resume Builder and the AI Professional Summary feature, you can craft introductions that not only capture your professional essence but also resonate with your audience. 

Remember, a compelling introduction is more than just a first impression; it's a strategic communication that highlights your unique value proposition. Whether you're crafting an About Me section on your resume, penning a letter of introduction, or preparing your elevator pitch, the key is to be authentic, concise, and relevant to your audience. 

With practice, reflection, and the right resources, you can transform the way you present yourself professionally, turning introductions into gateways for growth and success.

Ready to make an unforgettable first impression on hiring managers? Try Teal's AI Professional Summary feature and elevate your professional introduction today with a conversation-starting resume.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i professionally introduce myself in an email.

To introduce yourself professionally in an email, start with a clear and relevant subject line, such as "Introduction - [Your Name], [Your Profession]." Address the recipient by name for a personal touch. 

Begin the email with a brief introduction of yourself, including your name, profession, and the purpose of your email. Highlight any mutual interests or connections, and clearly state what you are seeking from the correspondence. End with a specific call to action, inviting the recipient to respond, and close with a professional signature that includes your contact details.

How do I professionally introduce myself in an interview?

"Tell me about yourself" is a common ice breaker in job interviews. Start by thanking the interviewer for the opportunity. Proceed with a one-minute summary of your professional background, focusing on your education, key experiences, and achievements relevant to the position you're applying for. Highlight what makes you a strong candidate for the role, including specific skills and experiences that align with the job description. Be confident and maintain positive body language throughout your introduction to make a strong first impression.

How do I professionally introduce myself in a meeting?

When introducing yourself in a meeting, start by stating your name and job title. Briefly describe your role within the organization and any key responsibilities or projects you're currently working on that are relevant to the meeting's agenda. 

If the meeting includes participants from different departments or organizations, mention how your work relates to theirs or how you might collaborate. Keep your introduction concise and focused, allowing others to understand your role and how it connects to the meeting's objectives.

What are some tips for making a good first impression in a professional setting?

Dress appropriately for the occasion, be punctual, and offer a firm handshake if culturally appropriate. 

Smile and maintain eye contact to convey confidence and approachability. Listen actively and show genuine interest in others by asking relevant questions and engaging in the conversation. Be mindful of your body language to ensure it's open and positive. 

Finally, be prepared with a concise and relevant introduction of yourself, tailored to the context of the meeting or interaction.

Nathan Thompson

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It’s important to know how to introduce yourself professionally, as a solid introduction leads to further connection. Whether you’re preparing for a career fair, interview, or sales call, it’s important to practice your self-introduction.

In this article, we’ll cover how to introduce yourself professionally, and we’ll give examples of introductions. We’ll also explain why it’s essential to have a professional introduction ready to go.

Key Takeaways:

Whether you’re sitting down for an interview, meeting a new coworker, or giving a presentation, your self-introduction is the first glimpse into the kind of person that you are.

When introducing yourself, you need to consider the context of the meeting.

Make sure you are using positive body language such as eye contact and smiling and are being an active listener.

When introducing yourself, make sure you are confident because confidence draws people into what you have to say.

How to introduce yourself professionally

How to introduce yourself examples, why are professional introductions important, tips for introducing yourself, job interview self-introduction tips, introducing yourself professionally faqs, expert opinion on introducing yourself professionally.

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To introduce yourself professionally, you need to consider the situation you’re in, use positive body language, and briefly provide information about who you are. If appropriate, ask questions of the person or people you’re introducing yourself to as well.

Consider the context of the introduction. Adapting your self-introduction to the situation you’re in is imperative. An introduction that is professional at a presentation will seem strange at a job interview .

Additionally, speaking as casually as you might on a first date is inappropriate when interviewing for an open position.

Before speaking, the first step is to understand the context of the scenario you’ll be introducing yourself in and adjust your approach accordingly.

Job interviews The first day of a college class Welcoming new co-workers Meeting people at a job fair or conference Giving a presentation to a large group Conducting a sales call

Use positive body language. People are strongly influenced by body language , even if they don’t realize it consciously. Using positive body language draws the other party into what you have to say and who you are.

Eye contact Shaking hands Smiling Nodding Standing upright Arms uncrossed

Give a little information about who you are. The thing about an effective introduction is that it’s a push-and-pull in exchange for information. Spend equal time speaking and listening .

In the case of a job interview, this means briefly explaining your professional background while highlighting your responsibilities and achievements . Explain what jobs you’ve worked in previously and what the responsibilities in those roles entailed.

When you’re introducing yourself in a social situation, it’s okay to include some career-related information, but try to extend the description past that to give a more well-rounded depiction of who you are.

Ask questions. It’s not an attractive quality to be self-absorbed, whether in a professional or social setting. One way to avoid this perception is by asking the other person questions about themselves, the position you’re applying for, or the company you hope to work for.

Questions demonstrate a genuine interest in the other person or professional role, and that makes them respond more positively.

Asking questions also helps the interaction flow naturally from an introduction to a relaxed conversation .

What do you like about working here? What are the biggest challenges I’d be facing in this position? What are you most looking forward to about this conference? What do you do?

Presenting yourself professionally and politely is important no matter the context. Here are some examples of how to do this in a wide variety of situations:

How to introduce yourself in an interview for a job

“Hello, it’s nice to finally meet you in person. Even though we spoke over email, I wanted to formally introduce myself. My name is Sally Jones, and I’m a passionate social media manager . “I’ve been a professional social media manager for the past five years after graduating with my bachelor’s degree in communications from New York University. I’ve led teams that handled high-profile clients and improved their sales margins by upwards of 4%. “I’ve always admired your organization’s mission, and I’d love to be able to use my leadership skills and industry knowledge to further it.”

How to introduce yourself to a new employee

“Hi, my name is Connor. What’s your name? Nice to meet you, _____. I understand that you’ve recently been hired for the job of administrative assistant , which means that we’ll be working together a lot. “I just wanted to introduce myself and extend a warm welcome to the team. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with while you’re getting adjusted to the new role.”

How to introduce yourself in an email

Dear Mrs. Adams, How are you doing? I hope this email finds you well. My name is Jackson King, and I’m a school librarian . I have ten years of experience working as a librarian in the public schooling system, which has awarded me strengths in collaboration and patience. I’m emailing you today because I know that you are the hiring manager for Woodbridge City School District, and I wanted to pass my resume along in case any positions open up that fit my experience and skills. I’d love to have a further discussion about the education philosophies at Woodbridge City School District. I can be reached via [email protected] or (923-742-6336). Thank you for reading my email in full, and I hope to hear back soon. Sincerely, Jackson King [email protected]

How to introduce yourself at a hiring event

“Hi there, how are you? My name is Matthew Shelton. I’m a recent graduate from the University of Texas with a degree in engineering. While I haven’t had much paid professional experience, I participated in a competitive internship with Cisco Systems for six months. “I wanted to come over and introduce myself to you because I saw that you’re representing Flash Energy Solutions. I’ve heard incredible things about this company’s innovation, and I’m curious to find out more about their open positions. Are you available now to talk more about opportunities at Flash Energy Solutions?”

How to introduce yourself to a university professor

“Good afternoon, Professor Johnson. My name is Abigal Morris, and I’m a sophomore here at The University of Washington. I just wanted to formally introduce myself and say I’m looking forward to learning more in your course this semester.”

How to introduce yourself to your network

Hi, Samantha. How are you? I hope all is well. My name is Jessica Lane, and I’m a gallery director for Elegance Art Studios. I’m reaching out to you today because I recently came across some of your artwork online. Specifically, I saw a painting titled “Oblivion” that I thought was immaculate. I’d like to see your other work and speak further about the possibility of building a working relationship with Elegance Art Studios. If you’re interested, please email me at [email protected] or call me at (558)-292-6868. Thank you. Sincerely, Jessica Lane

How to introduce yourself on social media

Hello, Catherine, my name is Sadie Michaels, and I represent a clothing company called Free Air Designs as a marketing coordinator . I came across your Instagram profile while I was searching through my Top Posts page . I think you have a keen eye for social media development, and I enjoy your style. I was wondering if you’d be interested in collaborating on a few targeted posts involving Free Air Designs. Let me know if you’d be interested in talking more. Thanks! -Sadie

How to introduce yourself to a stranger on a plane

“Hello, I don’t mean to bother you, but since we’re going to be on this 12-hour flight, I figured I’d introduce myself. I’m Tom. What’s your name? It’s a pleasure, ____. What brings you on a flight to Milan?”

How to introduce yourself at an office party

“I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is Eric. I work in accounting. What’s your name? Awesome, it’s great to meet you, ____. How long have you been working here? Eight years? Wow, I’ve only been here for two. Have you been at this location all along?”

How to introduce yourself in class

“Hi everyone, my name’s Madeline Johnson. I’m a sophomore English major in the NEAG education program. I was interested in this class as a way of broadening my knowledge of teaching techniques for toddlers. When I’m not stuck in a book, I like to spend my time fishing at the Housatonic River.”

How to introduce yourself in a letter

Dear Mrs. Sels, “My name is John Buck and I’m a freelance writer with a background in e-commerce and the technical space. Naturally, I thought I’d be a good fit for XYZ Technica, an industry leader in technical e-commerce.”

How to introduce yourself to a group

“Hello everyone, my name’s Tim Thompson. I’ve been working in finance for 10 years, and what I specialize in is client support and education. Being able to bring some of this esoteric, but important, information from our field to more people is the most rewarding part of my job.”

How to introduce yourself in a meeting or presentation

“Hi everyone, my name is Riley Cooper and I’m the head of our content marketing team. What we excel at is making bespoke content calendars that match your brand’s voice, as well as monitoring the success of those campaigns.”

How to introduce yourself to a potential new client

Hello, my name is Chris Trager, and I’m a representative for Campbell Paper. I wanted to introduce myself and let you know about our 30% off sale happening throughout the month of August. We provide high-quality paper products and custom-printed materials to many schools like yours, and I’d love to discuss how we can meet your paper and printing needs. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for for an upcoming project? I really enjoy working with education-based clients like you, and I’d love to send you a sample book and help you find solutions at a price point that works for you. Please feel free to respond to this email or call or text me at 333-444-5555. I look forward to talking with you. Chris Traeger Sales Representative Campbell Paper

How to introduce yourself in a new company

Good morning, Ashley, We haven’t met yet, but I’m the new graphic designer working in the marketing department, and I was assigned your ESL class poster. Would you mind sending me the class times whenever you get the chance? Once I have those, I’ll be ready to send the poster to you to look over. I’m looking forward to working with you, and I hope to be able to meet you in person soon! Thanks, Caleb Olson Graphic Designer 222-333-4455

Professional introductions are important because how you demonstrate your character in the first moments of meeting another person dictates their perception of you moving forward, even if that doesn’t accurately describe who you are .

In situations where there is limited time to interact, such as a job interview, making a positive and professional first impression is crucial in achieving a desirable outcome. The confines of a 30-minute interview are all a candidate has to demonstrate themselves as the perfect choice for a job.

This is truly a test of first impressions as job-seekers are asked to perform well in a brief introduction before being hired.

Making a strong self-introduction is more complicated than simply stating your name and shaking hands. Consider the following tips for introducing yourself to leave a lasting positive impression on people you meet:

Dress well . Clothing is the first impression that a job interviewer or colleague has of you before you speak. Dressing well for a professional event ensures that you’re portraying yourself in a professional light.

Be confident. Refined confidence draws people into what you have to say. While sounding conceited repeals most people, a healthy dose of security in your ability to do a job establishes you as a dependable candidate.

Look for opportunities to further the conversation. An introduction that goes back and forth between two people only lasts a few minutes at most before it gets boring. To avoid a boring discussion, be on the lookout for opportunities to further the conversation.

Understand the culture. Before an interview or meeting, you should do research on the company to understand its culture. This will give you a better understanding of whether they are more straightforward or more casual.

If they are more casual, you can include some light humor in your introduction, just make sure it’s appropriate. If they are more straightforward and formal, keep a professional demeanor.

Prepare what you want to say. Practicing how you want to say something can help with stumbling over words and possibly saying something wrong. Try writing down what you want to say beforehand and practicing what you want to say. It may seem silly to be doing so at the time, but it could be helpful if you are nervous and have new meeting anxiety.

Introducing yourself at a job interview is a bit different than in most social contexts. You’ll want to pay special attention to the following in order to ensure the hiring manager likes you from the get-go:

Research the company. Before the interview, check out how the company presents itself to the public via social media. Are they casual and hip, or formal and serious? That’s your first clue for what sort of tone to strike.

Research the interviewer. Figure out whether the interviewer is an HR representative or someone who you’d be working under directly. You can also learn about their background to see what sort of information they’re most likely to appreciate in an introduction.

Plus, you might find an interesting connection that can be a nice segue out of your self-introduction into a shared, natural conversation.

Be hyper-relevant and brief. The job description is your ultimate cheat sheet for which qualifications to hype up as you introduce yourself at your job interview. Don’t go crazy trying to stuff the whole list into your intro, though.

Talk contributions. Introducing yourself shouldn’t be a laundry list of where you worked, when you graduated, etc. — that’s what your resume is for . Instead, get animated and share why you’re passionate about the field, interesting stories from your background, major milestones from your professional career, etc.

Don’t stop at your job title. When you simply give your name and job title, you’re basically saying, “There’s nothing more interesting about me than the function I can possibly fulfill” — not exactly a thrilling candidate.

Don’t try too hard to be funny. Humor is a great thing, but unless you’re a stand-up, you should wait until you’ve developed a bit of rapport before diving into too many jokes. No matter how much research you’ve done on your interviewer, you won’t know what they find funny or inappropriate, so it’s best to play it safe.

How do I introduce myself professionally?

Introduce yourself professionally with positive body language and relevant information about yourself. This relevant information about yourself should be related to the context of the situation. For example, if you are introducing yourself to someone once you have been referred, you may bring up your reference.

What is a unique way to introduce yourself?

To be unique, talk about your values in your introduction. Your values, even if they are common, define your personality. This helps you set the stage to talk about your goals and accomplishments, which should be tied to your values. Just make sure to keep them relevant and appropriate.

How do you introduce yourself in 3 lines?

To introduce yourself in 3 lines: state your name, why you are there, and ask an open-ended question about the other person. It is especially important to explain your purpose in a natural way, so tie it back to the context of the situation. Then, by using an open-ended question, you provide an opportunity for the other person to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.

What is a good introduction?

A good introduction should gain attention and interest in a positive manner. You will have introduced yourself successfully because people will be curious to learn more about you. This creates a flow to whatever topic is at hand while keeping your presence relevant.

How do you start an introduction to introduce yourself?

To start an introduction when introducing yourself, greet the person, give your name, and share a little bit about yourself. This information will change depending on the context. In a job interview, for example, you’ll give a quick overview of your experience or skills, while at a professional conference, you’ll share your job title.

How To Introduce Yourself Professionally?

Amanda Halkiotis Owner and Chief Resume Writer

If you have a hard time thinking of ways to break the ice over email, you can always ask those close to you how you come across to others. Are you funny? Charming? Outgoing? Sincere? Good-natured and kind? Find a characteristic that resonates with you and use it to brand yourself. If you are looking for a financial services job at a fintech firm, for example, a great opening line might be something like, “I have been a math geek my whole life and I started building computers when I was in high school.”. The first line is key to getting the reader interested, so I cannot stress enough the importance of having a “hook” that makes you stand out as an individual.

When introducing yourself personally, manners and confidence matter. Make eye contact and stand up straight, but try to be relaxed and not too stiff. I also recommend being complimentary but a bit subtle about it, for example, saying, “Thank you so much for meeting with me today” followed by, “Your office is such a lovely building” or “I knew we would have a lot in common when we talked based on our email exchange”. A little flattery goes a long way! I like to have three to five points about myself memorized when meeting someone for the first time in an interview setting. Something biographical, something personal, and something professional. So, for me, if someone says, “ Tell me about yourself “, I can reply with, “I grew up in Connecticut and have been in New York City for 14 years, I’m a middle child, I love to travel, cooking, and hiking, I am not afraid of a challenge and I find that I do my best work when I get to work with clients and build relationships”. To sum it up, have an elevator pitch to go along with the brand you promoted over email!

For anyone who gets nervous meeting new people, I suggest practicing in front of a mirror or doing mock interviews with a friend or relative. For virtual interviews (so many are being done on Zoom these days), you can do a mock version by doing a video recording on your phone and looking it over. A few minutes before the actual interview, try a technique called box breathing to calm your nerves.

Lastly, one of my personal heroes who is a true master when it comes to this type of advice is Vanessa Van Edwards. She is a well-known human behaviorist who has been featured on the Today Show, has done a Ted Talk, and has a great YouTube channel. Trust me, you’ll love her.

Harvard Business Review – A Simple Way To Introduce Yourself

Western Michigan University – Introduce Yourself With A Personal Commercial

Yale University – Office of Career Strategy

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Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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The Best Ways to Professionally Introduce Yourself: Tips & Examples

Table of Contents

Introducing yourself in a professional setting can be nerve-wracking.

You have to be confident and charming, present the most important information about yourself, and appear as someone others would want to work with. 

It’s not an easy task, whether you’re:

• Meeting your coworkers for the first time, 
• Reaching out to a new client,
• Attending a networking or work event, or 
• Trying to ace a job interview.

That’s why, in this article, you’ll learn the most useful tips on how to professionally introduce yourself and leave a great first impression.

• A lot of things are at stake with first impressions, especially when it takes people less than 7 seconds to form an opinion of us. So, how can you professionally introduce yourself and win over your peers?
• Whether it’s a job interview, networking event, or meeting new colleagues, prepare for introductions by being aware of your body language, having talking points ready, and expressing genuine interest in others.
• Nonverbal cues such as smiling, maintaining good posture, and making eye contact significantly influence first impressions. Dressing appropriately and being well-groomed can positively impact perceptions through the halo effect.
• Adapt your introduction to the context and audience, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. Whether in person, via email, or in a letter, customize your introduction to leave a memorable and positive impression.
• Avoid negative language, complaining, or using the same introduction for every situation when introducing yourself in professional settings. Be mindful of cultural differences and exhibit respectful behavior to build meaningful connections.

Why does the first impression matter?

No pressure — but, leaving a good first impression is a big deal.

This is partly due to a phenomenon called the primacy effect . In simple terms, our brains tend to recall the information presented first better than information presented at the middle or end of “a list of items.” 

Moreover, a Harvard study cited in Forbes revealed that after a bad first impression, it takes 8 subsequent positive encounters to change someone’s negative opinion of us .

This means that the first impression significantly affects how others perceive you — so, how you introduce yourself matters. 

Nervous? The good news is — there’s no need to lose sleep over this. 

If you follow our tips when introducing yourself, you’ll master the art of leaving a good first impression and appear as pleasant and professional as possible.  

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How to introduce yourself professionally

The best way to introduce yourself in a professional manner is by preparing for the interaction beforehand and maintaining a professional tone throughout the conversation . 

Here’s what you can do to put your best foot forward:

• Be more aware of your body language ,
• Prepare the talking points you want to highlight , and
• Show interest in your interlocutor .

Example of a professional introduction

How do all of these tips look in action? Let’s find out with the following example where Sarah is walking into a job interview. 

As Sarah approaches the interviewer, she tries to exude confidence through her body language. Thus, she:

• Stands upright , 
• Smiles , and 
• Goes in for a handshake.

As the conversation unfolds, she seamlessly incorporates her talking points, sharing details about her background and current projects:

“ I’ve been in the industry for 8 years, and my journey has been quite exciting. 

I started my career as a software engineer and gradually transitioned into product management.

I’m currently overseeing a project that involves launching a new cloud-based collaboration tool for our remote teams. 

It’s been a rewarding experience navigating the challenges and collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure its success. One aspect I find particularly interesting is ensuring seamless integration with existing workflows while enhancing user experience .”

Additionally, she doesn’t dominate the conversation but engages in a balanced exchange of information . 

She inquires about the company, showing she has closely followed the conversation:

“ How would you describe the company culture? […] 

I’ve seen that the company has recently gone public. How has this milestone impacted the team? “

The above elements give the interviewer a positive impression of Sarah’s: 

• Professionalism , 
• Confidence , and 
• Genuine interest in building a meaningful connection .

Now, let’s delve into the above tips in more detail so that you can also take advantage of business opportunities. 

Tip #1: Pay attention to your body language

If you’re introducing yourself in written form (via email or a team collaboration app , for example), you do not have to worry about body language.

However, body language is crucial if the introduction takes place in person .

According to a Princeton University study on first impressions , it takes us a mere tenth of a second to form a judgment about someone. 

Similar research conducted by Vanessa Van Edwards , a behavioral investigator, found that we need approximately 7 seconds to make up our minds about something. 

Before you even speak, people will have already formed an impression of you based on nonverbal cues, so try to make them count. 

Specific body language cues can improve your first impression significantly , such as: 

• Smiling , 
• Speaking clearly , 
• Shaking hands firmly (but not too hard) , 
• Maintaining good posture , and 
• Making eye contact with others (without staring excessively). 

Also, remember to dress appropriately for the occasion and ensure your clothes are clean and well-ironed . Being confident and well-groomed can positively influence people’s perceptions of you, partly because of the halo effect . 

This cognitive bias happens when a positive quality of a person affects our judgment of their other related traits . For example, if someone is assertive and confident, we may assume they are competent and knowledgeable — even if they are not.

💡 Pumble Pro Tip

Body language is an essential factor in virtual meetings, too. So, check out our best tips for improving body language during virtual meetings:

• Tips for improving body language during virtual meetings

Tip #2: Prepare what you’re going to say

As Benjamin Franklin said, “ By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail . ”

Before you introduce yourself to someone, prepare what you’re going to say.

But, don’t plan and memorize every single word — it will come off as if your speech was scripted.

Instead, have a general idea of what you’ll talk about while leaving room for improvisation and letting your personality shine .

Additionally, planning what you will say:

• Prevents rambling and oversharing, and 
• Helps maintain a professional and respectful atmosphere. 

Keep in mind that others may be waiting for their turn to talk, so try not to hijack the conversation.

Tip #3: Show interest in the person you’re talking to

If the introduction goes well, it will likely lead to a full-blown conversation. 

What are you going to talk about?

If you plan to continue talking about yourself, it’s best to reconsider your plan.

After all, no one is particularly fond of “ me, me, me ” people.

The best way to spark the interest of others is to be interested in what they have to say . In his book How to Win Friends and Influence People , Dale Carnegie sums it up nicely: 

“ To be interesting, be interested . ” 

That’s also a good way to form an actual connection with someone, which can benefit you in many ways.

Here’s what you can do to show interest:

• Listen attentively and carefully .
• Ask questions . Summarize what’s been said to make sure you understand, or ask follow-up questions to dig deeper and show interest in the topic.
• Have open body language (see Tip #1).
• Nod from time to time when they’re speaking . It shows that you’re engaged and following along.
• Don’t interrupt people .
• Show appreciation . For instance, you can say, “ It was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for your time and your invaluable advice. Looking forward to talking to you again soon .”

At first glance, this tip doesn’t seem applicable in some contexts — like job interviews, where a conversation is more structured.

However, showing interest and asking questions is still the way to go. Instead of asking personal questions, focus on inquiring about the job’s responsibilities, the company culture, and the expectations of the role — this will help you stand out from other candidates.

Extra tip: Always include relevant background information about yourself

If you’re unsure what information to include in your introduction, we’ve got you covered. 

You should keep these things in mind: 

1. Start with the basics — introduce yourself by name and job title . 

2. If your job title is not self-explanatory, briefly describe what you do . 

3. Explain the reason for reaching out and mention any mutual connection that could capture their attention . 

4. Let them know what value you can offer and how you can benefit them , especially in formal contexts like job interviews.

To professionally introduce yourself to people quick and easy every time — have your team use Pumble.

Phrases to use when introducing yourself professionally

We now know how to introduce ourselves in theory — but, let’s go over some specific phrases we can use.

Start simple, for example:

“Hi, my name is __, and I’m a [job title] at [company]”

“Let me introduce myself, I’m…”

“Nice to meet you, my name is…”

“I don’t think we’ve met before — I’m…”

When you’re describing what you do, you can stick to “ I’m [job title] at [company] ,” as we’ve mentioned above — or, you can say:

“I work in [field/industry]”

“Currently, my job is to…”

“I work as a [job title], and my role is to…”

“My job is [job title], which essentially means …”

“I work as a [job title]. I’m responsible for…”

“I work with [person].”

“I’m self-employed/freelancer in [industry].”

Then, you can let them know why you’re there and/or what they can expect from you:

“I’m here to…”

“I’m reaching out because…”

“For the next [amount of time], I’m going to…”

“My purpose today is…”

“I’d love to…”

Let’s see how that looks all together in different scenarios.

How to introduce yourself in an interview

Introducing yourself in an interview can be daunting, but it’s crucial for establishing your personal brand. 

To simplify the process, try following these steps:

• Start with a statement that introduces your name and job title .
• Share relevant details about your background, such as education, past projects, employers, or accomplishments .
• Express enthusiasm for what’s ahead .

Example of an introduction at a job interview

Your self-introduction doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. To give you an idea of how to start, here’s an example:

“ Hello, my name is Samantha Johnson, and I’ve been working as a social media manager for the past 9 years.   I’m excited about the opportunity to be a part of your Marketing team!  I’ve successfully managed many social media accounts, including X and Y. I would love to help you grow your social media, increase brand awareness, and improve customer communication.”

Since she’s at a job interview, she doesn’t need to clarify her job title — hiring managers should be familiar with the position and what it entails. 

Then, she goes on to:

• Express her enthusiasm to work for their company ,
• Mention the relevant work experience and achievements , and
• Describe how she’s going to provide value to the company .

All of this makes an excellent introduction for a job interview.

How to introduce yourself in an email

We’ve broken the task of introducing yourself professionally via email into simple steps to help you ace your self-introduction:

• Use a catchy subject line : Make sure the subject line catches the recipient’s attention and includes your name and position.
• Research the company culture : Before writing your email, take some time to learn about the company’s culture. This way, you can tailor your tone and style to match. 
• Show your value : Include your strongest skills and mention examples of where you’ve excelled in previous roles. 
• Express enthusiasm : Let your excitement for the new position shine through in your email. Share what you’re looking forward to and highlight your relevant work experience.
• Respond and ask questions : Once you’ve sent your email, be sure to respond to any replies promptly and ask questions to get to know the business better.

 Example of introducing yourself in an email

How exactly would an attention-grabbing self-introduction email look like? Well, something like the below example, which follows all the steps we’ve mentioned. 

Subject: Experienced Data Analyst with a passion for data analysis processes 

“ Dear Andrew, 

I am a data analyst with over 6 years of experience in data analysis and visualization. I’m excited to express my interest in the Data Analyst role at your company. 

Your company’s goal to improve data-driven decision-making models aligns with my passion for the analysis and research fields, and I believe I can contribute to your organization’s future success. 

My experience and skills will enable me to provide valuable insights and drive decision making for your organization. I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with your team and help elevate your organization’s procedures. 

Let me know if we can schedule a call or meeting to discuss this further. Thank you for considering my application.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Kind regards, 

Anne Marie Donaldson ”

How to professionally introduce yourself in a letter

A well-crafted introduction letter can show your accomplishments or business in the best light.

To ensure you include sufficient background information about yourself, you should:

• Begin with a formal greeting and elaborate on the purpose of the letter .
• Provide more details about yourself and highlight key skills, qualifications, and accomplishments . If possible, mention a mutual acquaintance.
• Finish off by thanking the recipient for their consideration and providing your contact details after the sign-off . 

Example of introducing yourself in a letter

Self-introduction letters can bolster your networking efforts and help you form connections with organizations, colleagues, and recruiters. You can use the example below for inspiration on how to tailor your letter. 

“ Dear Jordan, 

I hope this message finds you well. 

I came across your profile while searching for accomplished professionals in the online marketing domain and was impressed by your experience and achievements.

As a fellow professional in the marketing industry, I believe it’s valuable to connect with like-minded individuals to foster mutual growth. I’m particularly interested in social media marketing, and I think your advice could help me push my efforts forward. 

I would appreciate the opportunity to arrange a brief call to discuss our shared interests and potential collaborations. 

Please let me know a time that works for you. Thank you for considering my request. 

Best regards, 

Tom Roberts ”

Providing a new contact with background information about yourself is one of the many networking strategies you can try. If you want to take your career to the next level, you can learn more networking tips from the blog post below:

• How to Network Effectively to Advance in Your Career (+ Tips)

How to introduce yourself to a new colleague at work

When speaking to a new colleague for the first time, you can communicate with them in a more informal but still professional manner. To make sure the conversation goes down smoothly, you should:

• Ask your colleague questions : Show your genuine interest in their work and opinions. 
• Mind your body language and go in for a handshake : Sometimes, open body language is just as effective as positive language. 
• Focus on the positives : There’s no need to use negative language and bring up past grievances during your first few weeks. 
• Keep the messages short : If your workplace uses a business messaging app for professional correspondence, don’t send lengthy introduction messages. Your self-introduction on the first day of work should state who you are and highlight your enthusiasm for being part of the team. 

Example of introducing yourself to a new colleague at work

So, how can you introduce yourself to a coworker in a brief and friendly manner? Perhaps Joseph can give us some ideas as we look at how he virtually introduces himself to a new team.

His self-introduction strikes the right tone because:

• It is short and friendly .
• It conveys his genuine happiness about being part of the team . 

How to introduce yourself and ask for a favor from a coworker

If you want to ask a coworker you don’t know for a favor , you need to introduce yourself first — especially if you’re new to the company.

This makes a lot of people anxious, but it doesn’t have to be as awkward as you’d imagine it would be.  

When asking for a helping hand:

• Briefly explain who you are and what your job responsibilities entail.
• Be clear about what you’re asking .
• Take into account your coworker’s current workload .
• Inform them of your request in advance .
• Choose a convenient time to schedule a meeting or send a message . 
• Explain why you’re asking them for a favor .
• Accept rejection with grace .
• Thank them for their time .

If your coworker agrees to help, don’t forget to offer to return the favor down the line. 

Example of an introduction to a coworker to ask for a favor

When you reach out to a coworker, it’s essential to keep the message brief and polite . Then, without beating around the bush, you should explain why you’re contacting them, just like in the below exchange.

What NOT to do when you’re introducing yourself professionally

Is there something we have to pay attention not to do when introducing ourselves in a professional setting?

Yes, there is — for example, don’t :

• Use the same introduction in every situation . How you introduce yourself to your new manager will differ from how you greet a new coworker, right?
• Complain and be negative . Even if what you’re saying is true, there’s a time and place for everything, and you don’t want to be remembered as a Negative Nancy.
• Check your phone every couple of minutes . You may be doing it because you’re nervous, but it comes off as rude and shows disinterest in the person you’re talking to.
• Assume everyone comes from the same (cultural) context as you . This is especially true if you work in a multinational company or your network is multicultural. For example, grabbing someone’s hand and giving it a firm shake is perfectly acceptable in the West, but it would make a person from Japan uncomfortable — their handshakes are much softer.

If you’re having trouble navigating cross-cultural communication in a business environment, check out our blog post:

• How to perfect cross-cultural communication at the workplace

Use Pumble to introduce yourself and communicate at work

You only get to make the first impression once — so, put effort into crafting the perfect, professional introduction.

If your team uses Pumble to communicate and collaborate, you can easily introduce yourself to anyone at work — no matter whether their workstation is several desks or even countries away from yours.

Pumble is a team communication app that let’s you:

• Send DMs to individuals and groups
• Talk about specific topics in dedicated private and public channels (perhaps your team would even benefit from a public channel where every newcomer can introduce themselves on their first day?)
• Make audio and video calls (after all, face-to-face introductions via video are a great option for remote teams who rarely or never have the chance to meet in-person)

Dunja is a content manager at Pumble, leading a team of communication authors and researchers. She has been researching and writing about communication and psychology, especially in a professional setting, since her university days. As she works remotely herself, she likes helping others not only survive but also thrive in a virtual work environment.

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27 Examples of Self Introduction in English For Great First Impression – Introduce Yourself In English

Telling someone about yourself can be tricky if you’re not sure how to go about it, but when you’re in an interview or at the start of your first day on the job, giving someone an overview of your previous work and education experience isn’t only necessary – it shows that you’re excited to be there and prepared to work hard.

Here are some examples of self introduction in English that you can use to introduce yourself.

You can check the video to learn more..

Self Introduction in English Examples

Example 1: 

Hello, my name is [name] and I am writing to introduce myself. My interests include photography, art, and music. I enjoy making things out of clay and woodworking.

I am a native of the United States and have been here for over 20 years now. I grew up in [city] where I attended school. After high school, I moved to [state] where I went to college at [school name].

During college, it was not easy for me to make friends because I was shy and quiet. It wasn’t until after college when I started working at [job title], that my relationships with others changed for the better. At work, I was able to open up more as well as learn how to communicate better with others by using body language and tone of voice rather than words alone. This resulted in me being promoted from a part-time employee into an assistant manager position within two years of working there full-time!

Hello, I’m [first name], and I’m a writer.

I’ve been writing for a while now, and it’s become an integral part of my life. My passion for writing started when I was in elementary school. I got a pen and paper and wrote down everything that popped into my head—I couldn’t stop!

As my writing skills improved, so did my confidence as a writer. At first, people thought I was just a kid with a lot of energy; but now they see that writing is more than just something fun to do—it’s something that makes me happy, and gives me clarity on what I want out of life, and helps me make sense of the world around me.

So if you’re interested in hiring me as your writer or if you have any questions about what it’s like to work with me, please feel free to reach out!

Hi, I’m [name] and I work at [company] as a [job title]!

I’m a recent college graduate and have been working in customer service for the past six months. I’m looking for opportunities to learn more about the customer service field and grow my skills to take on more challenging roles.

[Company name] provides the best customer service in the world, and I am excited to join such an amazing team.

Self Introduction Paragraph Examples

My name is [name], and I’m a [type of person].

I love to [what you love to do].

When I’m not working or doing what I love, my friends and family are the most important thing in my life. They mean the world to me. When they’re around, I feel like everything is possible.

I’m currently in my final year of university, and it’s been one of the most amazing years of my life so far. I’ve learned so much about myself and how to be a better person, which has made me feel more confident than ever before.

Hi! I’m [name] and I’m so excited to meet you all.

I’m a passionate, driven person who wants to do my part to make the world a better place. That’s why I’m here at [company name].

I’ve got a lot of experience working in customer service, but I also have a passion for helping people find their best path forward when they’re faced with challenges. And that’s what we’re working on at [company name]: finding those solutions for our clients so they can focus on what matters the most—their business.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you all!

• 3 Examples of Self Introduction to a Landlord
• 9 Examples of Self Introduction For Pharma Interview

Hi, my name is [name], and I’m here to tell you about my [job].

I’ve been working as a [job] for [number of years], and I love it. It’s an amazing job that allows me to do what I love most—make people happy!

My favorite part of my job is seeing how much happiness can be brought into someone’s life when they’re feeling down or stressed out. I know that by helping people feel better, we’re all better off as a community.

I also really enjoy meeting new people every day who need support in their journey through life. Being able to share what I know with them has helped me grow personally and professionally, so thank you for your support!

Self Introduction Speech Examples For Students

Hi, my name is [name], and I’m about to give you a self-introduction speech.

I’m going to tell you about myself in three parts: who I am, what I’ve done, and why I should be hired for this job.

First, let’s talk about who I am: I’m [age] years old. I’ve been working as a [job title] for [amount of time]. And I love it! It’s made me very good at what I do and keeps me busy all day long.

And now let’s talk about what I’ve done…

I started working at the company when they were just starting, and now they’re one of the top 10 companies in our industry. They’re growing so fast that there are times when we can’t keep up with hiring new people or training them properly. That’s where you come in—you’re going to help us hire some awesome new people who are ready to hit the ground running!

And finally, why should you hire me? Well… because if this were a movie script, there would be no way for me not to get hired by your company!

Hello, my name is [name] and I am a student at [school].

I am interested in pursuing a career in the field of [industry], and I would like to study [field] at [school].

My current job is working as a marketing assistant for [company], where I handle all the emails and calls from clients, as well as manage our social media accounts.

I have been working in this position for over three years now, and it has greatly improved my skillset in terms of customer relations and communication abilities. I would love to continue working for [company] after graduating from college with a degree in both marketing and business management.

Hello, my name is [name] and I’m a student at [school name].

I have always loved to learn and explore, so when I was in the 8th grade I started taking classes at my local college. Now, I have many different degrees from various programs and am heavily involved in the community at large.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with family, and friends and doing things that make me happy. One of those things is hiking!

Self Introduction Sample For Nurse Job Interview

Hi, I’m [name], and I hope to be the next one of you awesome nurses!

I have a bachelor’s degree in nursing and am currently working as a nurse at [hospital name]. I’ve worked in many different areas, including ER, ICU, and medical-surgical. I love working with patients from all walks of life, but my favorite part is taking care of babies because they’re so sweet and innocent.

I also enjoy helping others learn about their health, whether it’s through patient education or offering advice on dieting or exercise.

Hello, I’m [name] and I’m a nurse. I’ve been in the industry for many years and have worked with many different kinds of patients. I am looking to move into a leadership position, preferably with a hospital or nursing home to manage more than one unit. I believe that the most important part of my job is making sure that my patients are comfortable in their care environment and feel safe at all times. I also enjoy working with other staff members because they can help me access different areas of expertise, which makes me a better nurse and leader.

I would love an opportunity to discuss how my experience could benefit your organization!

Hello, I’m [name] and I’m looking for a job as a nurse.

I’m a middle school student who loves to help people. I’ve had experience working at [hospital name] and [hospital name], where I helped children get better after they were injured.

I also love volunteering at the local animal shelter, where I’ve helped an elderly cat named [cat name]. The owner of the shelter said that she couldn’t find a home for her because she was old, but after working with her, I realized that she was still young at heart.

The hospital where I work now is great and everyone there is very nice, but it’s not the same as being able to help people. It’s hard for me to watch someone get hurt or sick on my shift—especially when there’s nothing that I can do about it—and I want something more for myself than just working in healthcare.

Self Introduction Speech Examples For School Students

Hello! My name is [name], and I’m here to introduce myself to the class.

I’m from [city] in [country]. I’ve been living in the United States for five years now, but I’ve been here for seven. I love this country, and I love being able to learn more about it every day.

In high school, I was a really good student—I got straight A’s all the time. But during my senior year, one of my teachers taught us how to write a speech about ourselves—and that’s when everything changed. Now when someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, instead of saying “an accountant,” like everyone else says, I say “a teacher.”

So this is me: A teacher who has learned so many things since she started working with children at the age of 18. And now at age 32, she has even more knowledge than she did before!

Hello, my name is [name], and I’m a student at [school name].

I’m excited to be here today because I’ve been wanting to go to this school for a long time. My favorite subject is math, so it’s cool that there will be an opportunity for me to learn more about that.

I also love reading a lot of books and watching movies, so I think this is going to be a good fit for me.

My parents are very supportive of my dreams and help me whenever they can. They always make sure that I am doing what I want, so if you have any questions about anything related to school or your studies, feel free to ask them!

Hello, everyone! I’m [name], and I was just thinking about what to say.

I think that you’re all really smart and kind, and it’s a pleasure to meet you!

My name is [name] and I’m going to be taking your next test. Hopefully, we’ll get along well enough to make it interesting.

I’m here today because I want to talk about [topic]. It’s important to me because it affects my life every day, but also helps me think about things that are important in the world.

Self Introduction Speech Examples Public Speaking

I am a passionate person, who loves to learn and share knowledge with others. I believe that every person should be treated equally, no matter their gender, race, or religion.

I have always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. I have been working in the field for the last 6 years and it has become my passion now.

I have completed my MBA from St. Xavier’s College and I worked as an Assistant Manager in a reputed company for 4 years before joining here at [company name].

Hello, my name is [name] and I am a [job title]. I have been working as a [job title] for [number of years] and I have been enjoying every moment of it.

I have always had a passion for [job title], and it is truly an honor to be able to work with such amazing people.

I have been lucky enough to work with some of the most talented people in the world, including [famous person’s name], who has taught me so much about [job title].

I would like to thank you all for this opportunity because it has helped me grow both personally and professionally. It has brought me closer to my family and allowed me to meet new people who share similar interests.

Hi, I’m [name], and I’m a professional speaker.

I’ve been giving speeches for over 10 years, and I love it.

My favorite part is being able to share what I know with other people engagingly. It’s also really fun to meet new people and hear their stories because then I can learn from them too!

I also like that people are usually surprised when they find out how much time goes into preparing for a speech—it’s not just about speaking fast or moving your mouth around—but about making it personal and interesting for your audience.

If you have any questions about anything related to public speaking, feel free to contact me at [email address].

Self Introduction Sample For Hr Interview

Hello, I’m [name], a junior HR professional at [company name]. I’m interested in the position of HR Manager, and I’m here today because I think you’re the right person for it.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources and a Master’s degree in Personnel Management, both from [school name]. My interests include [interests], which are things like [things], which are things like [things].

In my spare time, I enjoy watching sports on TV and playing volleyball with friends at the local park.

Hello, I’m [name] and I’m a [position] at [company name]. I love to work hard, which is why I’m so excited to be here.

I’ve been working with [company name] for years now, and it’s been an amazing experience. I’ve been able to learn so much about myself and the company in that time.

I’d love to talk more about my experience with you! Please feel free to reach out if you’d like any additional details or want me to send you anything from HR.

Hello! I’m [name], and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about my qualifications for this position.

I have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, but I’ve also spent the past six years working as a software engineer. In my current role, I’m responsible for building, maintaining, and improving our software products.

Throughout my career, I’ve worked with engineers from all over the world who have taught me how to problem-solve creatively and work well with others. My experience with developers at [company name] has given me an understanding of what it takes to build quality products that meet our customers’ needs.

The skills listed on my resume are just a small representation of the competencies that make me a great fit for this position:

– Able to build robust, scalable systems that meet customer needs and respond quickly to change

– Able to communicate effectively with other team members

Self Introduction Examples For Experienced Software Engineers

Hello, I am [name], and I am an experienced software engineer.

My specialty is in creating high-quality, well-tested code that solves business problems for my clients. I have been working with them for about five years, and have also worked as a freelance software engineer for several other companies during that time.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from [school name]. After graduating, I worked as a software developer at [company name] for two years. During this time, I learned how to contribute my skills to the company by making contributions within the company’s code base. After working at [company name], I decided to pursue a career as a freelancer and started freelancing immediately.

As a freelancer, my primary focus has been working on projects related to building web applications using mostly JavaScript-based technologies such as HTML5+CSS3/SASS/LESS/JAVASCRIPT (JS) frameworks like ReactJS or VueJS, or NodeJS (server side). However, I have worked with the PHP framework (Laravel) on some projects too.

Hi! I’m [Name] and I’m a software engineer at [company name]. I’ve been working in this industry for six years now, and it’s always been my dream to be in the field. When I graduated from college, I started working as a developer at one of the country’s largest consulting firms. After two years there, I decided to move on and pursue my dream of being a software engineer—and here I am today!

I love what I do because it allows me to work on some cool projects. One of my favorite parts of being a software engineer is working with clients and helping them improve their products. It’s also very rewarding when you see how your work helps people take control of their lives or businesses.

I am a software engineer with over 10 years of experience. I have worked on many different projects, including web development, mobile applications, and backend systems.

My strengths are in designing and implementing scalable solutions while maintaining high-quality standards. I am also very good at communicating my ideas effectively and creating solutions that meet the needs of my clients. I have worked in teams to develop solutions that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

I would love to work on projects that allowed me to use my skills and knowledge to help solve real problems for people in our community.

Self Introduction Sample For Virtual Assistant

My name is [your name here]. I am the founder of [company name] and I have been a virtual assistant for 10 years.

I love helping people with their problems and helping them grow their businesses. I’m also a huge fan of dogs, serial killers, and the Harry Potter series.

Example 2: 

I’m [name], and I’m a virtual assistant and web developer based in [location].

I bring over 15 years of experience as a web developer, working with both small and large businesses, to assist you in getting your projects off the ground. Whether you need help building websites, or just need someone who can manage your social media, my background as a web developer will help me keep you informed, on track, and able to stay focused on your goals.

I have experience working with clients from all over the world and am always looking forward to helping others achieve their goals.

Example 3: 

Hello, I’m [name] and I’m a virtual assistant.

I’ve been working as a VA for over [years] now, and I love it! I work with people who are looking to get their business off the ground, or who just need some extra help around the house. My clients are always happy with my work.

In addition to being a VA, I’m also an avid reader and writer. I enjoy helping others in any way that I can—whether it’s by offering advice or helping them write their copy for landing pages or emails.

I’ve worked on projects ranging from simple blog posts to complex web applications (both front-end and back-end), so whatever your project requires, you’ll find me very capable of handling it.

Related Questions:

Can an introduction be one sentence.

Yes. Just give your name and then your question. There is no reason to list all your credentials first. That’s boring and drawn out. You should know about the community that you’re applying for. You don’t need to list the fact you are a school teacher, that you have a degree in English, that you have a spouse and 2 kids. All of that stuff is irrelevant when it comes to what you want to know, and you’re just wasting space.

Can Introduction Be Two Paragraphs?

Yes. The introduction is a paragraph. That’s the whole rule. With that said, it can be two paragraphs, it can be ten paragraphs, and it can be a page. The length of your introduction is dependent on several factors: who you are writing for, how much time you have to write, how detailed you want to get, and how much detail your reader can absorb.

With that said, let’s take a look at a few examples of great introductions: 1. This is the best, most concise introduction I’ve ever read. Not only is the information short and sweet, but it gets right to the point and shows exactly what the reader has to do, and why it’s important.

The Verdict: Self Introduction Examples

Choose a template that you like, edit it and make it your own. When you’re done, add your photos to the design. Present yourself to the world with these stunning, professional designs for your self introduction. And as always, please feel free to contact me if you have a question or would like to give feedback on this article.

Hi, I a Usmaan Ali, a content writer. I’ve always been passionate about writing and blogging. I hope you enjoy my blog posts as much as I enjoy writing it!

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If you can move beyond the boring basics when you’re asked “What do you do?”, you’ll set yourself up for new relationships, opportunities and revelations, says introduction expert Joanna Bloor.

Mingling at a work event inevitably means being asked the question “What do you do?” over and over again. After years of repetition and conditioning, most of us respond with “I’m job title X at company Y.” And while this is the answer people expect, it’s also likely to linger in your new acquaintance’s mind only until it’s replaced by what the next person says to them.

“Answering with your title and company is the cultural norm. But when you do, you’re missing out on an opportunity for the other person to know who you actually are. You are not just your job,” says Joanna Bloor , CEO of Amplify Labs. She specializes in helping people discover and articulate what makes them distinctive so that they can form deeper connections with others.

And it all starts with how you introduce yourself.

Bloor’s own answer demonstrates the power of an original response. If she answers “I’m CEO of Amplify Labs,” her questioner will probably go on to ask about what it’s like to be a CEO or what is Amplify Labs. But those lines of conversation don’t really allow a person to really know Bloor. So, when she’s asked “What do you do?”, she replies: “Do you like your own answer to the question ‘What do you do?’?” People invariably admit they don’t. She then says, “I know — everyone struggles with it, yet the answer can have massive impact. I work with people on crafting an answer that is bold, compelling, authentic and unique. I help you tell people why you’re awesome.”

Introducing yourself this way isn’t just about standing out in a crowded room or cutting through extraneous jargon and chitchat. By naming your special sauce upfront, says Bloor, you’re increasing the chances that the other person will bring up an opportunity, relationship, business or idea that could help you. As Bloor puts it, “When you get your introduction right, the opportunity is not only to genuinely connect with people, but you’ll also be allowed to do the work you really want to do.”

Be warned: crafting your intro takes a bit of time and effort. But as the world of work continues to change in ways we can’t anticipate, knowing what sets you apart from the pack is crucial. Here, Bloor tell us how you can come up with your new response to “What do you do?”

1. Go beyond your title.

The first thing you need to do is figure out who you actually are. Bloor asks her clients, “What is it you would like to be known for?” It’s an uncomfortable question, but she finds it jolts people out of their comfort zones. Rather than relying on previous accomplishments, you’re forced to consider what you’d like your impact to be.

Bloor used this tactic on me. My typical response to “What do you do?” is “I’m a journalist and playwright.” But after she asked me what I loved about these professions and what I hoped to accomplish through them, she helped me craft a much deeper and more compelling response: “The world can be an overwhelming place, so I help people connect to each other by telling stories as a journalist as a playwright.”

2. Think about the problems that only you can solve.

Bloor believes that everyone, no matter their job or industry, is essentially a problem solver. So when she interviews people to help them discover their unique story, she’s also trying to find out the problems they’re particularly good at solving.

Use this tactic on yourself. What problems do you solve at work? And what makes you especially effective at doing so? Framing yourself as a problem-solver may trigger an instant reaction when you meet someone new. “I have that problem, too!” they could say. Figure out how to deliver your capabilities in a single sentence. For example, instead of saying “I’m a lawyer who specializes in X type of law,” you could say, “I think the biggest problem about the justice system is A. As an attorney who focuses on B, I’m helping find solutions through doing C.”

3. Ask your friends and colleagues for input.

It’s often hard for people to see their own skills. “The thing you are fantastic at can be as natural to you as breathing, so you don’t value it,” says Bloor. If you’re having a difficult time identifying your talents, she suggests you turn to the people who know you well and ask them “What is it you see that I do well and that I’m unaware is really special?” You’ll generally find common themes or language in their responses, says Bloor, even if they’re people from different parts of your life.

4. Flash back to your childhood.

Still stumped? Step into a time machine, and think back to your eight-year-old self. What were you great at during that age? According to Bloor, that special skill can often apply to your present and future selves and help you see how you’re different from everyone else. For example, when Bloor was eight, she had a great sense of direction and easily memorized routes while hiking with her father. That skill translated into her previous career of building software for companies — she could visualize 3D maps of software architecture.

5. Show a little vulnerability.

Finding people that we connect with can be elusive, especially at work-related events. “I think a lot of the angst in the workplace and angst with each other is because we don’t talk about who we really are as people,” says Bloor. So, take a chance, open up in your opening remarks, and reveal something honest about yourself. Use phrases, such as “I’m really passionate about X” or “What excites me most about what I do is Y,” which can communicate your emotion and enthusiasm and prime others to respond in kind.

6. Gather some feedback on your introduction.

After you’ve crafted your opener, practice it on five people you know well. Then, a few days later, ask them ‘What do you remember most about my intro?” Their few-days-later response will tell you what is most memorable about your opener, what you could alter, and what you might try to lean into when meeting new people.

7. Blame it on someone else.

When you first start trying out a new way of introducing yourself, you’ll probably feel nervous. Bloor suggests prefacing it with, “I’ve just learned a new way of introducing myself and I’m experimenting with it. Can I try it out on you?” People love to be asked for their advice or input.

8. Resist going back to the same-old intro.

The truth is, it will always be easier to say the stilted “I’m job X at company Y,” stumble through small talk, and then move on to the next person and glass of wine. In addition, when you give a nontraditional introduction, you will inevitably run into some staid folks who don’t get it.

But Bloor urges people to persist. She recently coached a woman named Rumi, whose standard intro was “I’m a copywriter.” After the two women worked together, Rumi realized what her secret strength is: her ability to be the other person in her writing. What’s more, the process of crafting a new opener made Rumi realize that “the part of me that I am ashamed of — being the perpetual outsider — is the very place from which my bulletproof power springs forth.”

Like Rumi, you may find that coming up with an authentic, personal introduction leads to deeper revelations in your life. “We all want to learn and figure out why we matter on this planet and in this life,” says Bloor. “And it can start with being able to answer the question ‘What do you do?’ better.”

Watch Joanna Bloor’s TED talk here:

About the author

Kara Cutruzzula is a journalist and playwright and writes Brass Ring Daily, a daily motivational newsletter about work, life and creativity.

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• Joanna Bloor
• thriving at work

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How to Introduce Yourself in English: Formal and Informal

This article covers the following areas –

Introducing yourself in formal situations, introducing yourself in informal situations, 5 tips to introduce yourself in english, final thoughts, faq: introducing yourself in english.

Introducing yourself in English, formal or informal, is an essential skill, especially in diverse social and professional settings. Let’s explore how you can do this effectively in both scenarios.

To introduce yourself in English, start with a polite greeting, state your name, and mention your role or affiliation. For formal settings, add professional details; in casual contexts, share personal interests. Use confident body language, maintain eye contact, and be genuine in your approach.

Continue reading to explore detailed tips and nuances for effective introductions in various contexts, enhancing your communication skills in diverse social and professional settings.

Well! If you are looking for a book or a guide to help you learn and improve your English, you may try English Made Easy Volume One: A New ESL Approach: Learning English Through Pictures (Amazon Link) . This book creatively uses pictures and text in tandem to revolutionize English language learning, making it easier to understand and more effective overall.

To introduce yourself formally in English, start with a polite greeting like “Good morning/afternoon.” State your full name and professional role or affiliation. Briefly mention the purpose of your introduction and add relevant details. Conclude with a respectful closing remark.

In formal settings, like business meetings, interviews, or academic environments, it’s important to be concise and clear while showing respect and professionalism.

1. Start with a Greeting

When introducing yourself formally, it is essential to begin with a polite greeting . This sets a respectful tone and grabs the listener’s attention.

Common greetings include “Good morning,” “Good afternoon,” or a simple “Hello.” The choice of greeting can depend on the time of day and the formality of the situation.

For instance, in a business meeting, “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” is more appropriate, whereas “Hello” might be suitable for less formal settings.

2. Share Full Name

After the initial greeting, state your full name. This is particularly important in formal settings where clear identification is essential.

In very formal situations, you might include a title, such as “Dr.” or “Mr./Ms.,” before your name. This helps set a professional tone and hints at your educational or professional background. For instance, using “Dr.” indicates high academic achievement.

3. Tell Your Professional Affiliation

Next, mention your professional role or affiliation. This provides context to your introduction and helps the listener understand your background and expertise.

For example, you might say, “I am the Marketing Manager at XYZ Corporation,” or “I am a graduate student at ABC University.” This step is crucial, especially when meeting someone in a professional setting for the first time, as it helps establish your professional identity.

4. Explain the Purpose of the Introduction

Briefly mention the reason for your introduction. This is where you align the listener with the purpose of the meeting or interaction.

For example, “I’m here to discuss the new marketing strategy” or “I’m presenting my research on renewable energy.”

This helps to set the agenda and gives the listener a clear idea of what to expect from the conversation or presentation.

5. Add Some Additional Details

Depending on the context and the audience, you might want to add more details about your professional background or the specific purpose of your meeting.

This could include your experience in the field, any special achievements, or specific aspects of your work relevant to the interaction. However, keep this part concise to maintain the attention and interest of your audience.

6. Ensure a Polite Closure

End your introduction with a polite remark. This could be an expression of gratitude, such as “Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself,” or a forward-looking statement, like “I’m looking forward to working with you.”

This concludes your introduction positively and demonstrates your eagerness and readiness for the upcoming interaction or collaboration.

Now, based on the guidelines provided above, my introduction may look like something like this. What about yours? Let us all know about each other in the comment section.

Good afternoon, I’m Niaj A A Khan, an ESL Expert. I specialize in innovative teaching methodologies for language acquisition. My purpose today is to share insights and strategies for effective ESL education. With a background in classroom teaching and curriculum development, I comprehensively understand the challenges and opportunities in ESL education. Thank you for discussing how we can enhance language learning experiences together.

An informal English introduction starts with a casual greeting like “Hi” or “Hello,” followed by your first name. Share a personal interest or connection to spark conversation, and invite the other person to engage with a friendly question or comment.

The tone is relaxed and friendly in casual settings like parties, informal gatherings, or networking events. Let’s learn in more detail.

1. Greet Casually

Starting with a casual greeting in an informal introduction sets a relaxed and friendly tone. Common greetings such as “Hi,” “Hey,” or “Hello” are perfect for this. The choice of greeting can depend on your style and the context of the meeting. A casual greeting immediately signals the interaction is friendly and laid-back, making it ideal for social settings.

2. Share Only First Name

In informal situations, using just your first name is usually enough. It makes the interaction more personal and approachable. Saying something like “I’m [First Name]” is simple yet effective. This approach is particularly suitable in casual gatherings where the atmosphere is more about making connections than exchanging formal credentials.

3. Talk about Personal Connection

Mentioning a mutual acquaintance or a relevant connection can be a great conversation starter. It creates a common ground and makes the interaction more engaging. For example, saying “I’m a friend of [Mutual Friend’s Name]” or “We met at [Event or Place].” This helps to establish a connection and can make the conversation flow more naturally.

4. Express Interest or Fun Fact

Sharing something about your interests or a fun fact about yourself can spark an interesting conversation. It could be a hobby, a recent travel experience, or something unique about your background. For instance, “I’m really into hiking and photography.” This makes the introduction more memorable and opens up the conversation for mutual interests.

5. Use Open-Ended Question

Ending with an open-ended question invites the other person into the conversation. It shows your interest in them and encourages a two-way dialogue. Questions like “What brings you here today?” or “Do you have any hobbies?” are great for this purpose. This step is crucial in making the introduction feel like the start of a conversation rather than just a statement about yourself.

6. Ensure Friendly Closure

Conclude your introduction with a friendly remark or a smile. This can be as simple as “Nice to meet you!” or “I’m glad we had a chance to chat.” A friendly closure leaves a positive impression and sets the tone for a pleasant interaction.

Based on the guidelines above, my introduction in an informal setting may look like this.

Hi, I’m Niaj. I’m here with my colleague Sara, who’s wearing the blue scarf. I’m passionate about ESL teaching and enjoy exploring new cultures through language. What about you? Do you have any interests or hobbies you’re passionate about?

Now it’s your turn! How would you introduce yourself informally? Share in the comments, and let’s get to know each other in a fun, casual way!

In formal or informal settings, introducing oneself effectively in English is an essential skill. Mastering this art requires more than just verbal communication; it involves a combination of body language, active listening, cultural sensitivity, confidence, and authenticity.

Well, before moving forward, I would like to share about a book that can help you improve your conversational skills. 110 Real Life English Conversations (Amazon Link) is a great book for ESL learners and teachers, providing various conversation and situational dialogues, 223 everyday English expressions, and idioms. It’ll certainly help you to gain the confidence to speak English in real life.

Use proper Body Language

Body language is a crucial aspect of both formal and informal introductions. It communicates confidence and approachability.

In formal settings, a firm handshake signifies professionalism and respect. Eye contact is essential in both scenarios as it conveys attention and sincerity. A warm smile, regardless of the setting, helps to create a friendly and open atmosphere. Remember, your body language often speaks as loudly as your words.

Listen Actively

After introducing yourself, giving the other person your full attention is important. Active listening involves maintaining eye contact, nodding, and reacting appropriately to what the other person is saying. This not only shows respect but also helps build rapport. It’s about showing that you are genuinely interested in what they say, which is vital in formal and informal interactions.

Adapt to Cultural Norms

Awareness of cultural differences is key, especially in international or diverse settings. Different cultures have different norms for introductions and interactions. For instance, the appropriate distance to maintain, the level of direct eye contact, and how to address someone can vary widely.

Being sensitive and adaptable to these norms shows respect and cultural awareness, which is highly appreciated in both formal and informal settings.

Be Confident

Confidence is about speaking clearly and at a moderate pace, showing that you are comfortable and self-assured. However, it’s crucial to strike a balance and avoid appearing arrogant.

In a formal introduction, confidence reflects your professionalism; in an informal setting, it makes you seem more approachable. Confidence can be practiced and improved over time, significantly impacting how others perceive you.

Authenticity is the key to a memorable introduction. People are generally more receptive to someone who comes across as genuine and sincere. This means being true to yourself in how you speak and act.

While professionalism is crucial in formal situations, it doesn’t mean you can’t be personable. In informal settings, being genuine helps create a relaxed and comfortable environment. Authenticity builds trust and facilitates better connections.

Remember, the way you introduce yourself can set the tone for the entire interaction, so it’s worth paying attention to these aspects.

mastering the art of introducing yourself in English, both formally and informally, is a key interpersonal skill. It involves the right words, appropriate body language, cultural sensitivity, and authenticity.

Whether in a boardroom or a social gathering, a well-crafted introduction sets the stage for meaningful interactions and lasting impressions. By adapting these guidelines to your specific context, you can navigate introductions with confidence and ease.

If you have further questions or suggestions about anything specific related to this topic or anything else related to learning English as a second language, feel free to ask me in the comment box. You may also help the ESLA community by putting your valuable suggestions here to help every member improve their English language skills.

1. What are some basic phrases for introducing myself in a formal setting?

In formal settings, use phrases like “Hello, my name is [Your Name],” or “Good [morning/afternoon/evening], I’m [Your Name], [Your Position or Relation].” Keep it simple and professional.

2. How should I introduce myself informally?

In informal settings, it’s often appropriate to be more relaxed. You can simply say, “Hi, I’m [Your Name],” or even “Hey there, I’m [Your Name].”

3. Should I offer a handshake when introducing myself?

In many cultures, a handshake is a standard part of a formal introduction. However, be mindful of cultural differences and current health guidelines. In informal situations, a handshake may be less necessary.

4. How can I make my introduction more memorable?

Add a unique detail or a friendly smile. For example, “Hello, I’m [Your Name], the one who recently moved from [City/Country]” or “I’m [Your Name], I’m passionate about [Hobby/Interest].”

5. Is it important to make eye contact when introducing myself?

Yes, making eye contact is considered important in formal and informal settings as it conveys confidence and sincerity.

6. How can I introduce myself in a group setting?

In a group, wait for the right moment and then introduce yourself to the group as a whole. You might say, “Hi everyone, I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m [Your Name].”

7. What if I forget someone’s name immediately after they introduce themselves?

It’s okay to ask again politely. You can say, “I’m sorry, could you remind me of your name?” It shows you’re genuinely interested in getting to know them.

8. Should I mention my job or profession in every introduction?

In formal settings, it’s often relevant. In informal settings, gauge the context; mentioning interests or mutual connections might be more appropriate.

9. How can I respond if I don’t catch someone’s name during an introduction?

Politely ask them to repeat it. Saying something like, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” is perfectly acceptable.

10. Is it okay to use humor when introducing myself?

In informal settings, light humor can be a good icebreaker. It’s best to stick to a straightforward introduction in formal situations unless the context is relaxed.

Related Posts

How to Ask for Feedback in English at Work

How to Negotiate Salary During an English Job Interview

10 Other Ways to Say “Have a Good Day!”

How to Differently Say, “It was a pleasure meeting you.”

Niaj A A Khan

Niaj A A Khan is an ESL Instructor with over 8 years of experience in teaching & developing resources at different universities and institutes. Mr. Khan is also a passionate writer working on his first book, "Learn English at Ease."

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• Career Counselling /

Free Samples To Introduce Yourself in an Essay

• Updated on  
• Dec 13, 2023

Have you ever wondered what is the reason behind introduction essays? We can give a speech or self-introduction on ourselves. Then why write a self-introduction essay? Introducing yourself in an essay allows the audience or reviewer to understand your writing skills and self-awareness about yourself. However, how you introduce yourself can set the tone for the rest of your essay and leave a lasting impression on your readers. Further, a good introduction will also ensure you can hold the attention of the reader. This blog will explore some good ways to introduce yourself in an essay.

This Blog Includes:

Start with a hook, provide some background information, state your thesis, explain the purpose of your essay , conclude with a call to action, personal narrative essay, persuasive essay.

Also Read: Self Introduction Samples for Master’s Degree

How to Introduce Yourself in an Essay?

A strong introduction can grab your reader’s attention and make them interested in reading more. Here are some tips to introduce yourself in a good way for an essay: 

The first sentence of your essay should grab your reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. You can achieve this by starting it with a hook, which can be a surprising fact, an interesting quote, or a provocative statement. 

After you have hooked your reader, you can provide some background information about yourself. This can include your name where you are from, your educational background, or any relevant experiences that relate to the topic of your essay.

Also Read: Best Way to Start an Introduction About Yourself

Your thesis statement is the most important part of your essay and should be introduced early on in your introduction. Your thesis statement should clearly state your main argument or point of view on the topic you are writing about.

After you have introduced yourself and stated your thesis,  you should explain the purpose of your essay. This can include why you are writing the essay, what you hope to achieve with your writing, and what your readers can expect from your essay. 

Finally, you can conclude your introduction with a call to action. This can be a sentence or two that encourages your readers to take action or think about your topic in a new way.  

Samples 

Here are some sample introductions for different types of essays:

Growing up, I never imagined that a single moment could change the trajectory of my life. But that’s exactly what happened on a hot summer day when I was twelve years old.

Imagine a world where everyone had access to clean drinking water. It’s a simple concept, yet millions of people around the globe are still without this basic necessity. 

Here is a sample of how to introduce yourself in an essay.

Hello! My name is [Your Name], and I am delighted to have the opportunity to introduce myself to you.

I was born and raised in [Your Birthplace], a place that holds a special corner in my heart for its rich cultural heritage and warm community. Growing up, I was surrounded by a loving family that instilled in me the values of honesty, perseverance, and kindness.

From an early age, I developed a keen interest in [Your Passion or Hobby], which has become a significant part of my life. Whether it’s [describe a specific experience or achievement related to your passion], I find immense joy and fulfilment in pursuing my passion.

In terms of education, I completed my [Your Degree] at [Your University]. During my academic journey, I not only gained valuable knowledge in my field but also cultivated essential skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication.

On the professional front, I have had the privilege of working in [Your Industry or Field] for the past [Number of Years]. My experiences have allowed me to collaborate with diverse teams, tackle challenging projects, and continuously learn and grow. I am particularly proud of [mention a specific accomplishment or project], which showcased my ability to [highlight a skill or quality you possess].

In my leisure time, you can often find me [Your Hobbies or Interests]. Whether it’s [specific activities or hobbies], I cherish these moments as they allow me to recharge and maintain a healthy work-life balance

At last, I would like to say that I am someone who values integrity, embraces lifelong learning, and seeks to make a meaningful difference in the world. I am eager to connect, collaborate, and learn from the diverse experiences and perspectives that others bring to the table.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know me a little better. I look forward to the exciting journey ahead and the chance to learn more about you as well.

Related Articles

Your introduction should be long enough to introduce yourself, provide some background information, state your thesis, and explain the purpose of your essay. However, it should not be too long and should not contain any unnecessary information.

Yes, using a quote can be a great way to start your essay, especially if it relates to the topic you are writing about. Just make sure to cite the source of the quote properly.

No, a call to action is not necessary in every essay. However, if your essay is meant to inspire action or change, including a call to action can be a powerful way to end your introduction.

By following these steps, you can create a strong introduction that will grab your reader’s attention and set the stage for the rest of your essay. We hope you can implement the tips provided here and set the tone for your next essay.

For more information on such related topics to level up your interview preparations, visit our  interview preparation  page. Check out our  career counselling  blogs and follow  Leverage edu.

Simran Popli

An avid writer and a creative person. With an experience of 1.5 years content writing, Simran has worked with different areas. From medical to working in a marketing agency with different clients to Ed-tech company, the journey has been diverse. Creative, vivacious and patient are the words that describe her personality.

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Write About Yourself: Tips and Prompts

by Joe Bunting and Sue Weems | 199 comments

When you have to write about yourself, do you hit a roadblock? If so, you're not alone. There are a number of situations when you have to write about yourself for school, work, or publication. Let's break down a few ways to make it easier and then use some prompts to get you started.

When Do You Have to Write About Yourself?

Several scenarios might require you to write about yourself from personal essays to job applications and biography blurbs. 

The key for each is to think about the purpose and the target audience. Then shape your personal history or life experience into a well-crafted piece of writing that meets those needs of purpose and audience. 

Let's look at a few of the most common scenarios where you have to write about yourself. 

Personal Essays

Personal essays aren't just for high school. A personal essay typically reflects some aspect of your life that you are sharing for a specific purpose. Many college applications or scholarship applications ask for a college essay or personal statement to help them get to know you as a student or applicant. 

If it's for a university or school application, you might write about:

• academic achievements
• personal accomplishments
• difficult experiences that helped you grow
• personal stories that relate to your desired field of study

Personal essays will have a friendly tone regardless of the essay topic. The personal examples you include or the personal stories you tell will need to be focused tightly on the audience and purpose. If you're trying to get into a university engineering program, you don't want to write about a pet's passing.

Your story of losing a pet is likely moving and will tell committee members about you and your personality traits, but it won't communicate why you might be a good fit for their school or program. 

If you're writing a personal essay for a course in narrative or memoir, then of course, your story of your pet's passing would likely be a solid choice. 

Personal Essay Prompts

1. Tell about a time you overcame a significant hardship.

2. Describe an interest that makes you lose track of time. 

3. Tell the story of an experience or person who changed the way you thought or lived.

4. Describe a time you overcame rejection or fear.

5. How has your community shaped you as a person?

Job Applications

More and more job applications include personal statement sections or questions that ask you to describe your professional experience in more detail. Job seekers are often used to listing out bullet points on a resume, so writing about yourself can feel uncomfortable, even in a letter of introduction. 

In professional settings and applications, you want to focus on four elements as you write about yourself:

• relevant experience
• recent professional accomplishments
• personal details that enhance your qualifications
• specializations

Again, keep your purpose and audience in mind. If you're having trouble narrowing down your relevant experience, consider looking at the job listing to see what they require of applicants. That way, you tailor your experience to what the position requires.

Some common job application prompts

1. Tell us about yourself. (They aren't asking about your favorite food or vacation last year! Focus on professional experiences.)

2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

3. How have you managed conflict in former roles?

4. Describe your strongest professional accomplishments.

5. Why do you want to work here?

Remember, each of these questions is designed to help a company get to know you as a professional—share only relevant stories and details that align with that purpose. 

Author or Speaker Biographies

As a writer (or speaker!), you need an author biography to include on any publications. These can be short 100 word statements that give the audience a sense of who you are as a person.

Again, the purpose and audience matters. If you are a scholar writing and speaking on a topic in your academic field, it's appropriate to list your relevant degrees and major publications to build a sense of credibility and authority. 

If you're a fiction author, your biography will likely reflect a few personal details that are meant to connect with readers in a positive light. 

The best way to know what will connect with your intended audience, is to look at the biographies and About the Author pages in books like your own. 

A few things you might include in an author or speaker biography:

• where you live (generally speaking—not your personal address)
• themes you explore
• awards, recognition, or other publications
• relevant personal background info

You can see our full guide here on writing an author biography here .

Prompts for author or speaker biographies

1. What are the two most important things for your audience to know about you?

2. Find two authors writing in the same genre you are. Write your biography using their bios as models. 

3. What themes do you explore in your work and why are they important to you? Write them out, and then condense.

4. What experience or awards are relevant to your work? List them out and pick the top two.

5. Make a list of all the things that you likely have in common with your target audience. Choose two to include in your biography. 

How to Write About Yourself 

Whenever you're asked to write about yourself, take it as a challenge to share relevant personal experiences with vivid details and your unique point of view. Remember that you're not sharing your entire life story. Stick to short personal anecdotes and pay attention to your purpose and audience. 

How do you feel about writing about yourself? What tips have made it easier? Share in the comments.  

Choose one of the prompts above. Set the timer for 15 minutes and write about yourself without stopping. If you don't have an essay, job app, or bio to write, then simply try to capture something true about yourself and your experience in the world today.

When time is up, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop here and leave feedback to encourage a few other writers too.

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

199 Comments

This is one of my favorite ways to write 🙂 Except I like to use “you”, as if I am talking to myself and telling myself what I am doing or have already done.

He sits in his office chair, staring at the computer screen. In the cube next to him he can hear the sound of a coworker banging on a loud keyboard. The printer spits out paper after paper, other co workers talk and laugh. “I would never want to be a landlord.” “It’s not so bad.” The light of the mid morning day streams in behind him as he works on his assignments, filling in forms, completing spreadsheets, answering emails. Sometimes he thinks the entire job is all about email management. How did he get to this place, to this life? Simple, small choices add up until years later he finds himself bored and unenthusiastic about where he is. His cell buzzes next to him, notifying him of a text message. He checks it, hoping to see a message from his girlfriend but finds instead a message from his ex-wife. He ignores it. Chatter continues around him, papers turning, the mail delivery guy singing to himself pushing a squeaky cart down the aisles. Time passes under the glow of fluorescent lights and the hum of overhead heaters. The fan on his laptop starts spinning and he places his hand next to the computer to feel the warmth blowing out from it. Simple pleasures. He puts headphones on to drown out the noises and looks at his plan once again. The way out. Hope for a future of freedom and joy, real life, not the feeling of entrapment and stagnant death. It all begins with courage. The courage to face up to the difficult choices ahead, courage to face his fears, courage to be honest and real with himself and those all around him. It starts now.

I learned a long time ago that I am not trapped in any place in my life. I think the truest thing you said was to be honest and real with yourself. This certainly touched a chord in me.

I continue to learn that lesson. I’m glad the message touched you.

brilliantly inspiring. I don’t know if you meant for that. Like it!

I’ll take it, thanks!

i’m intrigued as to what the details of “his plan” are; like the mystery with which you end your last paragraph.

i might try deleting certain phrases to slim it down. for example, i might get rid of “notifying him of a text message” after “His cell buzzes next to him” and just end the sentence there, since in the next sentence you talk about anticipating a message from a certain someone.

“email management.” i like how it all reminds me of the movie office space but has more depth. thanks for sharing!

Thanks Sara, great feedback!

Josh, I recognized the office. In fact I think I worked there. Good job. I like your last sentance. “It starts now.” If you were writing about a fictional character would he get up and walk out of that office then?

You got it Vicki!

I love how you wrote your piece this morning. It shows your longing to discover who you want to be..

Here’s my attempt at it:

The morning starts as it always does, with the cold seeping into her bones. Although she is under the covers somewhere there is a gap in the covers because the cold invades her dreams. AS she wakes her thoughts begin to race as she wondered where her writing will take her. Which story will she choose and what will she learn about herself from her Characters today.

Because the cold works to sap her energy as she pulls herself from the covers, she sets her feet on the rug. She feels older then she is. Reaching for her robe she works to keep the dreams fresh in her mind so shemay write them on paper before they are lost forever never to resurface again. Until she is away from writing instruments.

With her eyes barely slits she shuffles to the kitchen to start her day. Knowing where everything is she begins the task of making coffee and waits impatiently as it heats. Finally with her cup filled she carefully moves to her desk by the window and takes a seat. Pushing the button that awakes her ‘baby’, she listens for the hum as it awakes ready to take in what her fingers type.

What will her writing revel to her today as she steps one step closer to discovering who she is, for she can only know these secrets when her fingers what no one else will see.

But we want to see the secrets. 🙂 I’m intrigued.

When I finish writing I will share with you, then we’ll both know. *smiles*

Good timing! This is the morning I am having. And having written this, I know what I am going to do.

My practice…

In a moment of utter frustration, she walked away from the computer. The story in her head wouldn’t form; it came out in bits and pieces.

She knew she needed more research but couldn’t find what she wanted. How do you explain a world when your perspective is that of a child? While the world swirled around her, she didn’t take notice. As a child, she didn’t care about things she couldn’t comprehend.

The story’s important. It’s a tale of innocence that was destroyed by events she didn’t understand. The story’s old. Ruth died 46 years ago. The anger at her death is old too but doesn’t seem to lessen. Sometimes, it seems like it happened yesterday. The images of the last day are clear. The sounds and the smells are as fresh now as they were then.

Again, frustration overtook her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to change her perspective to that as an adult. The child in her would not let go. It was easy enough to check dates and events but those were just the things that happened to other people outside her realm. In their small neighborhood, none of the global events affected them. They had been sheltered from the reality of the adult world.

Years later when she was able to piece the events together, she realized what had happened. She was angry all over again. And the child in her took over, raging at the adults who let it happen, who shattered the innocence forever.

“Screw this,” she thought. She sat back down at the computer and started to write. “I am going to write it from the child’s perspective.”

Yay! That’s what I was hoping for!

Throughout your piece I KNOW what you are writing about. The fact you were able to make me feel your pain and frustration, without actually describing the acts that caused them,

I really like your practice, Joe. Here’s mine:

Alicia should be ashamed of herself, but she isn’t. She should be working on her recent assignment but has yet to make it past 16 words, and she still doesn’t hate herself. Instead of getting paid to write, she’s spent the last hour writing about why she loves writing and reading about writing. Does that bother her? No. Should it? Probably.

Alicia normally has a full cup of self-discipline, but with the end of the semester approaching, she just wants a break, and it can’t get here soon enough. So she finds comfort on her couch, crosses her legs, and types whatever comes to mind through her fingers. She lets the writing consume her, take it where she needs to go, until she can muster up the energy to begin her assignment.

But the day is still young, and it’s quiet in the living room, with just the soft sound of running water in the fish tanks to calm her nerves. And while Alicia’s been stressing all week over her endless to-do list, she’s calm now because she gets to write about what she loves and learn how to improve her talents.

Alicia glances at the clock, and her heart flutters with annoyance. She had planned to finish her assignment before heading back to class, and now she only has an hour to research and write 675 words to meet this goal. She narrows her eyes. Will she be able to do it? Or will part of the article have to wait for later? She exits out of the extra tabs on her browser, even the pages she has yet to read, and prepares to settle down and get to the writing she should actually be doing.

Love that “the writing consumes her” and the “water in the fish tanks calm her nerves”. She “writes about what she loves”….the best reason to write!

Thanks for the feedback. I wasn’t actually sure how I did since I was in a rush.

She had been up for two hours and only after making picky- eating- nutritionally- acceptable breakfasts, appetizing yet balanced lunch boxes with the right sized plastic containers to fit every corner of the bento boxes, looking for toys, crazy loom bracelets, socks, shoes, super hero shirts, underpants and sweatshirts, negotiating every minute of TV watching and making up games to get everyone off to school on time, only then, she was able to finally sit and be herself. It took making sure that the 4th grader had the confidence to ask classmates to come to his birthday, even though they “think I’m weird” and that the 3 year old could look forward to playing with preschool toys instead of swords and handle being away from his mommy for at least four hours straight. It took giving more than what she had, setting aside her needs, her feelings, her frustration, her anger, her timing, her opinions, her natural inclination to wake up slowly into the world, to induce her children into a hostile world that had to contain them while she could become a person again. A person who had to reconstruct herself everyday at 9 am; reviving memories, making sense of goals and lost dreams, making sure she retained the spark in between errands and chimerical schemes.

[whew]. i feel like i got caught in the whirlwind with you.

Love all of it, but especially the lines, “It took giving more than what she had, setting aside her needs, her feelings, her frustration, her anger, her timing, her opinions, her natural inclination to wake up slowly into the world, to induce her children into a hostile world that had to contain them while she could become a person again. A person who had to reconstruct herself everyday at 9 am; reviving memories, making sense of goals and lost dreams” … you have captured many moms’ gut-wrenching feelings, and done us proud!

Been there, done that. I’m right with you on this. It is but a thumbnail sketch of a mother’s morning.

Ditto. My kids are grown, but you took me back. And your last sentence is spot on, with or without kids underfoot.

Her days are filled with projects and a certain urgency to life, a hurry to complete goals before time floats away. Her head is full of stories, imaginary and fully lived. A favorite time of day is retiring to the small office, just off the kitchen, where she writes. One wall of the office features an oil painting by her sister of a mountain scene, another photo depicts the Appalachian mountains with low clouds floating like angels across the peaks. A small window allows a glimpse of sky, a few leaves tumbling out of the roof gutter and the imprint of a dizzy bird which hit the window. Stories spill out of her mind as fast as she can type, with hesitation just long enough to find the right words to transfer an image to paper. The urgency is there: don’t let the memory fade, the precious moment escape before sharing it. Her heart is overwhelmed with gratitude for life itself. Sticky notes surround her desk: a reminder to read a new book, a list of stories to be included in a collection, several titles for her book, a reminder to run a backup disk of all her writing. Every week she reads books to elementary school children, pouring out her love of written words to children dominated by TV and the Xbox. Others her age have passed on to a different life. Time is precious. She considers the title for a blog, “Not Done Yet”.

so. i forgot to describe my surroundings. it’s been awhile since i’ve done a prompt! i think the last time was to help me get started on my personal statement, so maybe this one will rev me up again for the final onslaught/phases of my applications. thanks, joe. now i have to resist the temptation to revise this instead of working on apps. 😛

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Desperate times calls for desperate measures, she thought as she clicked “Deactivate” on the screen. This might’ve been a good weekend to hole up in a cabin, somewhere in the Hudson Valley, maybe. But with what money? She’s trying her best to resist the plastic precious in her wallet.

She’s also trying her best to focus on the many tasks at hand. Revise her resume for one school. Send a Hail Mary email to a professor for a letter of recommendation. Write about how she would add diversity — convincingly, too; debunk the notion that there are enough Asian females in law school, and in law in general.

She also wants to do the right thing. Her heart has entered yet another spin cycle of “Does he like me like me?” She’s not tired of being wrong, she’s tired of the uncertainty. She’d rather know if he’s just not that into her — those late night text messages actually don’t count?! — and be put out of her misery.

But it’ll hurt anyway. Is it wrong that she just so happened to connect with someone else that might actually be into her? She thinks there might be something there…

But she still can’t forget how quickly the two of them connected. How they met twice in the span of one day. Who does that?

She clocked in at the library and went to sit down at the library’s little coffee bar. If she she was lucky she would have time to study in between customers… if she was lucky. Her eyes scanned the little library…. it looked like it would be a slow day. Time to study… but would she use it? It seemed forever ago since she had started the semester and now she was almost done… not really done though… school always just seemed to keep on going. Semester after semester…. year after year. “Study,” she told herself, but her mind would not focus. Too much had happened to not just take a moment to think about. Sometimes she wondered if God liked to see her scrambling so she could remember… remember Him. She’d had so many instances to turn her mind to God that week, too many times it felt like… and probably many more times in the future. She sighed. Study.

I can see myself playing this mental/spiritual game too.

She wakes before the clock radio starts muttering. Realizing that she slept through the night makes her giddy. Yes. All right! A full night’s sleep. The Holy Grail. She wakes rested and ready to take on the day, but not quite yet. Husband breathes deeply next to her in the king-size bed she loves. Day has not dawned, but there is enough ambient glow from night lights and electronics to take in the cloud-like expanse of their white comforter. This is her nest, her safe haven. She would be embarrassed to tell anyone how much she loves this retreat, with its cathedral ceiling, extravagant crown molding, paintings and family photos. It is hidden away in a corner of their townhouse that looks like hundreds of neighboring abodes from the exterior. And yet, even though she shares it, she coverts time alone here to read, to write. to muse.

Love this…can relate (except the husband part) … laughed out loud re: “She would be embarrassed to tell anyone how much she loves this retreat, with its cathedral ceiling, extravagant crown molding, paintings and family photos.” Men are not the only ones who have their caves! Your retreat sounds so cozy and I share your love for having my own comfy hideaway, my respite from a sometimes chaotic outside world!

Tami, I hadn’t thought of my retreat as the equivalent of a man cave. That made me smile and nod.

She might have been embarrassed to share how much she enjoys her retreat, but I’m glad she did. Loved that thought. And knowing people who struggle hoping to get a good night’s sleep, I understand giddy. I liked your piece.

Anne, Thanks for affirming that what I was feeling came across.

I empathize with the feeling of not wanting to move from your space, to actually enjoy what you’ve bought, cleaned, and decorated.

Thank you, Susan. It feels so good to know that my words connected with you.

She would always hide in the corner, and curse quietly in a funny little accent she wouldn’t dare identify if you remembered her name. She’s usually silent, invisible, and overly polite, but once you got her to start talking there was no end to her rapid fire run-on sentences, stretched analogies, and skewed logic, peppered with random facts acquired from a long reading history or else personal experience. Sometimes people gather around her and just listen, if they can follow, and it’s the only time they see her at all–when she’s rambling incessantly. She gets weird looks from everyone around her and it’s one of the only things in the entire world that make her smile. Ah yes! The humans think she’s an oddling! Cue the fanfare.

She’s willing to talk about almost anything, but sometimes certain things come up and she quiets right back down and doesn’t say another word for hours. Did you hear about that celebrity that just got diagnosed with cancer? How about that girl who killed herself? The dude caught dealing drugs and killed a cop? And what about that serial rapist they just caught?

If you looked closer, you might see the way she trembles. You might guess what sinister reminders it brought.

But she’s not talking, and nobody sees her when she isn’t talking.

I’m not sure why this doesn’t have more comments, because you’re certainly not silent in your writing.

Beautiful, beautiful! I can identify with her, silent and invisible, until she speaks, and people listen because her words are rare, precious and unique!

She lays back in the chair, hair still damp, her skin glistening. The smell of coconut oil conjures up tropical beaches and swaying palms; a strong contrast to the snow covered view through the window. As her eyes open, grey as the sky, she thinks of tomorrow. A fresh pot of coffee, followed by a quick pick up, and since the heavy chores are done the day will unfold as she chooses. She anticipates choosing to think about things that have not yet been thought. She anticipates the time to remember things that deserve remembering, and maybe some that do not. Perhaps since she’s been ‘good’ she can start now. After all, she can’t see the clock from where she sits so time is not really passing. It is better, she thinks, to measure time by what gets finished- a thought, a smile, a loaf of bread, a good book.

Very nice mood, here. I can totally picture it.

Thank you, Susan. Maybe now that the mood is down on paper, I can conjure it up on demand 😉

You’re welcome. I love writing that evokes (invokes?) mood.

Evoke vs Invoke- Initially evoke worked for me, the idea that the writing “calls up” a mood. But then your choice had me googling- and I like that invoke suggests an active calling, maybe even with incantations. And I see that I posted more than once in response to your initial comment….time for that second pot of coffee!

I’ll join you for coffee.

Thank you Susan. I liked hearing that you can picture the mood.

“After all, she can’t see the clock from where she sits so time is not really passing.” What a great line! An inner thought that probably all of us have felt, but never quite put into words. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you. This is my first prompt exercise and it is lovely to get feedback. I had recently had a conversation with a friend about the bane of electronics and clocks in our lives so I suppose that this thought has been brewing for a while. When I saw the 15 minute limit for the prompt, I ‘promptly’ turned away from the clock and so…..

What about the numbers that rule our lives?

Well, only if we let them….but truly, people impart a magic to the ‘right number’. Just look at how the media uses numbers: the TEN best, SEVEN most……

I was thinking of our numbers for social securiy, bank accounts, cellphones, passports, vehicle registrations, etc. Must admit they bring a sort of order to everything.

very nice description of your thoughts, feels like a calm mind

Thank you. I think that writing brings me calmness.

Those are wonderful measuring tools. Enjoyed this peaceful peace. Wondered if she was drinking a cup of tea as she sat there. Nice.

Thanks. And no, she was not drinking a cuppa. But the pot was set to boil.

Very simple, but very effective. I love her thoughts on time- just passing thoughts, but important all the same

“It is better, she thinks, to measure time by what gets finished- a thought, a smile, a loaf of bread, a good book.” I really loved this. The true value of time is found in the things that make it special.

13:23 to 13:38 She prefers numbers to words. The numbers maintain their meaning whether she says them or someone else tells them to her. She’s sitting outside this afternoon, warming in the sun, thawed out for the first time today. The sofa faces the garden, downhill and she sifts through the chores in her mind, the only way she knows how to avoid getting up, finding her garden gloves and walking down and through the gate to get dirty. But today she has limited time, a to do list perched on her desk reminding her to stay on task. Lunch has been eaten, dishes cleared away. It was bean soup, the same thing she’ll have for dinner tonight and the same thing she’ll have for lunch again tomorrow. She would be happy as a dog, eating the same food every day. She read and wrote on her lunch break instead of rushing back inside to sit at her desk and finish the lingering items. What was the use? There would never be a day without a long list if to do items. She abandoned her desk every day at lunch. She demanded outdoor sunshine, the smell of dirt and the sounds of birds and bugs, of leaves skittering across the pavement. The same wind that scattered the leaves made the chimes release their music. Planes roared over head at thirty thousand feet. The numbers would call her back soon enough. She’d arrange and rearrange them and send them off in different forms to different departments. She didn’t believe for a minute that anyone read or analyzed her numbers but since she was paid to do it, she worked the spreadsheets and calculator. One day she’d total everything up in a today package and start using words. A backlog was developing and she knew that one day they would have to come spilling out across pages and pages and books and books. The End

Yes, one day the words would have to come out. They can’t be jammed in there forever. I liked the wind that scattered the leaves and made the chimes release their music. I also like how she had to choose between numbers and words. Though I have made similar choices, I still prefer the words. They dance.

Numbers…the universal language…

I felt a bit wistful (on her behalf) reading this.

The Yahoo Mail waiting symbol chugged slowly in a circle as it pulled messages from who knows where. He wasn’t too worried or impatient, though. It had only been a couple days, and he was sure there wouldn’t be a response yet. Even if there were, he was prepared.

99.5 percent of new authors are rejected, he’d told himself a thousand times. And he believed it.

On top of that, he wasn’t crazy about his query letter. And, after reading his manuscript a hundred times over, he’d decided there were parts he positively hated. But this was a crucial step. Unlike all those other times in his life, he was saying, “Fuck you” to fear. It felt nice, and was especially easy this time, because he knew exactly what would happen. In fact, he was downright excited to get that first rejection.

I’m putting myself out there.

Smiling to himself, he clicked the “Check e-mail” button for the hundredth time that week.

This time, a new message appeared, and he gasped after reading the familiar e-mail address.

This was it. And he was ready. More than ready; this wasn’t even one of his favorite agents. He had decided to submit to a couple ‘middle of the pack’ agents, first. That way, he could hone, as needed, for the big dogs.

Not even bothering to take a breath, he clicked the e-mail and its contents flashed on the screen.

Dear author:

Blah blah blah blah blah blah Rejected blah blah blah blah.

Sincerely, Agent

He stared at the screen, wide-eyed. There it was, exactly as he had expected. And, exactly as expected, he tried to grin and nod to himself.

But something different happened.

For some reason, his neck faltered and his head hung like a corpse.

Then, before he could stop himself, he’d lowered himself to the desk. The second his forehead touched the cool metal, his eyes overflowed, and he choked a sob into his keyboard.

This is such a great portrayal! Though I haven’t gotten that brave yet, I can see myself acting and reacting just the way this guy does, even after he’s steeled himself for rejection!

Thanks!! This actually happened *today* :/ It’s a little exaggerated but the wash of emotions was definitely accurate. Oh well, it will get easier! And if I can be that brave (although I wouldn’t call it that, lol), anyone can.

He should just remind himself how many times some bestsellers were rejected. They say you don’t finish a novel, you abandon it. We’re always learning. Right till the moment when we write our last words and curl our toes.

Just a hint of light was showing through the datk navy roman shades. The three cats were already restless, anxious to be fed. Ghost, the smallest of the three, curled up next to her right ear purring loudly. Brother began to paw at her feet, nibbling on her toes. The third cat, pounced onto the bed, and curled himself onto her belly.

Pulling the covers over her head, she moaned. “I’m not ready to get up yet guys. Go away.” Flexing her right shoulder, she dislodged Ghost and rolled onto her left side. The cats, sensing her mood, quickly.vacated the bed.

Like a blow, the large empty space in her bed confronted her. This was where her husband should be. Instead, on the nightstand next to his spot sat a black box. It contained all that was left of the man she had loved for thirty.seven years. Seeing the box always caused her to sob. Crying was better than not having something of him with her. She reached over and touched the box. “I love you sweetheart.”

Slowly she swung her legs out of bed and sat up on the edge. The room around her was cluttered, dirty, and disorganized. She sighed and heaved herself slowly up, holding to the edge of the bed for balance. Already her back ached and hard pain shot down her left leg. As she reached for.her mefication bag her shoulder screamed, “time for.a pain pill.” Hastily.she swallowed a handful of meds. In thirty minutes she would feel better.

The boys were now milling around her feet, begging to be fed. First she bent and scooped the nights gifts from the litter box. Then, she filled thier bowl with dry food topped with a can of tuna. With her furry children content, she finally turned to her laptop.

Now was her time, in the quiet morning hours, to put words on a blank page. This was what kept her getting out of bed each day. This was the gift she gave herself, permission to create.

I like the “nights gifts from the litter box”.

She’s surrounded by her favorite entity – words. A long bookshelf mostly contaning classics, hangs overhead, winding the wall. Small hands with slim fingers type on the laptop placed on her lap. Though the room is dim, christmas lights hang around the window, cast a festive glow. The black coated corgi keeps her company, laying at her feet and occasionally popping up for a pet. The girl, for she is not fully a woman, bites her pink lips and runs her hands along her auburn hair when stuck for ideas. As she writes away in her second book, thoughts of doubt begin to creep in. For a minute, her hands stall and the fire drains from her green eyes when she listens to the lies. Is it worth it? Who would read it anyway? Success has been slim thus far, why would this book bring a different fortune? With a sigh she glances at the books behind her. Some of them are so tattered that the binding is becoming undone, so often has it been read. Very few of them are from this century and as she ponders why, she turns to her work again, mindful of her passion. She MUST write this story for the love of good literature, wholesome stories and beautiful writing. Though in many ways, she knows she lacks necessary experience, that is why she must write all the more. So that perhaps one day, she can contribute to the world that has helped her so, if not just to say thank you.

I love this picture! The Christmas lights around the window, the black corgi for company, shelves of old books for inspiration, small hands on the laptop. I’m a bit confused by listening “to the lies”? Maybe you could expand on that a little? Very touched by “she can contribute to the world that has helped her, if not just to say thank you.” Thanks for sharing.

I really identify with the “lies”, for that’s what many of our self-doubts are. Also the good books on the wall, I share that affinity, and very few of mine are from this century either! And writing as a thank-you to the world is a beautiful idea. Good work!

Thank you! I’m glad I’m not the only one 🙂

Isn’t that how it is for us writers? To be compelled to keep on writing, not knowing how successful we will be. We owe it to the craft itself, to write, not just to be published, but to become better. Good empathy.

As if swimming were not lonely enough, she ventures off to the beach for an open water swim. All by her lonesome. She and her sisters coined this part of the shore, “Lonely Beach.” It was where they went when they didn’t feel like being social or seen.

She waded in on a Sunday afternoon—the sky shrouded in gray humidity. Sharing the sand with an old lady walking a dog and a hippy wielding a metal detector, she sighed. Within the sigh she asked herself a question and then answered it. “Why do I do this? …You’re paddling the extra lap.”

She stood staring at her feet as the water washed over, their prints seeming like primitive clay monster feet. She crossed her arms, hugging each elbow in a palm. Her hair blew across her nose, causing it to itch. She paused to watch the guy deliberate over the metal detector. To her, it was an odd way to spend an afternoon.

Yes, she was stalling. There is a certain amount of psychological readying to taking the plunge. She bolstered herself, silently.

“You’re here.”

“You might as well get started.”

She thought that may be she was a lonely soul, an old soul. She craned her head over a shoulder to look at a vacant lifeguard stand, imagining a chiseled sun bleached body, shading his eye contact in Ray-Bans. The sign read, No Lifeguard—Swim At Own Risk. She was swimming, at her own risk.

I like the lonely feeling of the place, that certain stretch of beach, and the sense of looming risk that she stalls from facing. Her response to the sign — swimming, at her own risk — sounds like it could be a theme in the story. Good practice!

Thanks John. Yes, you nailed it. The theme for a story that is…

Hope this develops into a short story (.meant as one of the highest compliments) … want to hear more…want to know where this goes!

Thank you, Tami. I kind of cheated. This is part of a larger piece I’ve been working on for years. It was not an impromptu writing effort.

I was able to step into the image and the feelings you impart in the paragraph describing her staring at her feet, hugging her elbow,etc. Thank you.

Thanks JC. Again, writing can be so creatively charging!

Loved the primitive clay monster feet. I got to experience those when I went to Michigan with my daughter so you gave me a chance to revisit. And I almost felt like I had to brush the sand off my feet even now. Thanks for your piece. And stalling. I know stalling.

I liked how that came out too, Anne. Isn’t it great fun to create something out of the blue? Wouldn’t know it was there if I hadn’t started typing. And the word, ‘stalling’, I had to use that. It is a strong verb.

Mister Computer says it’s 34 degrees Fahrenheit. The rain hasn’t started yet; they’re saying it could be worse than at the 2011 Superbowl. If it sleets/snows, the office will be closed and he won’t have to go and repeat yesterday’s terrifying wrestling-match: answering calls, first-day panic, taking questions he didn’t know the answers to yet — he answered phones for the gubm’t for nine years through sheer force of will, Before. Does he have it in him to do it again? He kinda hopes it snows.

He remembers how much fun it was this morning helping with the produce at Seniors, wrestling three dozen frozen turkeys into an upright position so his partner could slip a wal-mart bag over it. He broke a sweat, he’d have you know. It’s good to work for your dinner.

It’s gonna be a tight couple of weeks due to car registration, high heat bill, just too much dang month left at the end of the money. But that sackful of food from this morning is gonna help a whole lot. He’ll make it. He always makes it.

He’s just a little less self-confident at the moment, with the new job, new people to deal with, and the memory of backing into that man’s pickup in the bank parking-lot Monday morning isn’t helping. He keeps worrying at it in his mind. His fault. Insurance likely to go up. Is he losing his edge? Should he give up the car and start riding the bus? Did it for five years in the ‘nineties, and has less problem with the idea than some would.

He’ll never get too old to make a mistake. And he’ll never escape change.

Definitely a man aging back and forth. I like the word picture you use in the first paragraph of the office zone being like a wrestling mat. I also like the line about too much dang month at the end of the money.

Aging back and forth, yeah, exactly, I like that! Age coming on, but the youth hasn’t left the building. Thank you!

Agreed, I loved the line “too much dang month…”. I actually did a double-take when I read it, thinking “huh?” Then it hit me and I smiled (maybe a little jealously 🙂

It’s amazing how self-doubt creeps in with age. That’s when you start taking a hard look at the person you’ve lived with all the years.

Yes, taking a hard look at that person — and still choosing to accept him/her! Self-doubt is a temporary state of affairs.

I can’t explain it, but I love the line (and the feeling that goes along with it), “He’ll never get too old to make a mistake”.

Today the flame went out. It had been slowly dying for quite some time. Flickering, waning… But always still there.

Today it gave up. It no longer had wind, wood nor heat. Today the fire died.

The wind should have come on the wings of laughter,

From whispered words of love, kindness and affirmation. From the sheer joy of knowing they had been SO blessed. But even then, Wind is not enough.

The wood should have been there too. It used to be. It was determination, commitment to their future together. Fuel is necessary, and it must come from

A renewable source, Unconditional and full of promise. They must have stopped gathering wood together.

The heat is gone too. Flames would sometimes rise, showing promise of the Once familiar fire… Sometimes it was all-consuming, Sometimes warm and comfortable. Now, it is neither. There is no wind, no wood, no heat.

He had big dreams, but she doesn’t know what they were. He didn’t share them with her. She’s not even sure he could because maybe He didn’t even know what they were himself.

She had dreams too…everybody does, right? Not lofty dreams, but good dreams still. And her dreams included him. What she thought they had together, Yesterday, today, and all her tomorrows.

She doesn’t know which happened first. Did the flame go out and she awakened from the cold? Or did she just become cold, And watch the flames die? All she knows is, today the flame went out. Today, the fire died.

Tami, This is so poignant. I want to mourn for what they have lost because they stopped trying and didn’t share their dreams and hopes.

Thank you, Marilyn. I realize it didn’t really follow the prompt directions, but sometimes, it’s just what comes out, ya know? Thanks for sharing.

I like the element of fire showing a relational climate. It was pleasant to follow your prose with the way you formed your lines, like a poem.

Thank you, Susan, for sharing your observation. It did, indeed, evolve into more of a poetry format, though not intentionally. I often write long hand — maybe how I process things — and I decided to use the same format when posting.here.

This grabbed me, a very interesting and well done way to describe a relationship and how it flickered away.

Tami, Great piece. Sadly it captures what my brother is going through. His plans included her. Hers did not. He’s hurting because the fire died. Also it reminded me of a song my son’s group just released. His words and yours run parallel. Enjoyed this.

She sits there, staring numbly into the computer screen of a random website. Noises of her father and brother are behind her along with their laughter and christmas music. But she just stares, thinking of her life, how she is beginning to see things differently. She thinks of the morning of school today, waiting for the bell to ring as her childhood friends laugh and just goof off but she just couldn’t bring herself to laugh. She yawned and just looked to her left, passed her closes friend’s face. Should she feel guilty that once she sees another friend she only known from her early years at the school she begins to laugh and enjoy herself? She questions herself in front of the computer screen. She blinks…then her mind travels to another problem:her dream. Her dream of writing short stories. She has good ideas and her mind won’t shut up but of course right when she grab that dreadful pen her mind suddenly zips up and her ideas hitch a train for nowhere. And that train would be reality.

The alarm rings, and she presses the snooze button every ten minutes for the next half hour. It’s early, way too early, but she finally gets up at 5:30 to the sound of classical music. Her chocolate lab watches as she rises, and she could hear his tail thumping against his mat. Adorable. By the time she goes downstairs, the coffee has already perked; its wafting aroma stimulating her senses.

By the time her husband comes down, the breakfast table is set, and they share the first morning brew along with some conversation. Once he’s out the door, things quiet down once again. Her mind wanders as she does the morning dishes., but as usual, it focuses on her afternoon down time because once the chores have been completed, she ensconces herself in her nook and writes. Once her imagination is liberated, it’s the highest kite she can fly…

The highest kite she can fly. Love it. I also loved the tone of your piece. It just quietly unfolded. And how nice to come down to a table set. I felt as if I were peeking in to see it all. Love the tone.

Thanks, Anne. That’s about how it unfolds.

Writing as the antithesis to chore. Love it!

Yes, JC, “antithesis” is an excellent word to describe what writing is to me as compared to other things. Thanks.

He could have taken the car to work. But that meant sitting in traffic, and a hefty slice out of your savings for the parking. After all, his retirement, or call it by its real name, retrenchment, loomed. At his age he’d never find anything. He sits on the upper deck, among all the youngsters. Not for the company, but for the view. From there he can see into people’s houses, how they scramble around to be in time at the office. He tried sitting downstairs once, but it wasn’t the same. He was lower than them; it felt as if they were watching him. So he went back upstairs among those boisterous youngsters, who spoke about which club they’d been to the previous night, and other mindless things. Energy is wasted on the young, he often thought. Rather give it to us adults, who’ve had a lifetime learning to put it to good use. On the way back there’d be those drunkards heading for that rough working class neighbourhood on the route He later found that if he buried his nose in a book they left him alone. And the noise faded into the background as the youngsters excluded him from their sphere of attention. Now that his pension days were around the corner he’d like to turn the clock back and do things he should have done. And undo those things he shouldn’t have. He’d spent his life as a passenger, becoming part of what went on around him by being a spectator.

And now it’s time to pull out all those treasures you’ve been storing up through all those years of spectating, sort them out, categorize them, and share them with the world. No time for retirement! You have work to do! I agree, energy is wasted on the young. Those of us with things to tell need the energy to do it!

Thanks for the advice.

The room is small, cozy. The air is still, having not yet been disturbed by the travels of the people still sleeping in the darkness. Looking out the window he sees the trees reaching up towards the grayish sky waiting for the rain as a young boy would be as he watches a ball falling toward him, anticipating catching it. His back is achy despite a few hours of rest. These 15 minutes of tapping on the keyboard a pleasant new exercise, for his brain if not his body. Despite the quiet of the day, the current task at hand, the single light on in the darkened house illuminating his desk he is struggling to keep his mind on the task at hand. So much work ahead of him in the next 12 or 14 hours. Shortly he will get up from this silent moment and awaken the day. Start the rushing process of making sure she is ready for the bus. A lunch to make, to approve of an outfit, breakfast to prepare, dressed warm enough for the day, the hair!, the hair is always the delay, even at a young age of 11. He marvels at how hair is a concern everyday for him despite him losing his 15 years ago. The anticipation of the craziness that is about to begin has his mind racing already, a warm cup of coffee adding to the adrenaline rush starting to kick in. He glances at the clock, 2 minutes and this quiet day will kick into overdrive very quickly. Off to the races, time to put the silence back to bed for another 24 hours.

I like that your writing cocooned you with silence at the start of the day.

She sits in the quiet. The darkness still surrounds her but she knows in time the darkness will give way to light. It always does. Oh sure, sometimes it takes its sweet time like when the cold embraces us. Days like today.

She pecks away at the keys watching stories slip out of her head. Wondering all the time how they got in there and then she remembers. She used to run to stories when life was hard, when life was scary. She ran to stories a lot.

And now she does what she has to do again. She waits. She waits to see if the test results are good for her brother. She waits to hear that the procedure went well. She waits to breathe again.

She can’t afford to lose any more people she argues. But she knows that she knows nothing compared to the one who holds the keys to life and death. She knows, but still she argues. It’s the one thing she can do. The only thing she can do.

And yet, there is this place inside her. This room that she goes to when she’s afraid. She sits there waiting and knows He will show up. And she won’t be alone. He always comes. He always sits with her when she’s afraid. Always.

He was there when she stood at her mother’s coffin at 16. There as she said goodbye to her father at 24. She was there as she revisited the cemetery again and again. Too many times to count and yet she does.

It’s easier to count the remainder. Two. There are just two left. There were five of us siblings and then Peggy was gone. Domestic violence. Brutal thief. But years in between another huge loss. And those years got her used to living. Well, kind of.

Then she saw cancer rip away one brother. Watched as it took his health day by day. Had to remind him he was dying when he’d say, “Get my coat, let’s go home.” And later he’s say, “Oh yeah, we ARE home.”

And then there was February when she sat in a hospital bed with anxiety. Something new that keeps pestering her life. Something that causes her blood pressure to spike when should flow steadily. Yes anxiety had visited her. Intruded and refused to leave.

Anxious about her one brother getting a heart procedure. Unaware another brother clutched his heart and died.

Two. There are just two of them left. And while she tries not to think about it, that thought bullies its way in her mind and pushes out all the other thoughts. No thoughts like to be bullied.

She sits quietly and as she suspected she senses His presence. And hears His voice remind her she is not alone. He’s right there beside her. Just as He promised He’d be. And He never broke one of His promises. Not one.

Anne, this line caught me: ‘She can’t afford to lose any more people she argues,’ yet not in the way that I think you intended. I guess I put myself in her place. I mentally added the word, ‘with’ at the end of that line. As if the people, or God himself, being the ones we argue, love, and struggle with are the ones who cost us the most. They are the ones that we stand to lose the most of ourselves. Like a part of us dies with each one.

I should have put a comma after the word “people.” She is arguing with God.

I wasn’t correcting you. I got what you were saying, I just liked the twist of arguing with everyone, including God and self. hugs…

Sorry, Susan. I didn’t mean for it to sound abrupt. I was actually angry at myself for not putting in the correct punctuation. I also like the twist of arguing with everyone. Thanks.

Anne, You introduced us to a lifetime of grief and loss so great that it could rip your soul apart.

And except for the fact God was in it, you’re right. And do you know what he brought out of it? Poetry.

Thank goodness that you have experienced Him — so much love !

Joe, Loved your piece. There were so many things about it that made it alive. Loved the continual thankfulness that just had to ooze out of you. Absolutely loved how you ended your piece. The piece just flowed so evenly. Actually inspired me to even sit down and take part.

Thanks Anne. 🙂

So, here he sat again in front of the screen. Open the last page of his book. Words appearing in succession, staining the whiteness with characters burping from the brain.

For some time now he was aphasic to open it, almost scared. He might have turned on, to check emails and to play solitaire, but even that reluctantly. Many, some several months old, particularly those related with writing were loitering in the list of unopened mail. There was no reason for it.

A slap of life had smashed all desires to write.

I have to commence writing again. Now! And in the same sentence: Why write? It will not contribute to be alive. Arg! Too damn trumpery and useless! Thought of impotence heaped his mind. Had a bad mood, even snappy. It took awhile for him to grind down the disappointment and in the end accept he had to live a life whatever the circumstances. The end will come soon enough.

Some days ago, he started again reading the book with an earmarked leaf, which was lying around for a while. That night, he couldn’t sleep, and for him, reading was the best somniferous. Soon, ideas invaded the spirit, and he made notes, searched words, concentrated in modisms. That night and many after, he did not sleep enough.

Bad habits were kicking in again.

But there was a difference. He realised, just today, a big difference. Before, when his wife asked what he was doing, the answer had been: Working! Nowadays he says, Writing!

What a difference a misfortune makes!

Misfortune? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? He remembered the old Chinese saying.

The energy is back with vigour. Carelessly ignoring the numbness his backside and the urge of nature. Barely walking to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He has to prepare it. It takes too long. Better, some water, he decides and is back to the frantic clicking on the keyboard in one corner of his bedroom. The music plays away. It’s cold. His heart has, though, been warm and palpitating to the rhythm of the script.

Hey! Of that, life is all about!

I love what you wrote….a bit of mischief is getting ready to happen, I think…..

Here is what I wrote for 15 minutes:

She sits at the desk in front of the laptop almost everyday. But nothing comes to her mind. There is too much going on around her – even the dog and cat prevent her concentrating on what she needs to say – what she must say. There is a story inside her somewhere. But she has no time to dwell on its location, to find out where in the body or mind such a story could be. She is a writer. She has always been a writer, even if she rarely puts pen to paper. She has been a writer since she was very young, sitting on the back porch on a hot summer day with nothing but chores to do.

She used to wonder about eternity. The concept of eternity was troubling her when she was only eight or nine years old. Sitting on that back porch in the heat of the summer in Dallas, wondering about eternity. She would imagine the world never, ever ending, like the nuns told her classmates and her, but somehow she could not get a true connection. What would eternity look like, she wondered, forgetting that she was only in the third grade…what could it be like?

Well, it had to be better than just sitting on the back porch, waiting for her mom or dad to come yell at her for not doing anything. They had small patience for little girls, especially for her, since she was the eldest girl in the family and should be helping her mother to care for the younger kids. Man, what a life for a kid! But that is what an adult would have thought, had an adult been sitting on the porch with her, sharing those eternal thoughts. Kids had not much of a past, so they had little to refer to. Still, she knew that whenever there was not much work to do, the little kids were asleep, and she had finished her homework (funny that she could not remember doing homework, for the most part!), she ought to have a bit of time for herself. Time to swing on the swing set before her dad opened the screen door and hollered for her to get her butt inside and do more work.

Little did she know, however, what lay ahead. And that was definitely a good thing. A damned good thing. Because if she had known even a little bit, she might have found the courage in her heart to take a short cut while walking home from school and end up elsewhere.

Funny because I’m listening to Above and Below, which seems to go along with this.

Where would I find “Above and Below”? I am a newbie here. Thank you for your comments.

It’s by The Bravery and there is a moon version and a sun version. Youtube has both.

The murky shape of a fish torpedoes through her peripheral vision and is swallowed by the clouded lake waters. She cranes her neck in its direction, hair following suit in a dull golden cloud and coming to rest in front of her eyes. Her back arches as she kicks deeper where pressure begins to replace sunlight and the sandy bottom full of discarded clam shells beckons as a silent refuge. Her elbows come to rest against the gritty surface as she releases her air from its chambers, watching it flee to the surface in a shimmering cloud of light. She could beat it if she wanted to; kick up from the bottom and satisfy the dull ache in her chest, but she doesn’t want to. Not yet anyways. She closes her eyes and the water seems to disappear, swaying around her with the same heat which runs in her veins, melting itself against her skin until the two are indistinguishable. She could lie here forever, in her secret, dim world. But it isn’t hers. Her lungs tighten to remind her that hers is up there, into the sun which shines so far away from this place. She jumps off the her throne of sand, rising into the surface.

You must know something about diving. I would not have been able to create this scenario without having been underwater myself. Good job !

Thank you, It’s one of my favorite pastimes and I bought my first monofin last summer.

She wakes reluctantly, feeling him stir by her side. The familiar feeling of heaviness returns as the reality of their life now seeps into her consciousness through the last wisps of sleep. Further rest will elude her now. Should she get up and try to use the time when he is asleep to do some writing? She is bone tired, but she knows there will be little chance for time alone later in the day. She turns to watch him sleeping and thinks of other Saturdays when he would be first to wake, always active, vital. Perhaps after some leisurely lovemaking he would return to her with a cup of tea and her favourite – hot buttered toast with marmalade. Then off to get the paper, maybe stop for coffee on the way. Now he can’t get out of bed by himself anymore or pee alone. This horrible disease is taking its time to kill him. She watches his dear face, at peace in merciful sleep for a while. She is sad but angry too. Maybe she will get up and write, despite her weariness.

While I have no really experience of what this is like your writing doesn’t use such fancy words that make it seem like a show. Yours seems real, but still showing how you feel underneath the words. I like it.

She stood at her computer, wishing she could feel comfortable in her own body. The room is lit with natural light and her husband is listening to the book Wise Blood on AudioBooks. She needs to jump start her energy, needs to get her blood moving. The calendar tells her it really isn’t good day to do anything, unless it is to work on her own set of personal challenges – releasing her bad habits, for god’s sake.

How does one work on one’s bad habits, she wonders. They are there, the patterns of behaviors. She circles around them and then gives in to nap. It is like earlier this week when her calendar asked her to retrieve her soul. Retrieve her soul? That is a long process, but she tried. She went through every memory she had – sitting on the front porch when scarcely older than a toddler, wondering what is infinity. Come here, little girl, she entreated. She remembered the last time she wet her pants after they stopped letting her wear diapers; squatting under a shrub, being amazed there was no diaper to catch it. Come back to me, she asked. Playing in her sandbox, riding her bike for the first time, climbing a skinny tree to get away from either a small snake or a big worm. Come back to this big empty spot in me, she asked. The memories of her life flooded her and with each memory, she invited herself home. Some of the memories weren’t so good and she hadn’t behaved admirably. She invited that girl back too. Get them all here, retrieve them, she told herself. Before long, all the retrieved people she could ever remember being gathered in her solar plexus and built a bonfire. They raked the coals around. This made her nervous. She wanted to fill that hole, not burn a bigger one. Oh well, all those soul pieces were in charge of this, not her. Just let it happen and she did.

Is she more whole now? More of one cloth? Who knows. There is an ache in her left back side. She feels full, lethargic. What are her bad habits? Is procrastination really that bad or is it her creative process? Certainly eating potato chips, her new vice since quitting gluten, could be something she skipped today.

Her husband stops listening to his story and comes over to the computer and wants to talk about the parade Saturday and had she told her youngest granddaughter they were staying in town, so now they could all go to it. Leave me alone, she finally explodes. Just 15 minutes, that is all I want. 15 minutes to write this exercise. And it is done. He goes away and the 15 minutes are gone.

Sorry for posting so late on this. I loved the exercise! I did it a day late and then my internet was down for an entire day. Finally this morning, I have internet!

She sits, reclined on the couch, trying to escape reality for the umpteenth time that week. Not that it’s been a hard week, or that she doesn’t love her life or anything, she’s actually enjoying life; she just likes to pretend it’s different sometimes. She picks up the book on the table and shimmies down into a position that says, “leave me alone. I’m reading.” A frown crosses her face as she struggles to drown out the sounds of her five younger siblings and piano-playing dad by immersing herself into a different world.

Later she will probably try to drain her emotions through writing, allowing the paper of her beloved notebook to carry some of the burdens weighing on her heart. Typical teenager burdens: love, hate, wonder, and longing. Regret too. And Nostalgia. All of these mixed up feelings trapped inside her will flow out onto the blank pages in inky words that will somehow sooth everything. She’d like to think she was unique, but she has the same problems as every other teenage girl. And then some.

Left to her own mind is much too dangerous these days. It’s a trap that ensnares her at her weakest times when she’s alone. Which is most of the time. There are certain people who help her though, and she’s seen them all this week. The greenish grey eyes of her best friend. The grey ones of her beloved music teacher. These are the people who put a little bit of light into her dark mind and draw her back into reality: the good reality. They keep her safe from the trap her mind has set for itself and remind her that love is a very big part of life. Not being loved necessarily, but loving. Being the one TO love is what matters most and it makes all the difference.

She lays with her knees up, covered in three army surplus wool blankets and an old, yellow stained feather blanket she’d known for years, though it wasn’t hers. Her bed, which takes up most of the room, is on the floor, the bare dirty white walls sometimes remind her of one of those old, padded asylum rooms. The kind that don’t exist anymore. And while that might have once really bothered her, even scared her, it amuses her now.

The room sits in the back half of the “house,” which is actually an old trailer, half of one, where they used to hang the plants to dry. The front half of the house is wooden, with wooden walls and floor and a high ceiling. Behind her, cold air comes up through the cracks between the wall and the chipping lanoleum floor. Last night, she had made a feeble attempt to remedy this with another rolled up wool blanket, but then figured out that a sheepskin did the trick.

It’s her idea of luxury. She’d been sleeping on the floor for years, with intermittent mattresses here and there, but she preferrs the floor. Maybe it’s just that it reminds her of the last place she called home, where they slept on the floor, and ate meals together in a circle around a fire or a woodstove. Where things made sense.

The house is finally quiet. It’s her favorite time, when she doesn’t feel the pull of anyone. Somewhere inside of her, the tug of an impending decision making time. She has no idea where to go from here. This little room, which for some reason she can remember seeing for the first time three years ago, when it was filled with April’s willow baskets and craft making materials, is starting to feel like hers. Even the weather seems to be comforting her here all of a sudden.

Fall in Northern California is strange for her, someone who has never missed a real winter. It’s sunny and warm, and her body kept expecting the change. Something, anything to signal that it was this time of year, and not another. But it never came here, and it felt like she was somehow stuck in time. The wintery slant of the sun was strange in the heat. Finally it changed.

This morning she sat outside on the porch, the sun just barely coming over the horizon but nowhere near her, those huge, intimidating redwoods stood in the east and shaded everything. Her afternoon cigarettes were the time where she could find a tiny patch of sun. this morning the wind howled, and she put on a wool hat and wool shirts and felt the crispness, and imagined brown leaves falling. She had never been so happy for a brisk morning chill. And wind, actual wind, blowing a fall hello. Her body swayed with it as she smoked her cigarette and the smoke didn’t matter. She didn’t want to smoke with all this weather calling .

She needs to get back to that piece, due tomorrow morning. She hears Susan sneeze in the other room, and Chris beside her shifts. They whisper to each other, and then go silent. She hears the hot water heater, and feels at home.

I like the phrase about her room – “where things made sense”.

Her childhood was a happy one, filled with pine forests and pussy willows, shading trees and deep shadows, bright sunlight and fairies. Her mind was a blessed country where music filled the air and magical creatures were waiting with secret smiles around every corner, offering new adventures. A little sister was a ready and willing companion in her exciting fairy world.

As she grew, reality pressed in with dawning dismay. Too late, she discovered that her childhood world had been one of the imagination, and in the business of growing up the door grew narrower until it closed altogether. The only way she could alleviate the anguish was to write – anything and everything.

Her one delight in the agonizing world of puberty became a pure white sheet of paper before her, and a pen poised in readiness. It was only then that her soul could be at ease.

With her teenage years came the realization that she must find an identity for herself, or perish, and that involved searching with every bit of strength she possessed.

The search lasted for many years, tumultuous, exhausting and filled with some bitter sorrows and some unspeakable joys, but the search bore fruit. She discovered who she was at last!

Outside her office window the sun is blazing. The temperature is frigid, below freezing. Her garden appears shocked, the plants struggling to breathe outside of their designated zone. Whoever decides what will thrive through winters in the Pacific Northwest probably didn’t have a day like today in mind.

The sun is a mixed blessing for her. In her chest she wants to run outside, through her arms open wide and hug those rays for the weather forecast indicates the usual gray clouds will return in just a few days. Yet, she looks at her desk. A half-done presentation awaits, due on Monday. Follow-up with a creative team on her new website is tugging at her “let’s play inside” persona. And then there’s the prospect of a trip to Costco to get the wreath, the garland … the overdue beginnings of the whole holiday decoration process. In the next room her husband lingers over the New York Times. They only subscribe to the Sunday edition so she looks forward to that leisurely read every week (and, she just learned, having something to look forward to can increase your personal baseline for happiness).

Happiness, she decides, shows up physically today. Sun rays streaming through the window. A second cup of coffee resting on her desk. The prospect of unpacking the Christmas decorations makes her smile inside. Finding a place for the crystal snowman, the mantletop garland, the collection of German smokers – a yearly ritual that signals the holidays have arrived, along with that endless of to-do’s that never quite get done.

WOW ! I love especially the image of the sun streaming through the windows. And yes, we have the have just the perfect place for each Christmas item, don’t we? I wish I could read more !!

First job on a dark winter morning: tending fire. The fires of evening languish after midnight and leave the big house chilled in this snow country. She is the designated early riser.

She stirs hot ash to wake red coals, then adds wood scraps that in a moment will blossom into flame. Coffee goes on while she waits. Once the fires start up again she adds firewood, small and then larger pieces. When they catch she damps the flow of oxygen back down for a slow burn. The fireplace in the family area is first, followed by the wood stove in the entry way. Family first.

A glance outside the window answers the pivotal question: is it falling, blowing snow today, or are bright snow fields already dimly visible down the hill? Her favorite is dry snow that glitters under the sun. It’s like a field of cool white velvet thickly strew with tiny opal chips.

Maybe this will be that kind of day. Warmly dressed now, she does a few minutes of yoga while the others stir and wake. An hour before dawn, with the sounds of day rising and the first cup of coffee in hand, she sees a small herd of deer cross the field below. They are graceful dark silhouettes in the dusky blue. As a small child she once cried for wild things outside in the snow, at the unfairness of it all, and sometimes she still wonders how they manage. Often, she knows, they don’t. Perhaps that germinal sense of fairness has wandered over time. Perhaps it’s merely been polished by emery grains of experience.

These deer, though, seem lively and inquisitive, at ease in their travels today, unperturbed by human habitation near by. Her kitchen is warm, bright, and yellow, and there’s a day of writing ahead.

Jealous of that morning routine! Maybe I wouldn’t be over time, but it sounds like such a perfect way to ease into the day: a little work to get a fire going. Some exercise. Then recollection.

Thanks, Brett. I’m a little conflicted about it, though. Having read some of the stunning entries here (plus almost all of Glimmer Train Issue #89, which to my mind has kind of a bleak feel) this little practice piece seems “fluffy” in comparison. I’ve taken it aside to give it more than 15 minutes. Notwithstanding my encultured training to convert lemons to lemonade, the hand of a darker angel rests on this character’s shoulder. It deserves observation. These prompts are great practice, but I think practice only works for us to the depth we actually dive.

It’s 5:49am and about 39 minutes behind schedule. My coffee never seems to be as warm as I want it to be. By the time I top it off and sit back down, it feels like it needs to be nuked.

The Bible and journal next to me, open to Isaiah. It’s mostly confusing to me right now, but slowly meaning pops out. My car journal is to my right. It’s a little spiral bound notebook that I keep in the car while I listen to podcasts. Texting and driving is unsafe, but I hope note taking on the center console isn’t. The laptop is open between them.

The lights are off and I’m typing in the dark. This space between 5:30am and 6:00am is tricky in our house. One of my children, were I asleep, would wake and crawl into the big king bed between my wife and me. But since I’m up, he might hear me and come downstairs for some attention.

I’m selfish. At least, I try to be selfish prior to 6:00am, or 6:15 if I play my cards right.

Across the dining room table is a my belt, my t-shirt, a children’s Bible, and a couple spiral notebooks that the kids like to write in. Plush green and white candy canes barely visible, are hanging in the dark underneath the light fixture.

I know the condensation is puddling around my water glass. This is my second day trying to write first. 500 words daily before I do anything else. I should probably get an earlier start and take a walk or do some stretching. It always seems I’m much more inspired after some early exercise. My brain seems to function. I’m using this prompt from deep in my Gmail because the cupboard was bare. And writing as a discipline, apparently, is tough the first couple mornings especially since I don’t have a clear end game. The last thing I want to do is write for work. And I’m not excited to write for my personal blog that centers around living a simpler life. And the blog on the url for my name has been in technical difficulty for over a year.

Consequently, I’m on Evernote practicing.

It’s 5:49am and about 39 minutes behind schedule. His coffee never seems to be as warm as he wants it to be. By the time he tops it off and sits back down, it feels like it needs to be nuked.

To his left is the journal open stacked inside the Bible, also open, opened to Isaiah. That ancient book is mostly confusing to him right now, but slowly meaning pops out. His car journal is to his right. It’s a little spiral bound notebook that he keeps in the car while he listens to podcasts. Texting and driving is unsafe, but he hopes note taking on the center console isn’t. The laptop is open between the two books of records.

The lights are off and he’s typing in the dark. This space between 5:30am and 6:00am is tricky in their house. One of his children, were he asleep, would wake and crawl into the big king bed between his wife and him. But since he’s up, his young son might hear him and come downstairs for some attention.

He’s selfish. At least, he tries to be selfish prior to 6:00am, or 6:15 if he plays his cards right.

Across the dining room table is a his belt, my t-shirt, a children’s Bible, and a couple spiral notebooks that the kids like to write in. Plush green and white candy canes barely visible, are hanging in the dark underneath the light fixture.

He knows the condensation is puddling around his water glass. This is his second day trying to write first. 500 words daily before he does anything else. He should probably get an earlier start and take a walk or do some stretching. He always feels much more inspired after some early exercise. His brain seems to function better. He’s using this prompt from deep in his Gmail because his idea cupboard was bare. And writing as a discipline, apparently, is tough the first couple mornings especially since he doesn’t have a clear endgame. The last thing he wants to do is write for work and his insurance blog. And he’s not excited to write for his blog that centers around living a simpler life. And the blog on the url for his name has been in confounding technical difficulty for over a year, so that’s not an option.

Consequently, he’s on Evernote practicing.

The coffee part was funny. Towards the end you wrote me instead of he. Also I did not like the last paragraph as much of the rest of the story. Maybe there are too many details in it. I’m not sure. The writing overall is good and I can feel the balance between being dutiful to the family and also having a special time to do one’s own work. And the grappling with is it selfish to hope the boy stays asleep a little longer.

He knows the condensation is puddling around his water glass. I think it would be better to say: Condensation is puddling around his glasses. He knows feels like it slows it down to me.

He wants to be a writer. He knows wanting to be a writer is not the same as being a writer. He sits in front of the laptop every morning before the birds have begun singing, before the sense of duty comes alive to distract him. But he always ends up posting, commenting, arguing.. on the facebook, anything to avoid actually writing. His other hobby is reading. He reads everything, with no discrimination. His childhood heroes were not cricket players or action heroes, but writers. While his friends admired Amithabh Bachan and Kapil Dev, he worshipped R K Narayan and Arthur Conan Doyle. In his dreams, he saw himself publishing Sherlock Holmes stories. But he could never convert these dreams to reality.

The moment he cherished most from his childhood was when he won a writing competition inschool. More than the prize itself, what he remembered was the praise he got from a famous writer, a judge for the competition. Yet he could not write.

Recently, he suffered a mental break down. It dawned on him that he wa 40, he had passed the prime of life, perhaps crossed the half way mark. He realized with surprise that he could not recapture time, recreate the past, that he was locked in a day time job that he loathed, that he was also shackled by the sense of duty from which thete may not be any escape.

very moving, and throughout I could sense the struggle and the longing to be formed and changed (thinking of a caterpillar/butterfly) seeing what you know you need to be, but also feeling not there yet. And then the sad realization of not being able to go back in time was a good ending paragraph.

All around her, the air was still. Not just still, but paused, muffled. All the world seemed to be put on mute. It was probably because of the snow outside, padding the roads and the sidewalks with white fluff. She didn’t mind- the quiet was a nice break from the noise and the cluttered mess. She sits beside the window this morning, curled up into a tight ball underneath a patchwork quilt, in a too-large chair. The heater is blowing out warm air besides her, and she can’t help but be a little reassured at the gentle hum of it running. Not that she needed it- her dachshund was curled up in the crook of her legs, acting like the miniature space heater she was. She couldn’t sit there forever, she knew. As she typed, the list of things she needed to do pressed on the front of her mind with continuing urgency, barrating her with a buzz of reminders and loose ends. But a little time for herself couldn’t hurt, could it? A thin strand dangled in front of her eye, and she blew it aside in mock irritation. Maybe this wasn’t the best time for this. Maybe this was just her way of procrastinating while she had real work to be done. That was very probable, and very like her. She knew there were real things to do, things that had to do with nasty words like ‘school’ and ‘chores’, but for the moment she was fine with brushing them off with a flick of her wrist and delving deep into her writing.

good job using the five senses so someone can really feel your environment. That makes it cozy. And even though there is a lot of stuff that the writer knows will have to get done, you could feel how she was still very immersed in her writing, and not getting overly stressed by it.

She sits at a funny little place – too small for a window seat, too large for a windowsill. Her cheeks press against the cool dampness of the glass, her fingers curled into the nails which she had been painting a few hours ago. It was the holidays – she should be relaxing, why was she agitated anyway? There wasn’t any homework assigned anyway. Her family ignore her and her own little ramblings, they only treat her ponderings and opinions as ‘teenagerdom’ and something ‘bound to change when she grows up’. They’re too busy in front of the television, intent on ‘The Wizard of Oz’, unaware of the clock ticking on the wall, that the children they have in their arms will eventually be doing the same. Perhaps it is only her who can glimpse into such thoughts. Perhaps it’s due to how she is in that time in adolescence when you know that you’re going to grow up, and that you’re nervous about what it will bring. Perhaps… She slides off the seat, and plops onto the sofa. Her younger sibling comes to her lap, bringing the scent of warm milk and love, something which will outlast all time. She smiles. Love, which can outlast all time.

yes. I like this. The writing is good, it doesn’t have unnecessary words. And also I like how you go into the feeling of fear of growing up and leaving what is known and people loved.

He, sits. He thinks. He ruminates. What is he doing with his life? Come Jan 24, 2014 and he would be completing 23 years of existence on planet Earth. But what has been accomplished so far? A bachelors degree, a film school diploma and now on his way to gain his Masters in Marketing and still he doesn’t feel very accomplished with himself. Still leaving at home, feeding of Dad’s income with absolutely no work experience as such, was he worth anything?

The fact that the girl he really had a thing for not only rejected his romantic advances but went on to say that “I will never like you” didn’t help his cause. He needed to find his ‘eureka’ moment where he finds the true purpose of his life. Maybe it lies in the world of words. Maybe that’s why his heart always kept tugging at this direction but he was too lazy to sit and let the words flow. Maybe it’s time for him to realise that there is no point in trying to rush and see what his future is going to turn out like. Live life and Just let it be.

I could really relate to this and the feeling of not yet being there, at that place where one wants to end up.

The blue chair was her throne, her childhood home her castle. Right now, just for right now, there were no doors opening and closing. No pounding on the stairs as parents and/or a brother made their way to the second floor. Not even the hum of the dishwasher or the thump of the washing machine intruded into her time.

All she heard was silence. That blissful, marvelous silence that came from just being. Not doing or crying or wondering or worrying. Just being.

For these few minutes, she could pretend. Pretend that it hadn’t been almost a year since she had to move back home. Pretend and remember what it was like to live in her own space, among her own things, free to think her own thoughts or even to dance in the kitchen with no one watching. If she wanted to, she could even watch an entire episode of “Glee” without any eye rolls or scoffs thrown her way. Or questions. She was so relieved, really, to have this time without questions about how had her day been, and who did she eat lunch with, and why did she like this show or that so much, and had she heard from so-and-so lately?

Not even the temptation of having the family TV all to herself was enough to pull her away from her words. The words were there, always waiting. She just had to sit still long enough to see them. To feel them, run her hands over them, testing their strengths, their weaknesses.

She wasn’t always sure of what she was writing, or why she was. “Writers write to be read,” she remembers telling a friend, many moons ago. But somewhere along the way, she stopped. The writing fizzled, save for a sporadic blog post here and there. She didn’t remember when, exactly, but she had lost herself, and was always, always in search of the She she used to be.

The blue chair didn’t have any answers. Neither did the blue walls, or the red mantle. My mother is a colorful woman, she thought. The fake greenery arranged artfully around the room also offered no secrets, no clue to the person she was looking for.

So she ignored them all — the reds, the greens, the blues — and leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The searching could wait another moment. For now, there was just being.

This was really intriguing and interesting to me.

Love the opening line

Life is complicated for her, if not physically, then on the inside. Between work stress, school priorities, and guys, she doesn’t always make time just to talk to God, and often suffers for it. She struggles with finding her identity. Her family is always supportive and loving, and that gives her strength and hope.

She is inside now. She wishes she were drinking coffee but she thinks it a waste of time to make some for just a few spare minutes of writing. She loves the outdoors though. She also loves people. Everyone coming from different places with different ideas, many she had never thought of. She loves how life changes. But she is starting to realize somedays things don’t seem to change. At least not for her, not always. Someone told her once life doesn’t hand us a new lesson until we first master the one given. Perhaps she was stuck on something. But perhaps she just expected too much from the universe.

Her garden is being eaten away by bugs, and she has been working to get ahead of it. And even though she had gotten the bugs under control, the plants look damaged and many have died. Can the plants catch up and be in time for the harvest time, she wonders.

This one is actually quite, quite mad, but I’m literally just writing the first things that come to me on these prompts!

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22, single, Bristol! Straight up social construct looking for love. Seeking the sort of love that can be conceived of as a ‘lagoon’ or ‘oasis’. Enjoys music and gambling, always up for a PARTYYY! Young displaced whisper floating among suburban streets. Massive Kanye fan, second biggest hero probably Messi!! Youthful fun-lover carried invisibly by a discourse I can’t remember. Travelling, traveller forever <3 .

he was lying in bed. another day is over.every night it occurs to him that he hadn’t been giving much attention to the the passing of days, to opportunities he missed. but then he admits that counting them wouldn’t really make a difference. you’d think it will end there and he’d go to sleep now, but it never does, because he always needs to do something about it or at least think about doing something about it. why is it that he never feels satisfied at the end of the day? may be because he’s not doing something he likes, may be because he is not doing anything, or may be because it doesn’t matter what he does as long as it is HE who’s doing it. he’s not dissatisfied with life, he’s dissatisfied with being.

three body in the small dim room- two sleeping. one sits cross-legged, her fingers tucked in around the cover of her small neon notebook. her eyes constantly gaze around the object that surrounds her and for a second she wondered why she loves to write in the dark so much when there’s plenty damn lights in the daytime. her heavy eyes darts to her brother’s sleeping figure, his snore low and she always find it funny in some way; maybe because she could tease him about it later and she always wonders about her sister’s eyes when she sleep; they’re never fully closed and she still think about it at some point. suddenly, her hand pauses and she took a short breathe, reciting what she had just wrote in a careful whisper. it’s almost three in the morning. she felt a familiar feeling of wishing she could just drift away to her beauty sleep haunts her every night, though she could never come close to stop thinking about so much things.

Sunlight gently streams into her room, caressing her face. Her eyes flutter open; another day has begun. She carefully selects the outfit she will wear; the dress must match her shoes while the earrings must offset the color of her hair. Everything must look perfect because in reality nothing really is.As she carefully applies her make-up she notices tears glistening in her eyes. She smiles weakly and although her eyes shine with life, the lace of death within them is unmissable. Try as she might she cannot hide the pain that is always with her.

She tries to remember a time when laughter was her life’s song, and hope was her constant companion. A time when she had a spring in her step, a trunk full of dreams and a heart bursting with love. Reality intrudes on her wistful musings and she remembers she must get to work. She carefully tucks away the pain and meticulously hides her bleeding heart, and once the burden of loss is tightly secured on her back, makes her way to work.

‘laughter was her life’s song’- beautiful

He sits on his computer all day his mum says, wondering out his window, what is actually out there? look, whats that and whats that? it looks like a rock falling from the sky in the distance burning with fumes of smoke, the rock is the same size as Africa I heard on the news, it was cooling but they say it could cause collateral damage on a major scale, like one we’ve never seen before, this is the end call it judgement day, the end of days, the second coming. I didn’t care for that one moment I knew what to do with my life…

“Wake up, you lazy mongrel! Time for school!”

Those blaring words, coupled with a rigorous jolt made against her shoulder, ends her long sleep nestled with a dream. It seems to her that her mind stiffens as still as a frozen figure before it adjusts to reality. In other words, the brain waves take a long while to recognize what is happening now.

Slowly, eyes half-closed and struggling with her depleted energy, she reaches out for the alarm clock which is situated on her bedside table. It is now six o’clock in the morning, when she realizes it is fifteen minutes too late to get up. A thought dawns on her: must she go back to sleep or head for school? With a quick burst of energy, she dashes off for a good bath and after ten minutes, emerges from the bathroom all wet, with a wrapped towel on her wet hair and another covering her naked body. Without further hesitation, she dresses into her school uniform and stamps out of her room with her bag in tow.

While having a breakfast with her family, her thoughts are on her assignments, which are almost complete at that moment. She leaves very little time to ponder on her dreams as doing this would waste precious time. Having finished with all the usual preparations, she skips off outside.

He shows up to job that moved him across country, that he was unsure of. He graduated from school July 2011, and didn’t get a call from a company until January 2014. He wasn’t sure if it was the right decision. He believes the move part was right but the job, the job is boring and doesn’t challenge him like his last. Their is a lot more down time and sitting around. He often jokes with is coworkers he has watched more tv the past year and a half than he has in the previous five combined. He doesn’t know what to do. He went to school to work on planes, but he doesn’t like it. It is not what he expected. Coming on to the age of 30 what does he do? Does he stay in this career path or find another? He doesn’t have any special skills or hobbies to make a career out of. He kind of misses his old way of life. Doing electrical wasn’t so bad always busy at work, did not have to work second shift and sit around until 2-230 am while his supervisor fucks around on the internet, just because.

His old boss knew how to take care of his men. He would buy a few thirty racks for the guys every week, sometimes twice depending on how thirsty we were that week. Occasionally he would takes us out to dinner. It was a fun environment to work at. Its funny how things work he tries to better himself and make himself happier but all he has done is made him more frustrated. He is a city 850 miles away from his friends and family. He has a smaller social group. He loves the city of Chicago and is glad he made the move. Because it’s a fun city and always something to do. And if he didn’t take this risk, he could look back at his life 10 years from now regretting he never took this risk.

On the sofa laptop in place cats at his feet yearning for touch

Warm summer night air invited in through fully opened windows cars speed past passersby talk in swift whispered tones

He finds words to add to a new poem some fall from his fingertips with ease others drop haltingly fishing for the right word in this first draft

like he usually does uncertain where he’s going fear to share to much, not enough thinking, thinking of the point

of why his writing this poem words battle in his mind for recognition to be chosen

to show the feeling he’s trying to capture with words on a laptop in place cats at his feet yearning for touch

He stops and strokes them they need him now

She’s sitting on a bed with a mac on her laps. Her toes are freezing even though she’s on a tropical island with the ocean in a safe distance hiding in the dark, frogs quietly perfecting their tunes, and the wind coming in and out of a little house without using the door.

Solitude. Silence. Nature. Time. She has almost everything a writer could be dreaming of.

Has she written much since she came here about a year ago? A few Facebook posts. Three probably. No. Four.

In her defense, she’s just recently discovered that ‘morning pages’ or the stream of consciousness that helps get rid of what’s obstructing the writing and is intended to be kept private just like a diary does not count as actual writing. Who knew?!

Plus she was busy with work. The work she loves. And can conveniently hide behind.

And often times it just felt pointless. Someone else surely wrote about the things she wanted to write already. Or will write about it very soon. And better than her.

And doesn’t she need to learn more, understand more, become more, better, enough to write the book she wants?

She also had to finish reading yet another book about creativity, sincerely wishing it was longer. Or endless. And read more about writing. And how all the above and below should be solved by a simple motion of typing word after word, sentence after sentence, otherwise known as writing.

This evening all she wanted to do was write. But then she had to find the log-in details (that haven’t been used for two years) to the unfinished online course on how to create a blog that makes a difference. And think about a perfect topic. And a WordPress theme. Just to kill that urge to write. Something. NOW. Nobody would read that blog anyway with the plentitude of brilliant ones out there to choose from.

Maybe she’s not that passionate about writing after all. She could definitely survive without it. She could keep updating the list of things she wants to write about and share, and keep exploding about not doing that on those private pages that will never be shared.

She would survive. But would she thrive? Another year might be given for her to find out.

She puts her headphones in as she types away on her laptop. The music drowns out her problems and the writing washes away her pain. A cold cup of coffee sits beside her, but it’s been long forgotten as she absorbs herself in the lyrics that were made to speak to her hurting ears. She imagines the life of her characters and fantasizes about slipping into her precious books and never coming back to reality.

The messy kitchen that surrounds her is suffocating and she thinks of just walking out of the house and starting a new life somewhere else. Her mind is in a million and three places all at once. Right now, all her mind is filled with is the fantasies of her dreams and the music that calms her soul.

Her frizzy, curly, brown hair is in a messy bun and her brown eyes sparkle with inspiration. Her mind has doubts about society finding her pretty and talented, but the writer in her has a different personality and she has a confidence in her that only comes through in her writing.

As she sits in school, her headphones have been banned and the only writing she does is equations and the answers to problems that are not her own. She watches the other people and envies their happiness. Everyday’s a struggle not to snap under the pressure of having straight A’s and expectations that her shoes are too small to fill. Day to day this is the same feeling, the same agony.

Someone changes her though. When she’s around this person, the pain fades and not a keyboard in sight, her problems are forgotten and the headphones she so often turns to are abandoned as she embraces this person. True happiness can be seen in her eyes, but of course this is just another fantasy that will fade as quickly as the door is shut and she once again is left in the messy kitchen with her writing and headphones.

She always has a smile on her face. Sometimes it’s real and sometimes it’s not. The truth is that, deep inside, she’s a warrior. Her head is a battelfield. One might think she’s always optimistic, like her life is a musical where a happy tune is playing in the background. But no. She’s constantly at war with her mind, struggling with keeping her innocence intact. She likes to think of the world as an ocean. But she’s not fooled by it’s beauty. She knows very well that the ocean isn’t such a scary place if one’s solely observing it from the shore. She knows she’s not brave enough, not strong enough. She knows she can’t dive in, even in her wildest dreams. So she lays there, on the burning sand, watching the sunset, thinking about love, as if she were in a fairytale. Thinking about reality terrifies her. Thinking that there’s a world out there where only few know happiness makes her want to stay forever in her little happy place where people desperately get out of the ocean looking for someone to make them see the good in the world again. And the fact that she hopes to be that someone, for any stranger who’s struggling with life, makes her who she is. And that’s why she makes it a point to put a smile on her face and laugh, no matter what war she’s in.

A very real scenario a lot of us will identify with

She always has a smile on her face. Sometimes it’s real and sometimes it’s not. The truth is that, deep inside, she’s a warrior. Her mind is a battlefield. One might think she’s always optimistic, like her life is a musical where a happy tune is playing in the background. But no. She’s constantly at war with herself, struggling with keeping her innocence intact. She likes to think of the world as an ocean. But she’s not fooled by its beauty. She knows very well that the ocean isn’t such a scary place if one’s solely observing it from the shore. She knows she’s not brave enough, not strong enough. She knows she can’t dive in, even in her wildest dreams. So she lays there, on the burning sand, watching the sunset, thinking about love, as if she were in a fairytale. Thinking about reality terrifies her. Thinking that there’s a world out there where only few know happiness makes her want to stay forever in her little happy place where people desperately get out of the ocean looking for someone to make them see the good in the world again. And the fact that she hopes to be that someone, for any stranger who’s struggling with life, makes her who she is. And that’s why she makes it a point to put a smile on her face and laugh, no matter what war she’s in.

He sat staring in to the laptop screen. It’s dull light painting his face a subtle shade of cyan. Was it dull though? Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe the afternoon sun streaming its heat in through the three wide windows behind him, in his bedroom, was just too bright. Everything was relative. None of it constant. He realized as his fingers, now slightly oily with sweat, drew circles on the touchpad and traced the edges of the black ‘accutype’ keys. Sweat was trickling down his forehead too, forming droplets on his thick eyebrows, dampening them and blurring his vision. He didn’t wipe them off with the handy towel he kept nearby, as was his custom. Let the heat burn this sickly feeling inside of me, he thought.

He couldn’t think of any other way to get rid of the feeling. What had he done? He had said his good byes to her. That’s what he had done. That’s what he had accomplished with his morning. Ended something that had kept him human and alive for a year. He had destroyed something he might have on this very day, in the previous year, sworn to keep true forever. Why had he done it? The flurry of strong, sharp, pointed reasons that had left his quiver of logic and pierced the bond that tied them together, seemed flaccid now. Strangely impotent. Was he happy now? He could tell that if only he could feel his heart. It had gone silent, and numb.

The blinking cursor on the white screen gave him no comfort. Write! His head screamed at him breaking the silence. Write something! Let it out!

What would he write about? Every word seemed to form around her, framing themselves around her face and her smile.

Find something else to write about.

Look it up. Find a prompt. He finally moves and the fingers that were caressing the plastic keys before him, began to press them with vague intent taking shape in him. Find a prompt, he thought, wiping the droplets of sweat hanging from his brow, and trickling down his face. Let it out…

She keeps biting her nails. And she doesn’t know why she just cant quit this disgusting habit. Disgusting. Do you really write it like that? She doesn’t remember. Its already 5oclock in the afternoon and she still is in her pjamas, too lazy to even get off the couch and get a glass of water, she is much too comfortable. She feels ok, but the rainy day outside makes it hard for her not to think about negative things, like her break up and the fact that she hasn’t written for such a long time. She even forgot how to use the keyboard properly. Why did she quit? Was it because of him? Maybe he wasn’t encouraging enough? Too full of himself as a writer? That he made her feel like she isn’t good enough? No. He did a lot of things wrong, but not this. It all comes to herself and her lack of self confidence. What happened now? What changed? She did. She is herself again, because it all depends on her. How she feels, how she behaves, how she speaks. Its kind of like karma. What goes around comes around. She hates cliches, but its true. If you don’t love yourself, who will love you truely in the end of the day? If you don’t believe in the story you are telling, how can you expect others to fully believe it?

She is too lazy for everything, or maybe not lazy but too scared. Scared of trying, scared of losing, of disappointment. Maybe thats why she keeps biting her nails, doesn’t even try to quit it, because she knows that she will not be strong enough and start it again anyway. But you know what they say, if you don’t try you will always wonder why. Another cliche. But thats why right now she is writing, because she doesn’t want to be the one to not even try. Who knows, maybe putting her fingers on top of the keyboard instead of in her mouth, might even help her to overcome that disgusting habit. She still doesn’t remember how you write that word, and she is still too lazy to look it up.

He sits in a dimly lit room, typing on a dimly lit laptop. He is lost in himself and lost in the world. He finds himself lost in a maze he doesn’t understand the dimension of. Up is darkness and left is melancholy. But he still types.

He has always been numb. He has always been detached. He was ok with how it was before. He is a thinker. Once a problem presents itself he decides right then whether to pursue it or to wipe it from his consciousness. But he knows he can’t wipe The Question away.

The Question is why he has always read. He hopes to find a glimpse of an answer. He doesn’t have any other choice. Someone else must have had The Question before. Therefore, there must be instructions or directions or a fucking path to follow to lead to an answer. But he has come up short. 21 years of searching and he has only just grasped the simplicity of The Question.

“Who am I?”

It haunts him. It lies behind every word, underneath every step, and right at the edge of his vision. He sees the world as nothing but a mirror by which he can maybe hold fully catch a true glimpse of the answer. Before high school, books were the mirror. Then it was that hurricane of a woman. Now it is in friends and maybe just maybe he won’t need a mirror for much longer.

But it is hard work. To drown but to hold off on getting help. To suffer but to refuse to ask the pain to stop. He knows the answer to The Question is in these experiences. He writes for the same reason he once read.

Hopefully the answer arrives soon. Treading water isn’t easy.

Really well written. I find this so easy to follow a see the growing emotions and battles.

He;s sitting quite content in a sense. Throughout turmoil being anything but rare state of mind. As he sits here computer in lap writing, he feels home again. Trying to chase various paths of life throughout the past couple years, yet always knowing in the back of his head that he will end up home. Writing. Doing what he has always truly loved since he first discovered it in elementary school. Funny thing is; he discovers this in the most humorous way, at his best friends house, regardless of the fact that he is 2000 miles away at school. His best friends name is Andrew, and he goes to school in Colorado. Andrews house was always the 2nd home in his life. Single mom, raising 3 kids Andrew being the oldest. The boy on the bed, yeah over here *waving*[trying to use imagery], he on the other hand is home from school taking part time classes after being a full time student for the past 2 and a half years. You see, he was in a dark place for a while. Lots of things going on in his life, battling unhealthy relationship with long-time girlfriend, various family medical situations, trying to catch up on sleep from being a student-athlete with a rigorous schedule constantly. On top of all that he is being told these will be the best times of my life, yet all he feels is a cloud of depression over his head glooming larger and larger as the day goes on. Throughout all this, he decided it was best to come home for the semester. He has had a lot of time on his hands; a lot of support from his one and only woman he will ever need in his life, his mother. The true best friend. He has come to realize a lot of things about life. Life is what you make it, there’s only so much opportunity out there that you have to be willing to put the work to achieve your true goals. The right people relationship wise will come to him. All he needs is his family of five sisters and one brother with two loving parents behind his back. He can achieve anything he wants. Throughout the past couple days, he had a chance to think very deeply. He decided he’s going to attend college to play lacrosse, while majoring in business with a minor in some sort of english or writing. He feels like this is the right thing for him to do. He is very personable, and feels he can excel in the business world by day and by night take care of his body, be athletic, and destress and by night doing what he loves most, writing. And heck, if he ends up being good at it and maybe pursue a career in that path, then screw it. Life is what you make of it, you have to do what feels right, and what truly at the end of the day put a smile on your face and make you happy.

Her Bed is made. That’s a change. It isn’t always. For once she made it. She dared to tame unruly blankets that had twisted and tangled themselves throughout the night. Confined to her room, quarantine self imposed, she lay on her neatly made bed. Propping her head up on pillows she angled her laptop to just the right angle for bearable squinting. Her glasses were annoyingly smudged, but un-cleanable on the black Batman t-shirt she wore. She gave them a once over. Better than they were before, good enough, she pushed them onto her face. There. Comfortable.

She sighs. What is she doing anyway? Music plays over the internet radio. There is so much passing through her mind that the firewall is up to keep the virus from corrupting essential programming. So far high functioning. So far so good. Processing power is diverted to essential tasks, managing the menial necessities. Depression is a daily deviant she fights.

Around 15 minutes long:

She sits on a soft and cushioned couch, legs close together, eyes staring at an electronic screen of white and light. A glass of water rests close by. In her mind, words gush forth like a national gyser, and her hands shake with excitement on top of the black keyboard keys. She could already imagine the clickity-clack sounds they make after each of her fingers’ caress.

She clicks her tongue, and carefully navigates the keyboard, placing each fingure on a well travelled path. Usually, she does so with confidence, joyfully skimming the web and dreaming of a future of transformation and delight.

Today, she tilts her head and clucks her teeth, straightens her back, and glares. She glares at the notepad from left to right, tilting her head to and fro. Her toes start fidgeting, and she moves her knees up and down, as she searches her house for inspiration.

She sighs, and blinks. The cursor blinks back. She cradles the mouse carefully in her hands, preparing to place a few words to look at.

“Come on,” she thinks. “I can do this!”

She types one word, “She”, then another. And it seems as if she has finally broken through the dam holding her vocabulary hostage. Then she stops, and takes a look at her work.

After what has felt like weeks of travel from one country to another she sits looking out of a huge floor to ceiling window at the undulating tropical ocean. Despite the air con, the room feels warm and the air close. After a fortnight on European shores yearning for the heat on her back the unerringly grey and stormy weather has put a dampener on her mood. Whenever she feels like this, she reminds herself of how many people would give their right arm to be living in a tropical island paradise, but on days like today its hard not to remember the laughter, ease and shared history of familiar faces back home.

Man’s best friend commands her attention by snuggling his face on the seat in front of her. He misses his Daddy and with only one human in the house today to look after him he’s insistent on commanding her full attention. His eyes wonder to his ball. The intention is clear, “Play with me then?”. A game ensues of ‘throw and fetch’. She’s amused that he hasn’t quite mastered bringing the ball back; he takes it back to his bed each time then pushes it slightly with his foot and draws her eye as if willing her to take action through his glance.

Her thoughts wonder to the feelings this furry friend stirs inside her: maternal instinct. Is it a desire that will ever be fulfilled? Does she even want to disturb the calm freedom with which they lead their lives? Maybe nature should decide. Is that selfish or human nature she wonders?

As her mind fogs with the racing of thoughts inside her head, she hears a gentle snoring from the furry mound on the floor. Life is so simple for him she thinks, maybe they should both take a leaf out of their pet’s book and stop thinking too far ahead. “ Enjoy the moment”, she thinks and smiles to herself as she remembers how many times an online article has advised her to do just that.

I’m so alone. I thought death would bring me peace but instead it is a constant torment. I thought finally after all my pain and suffering I could have an endless sleep, an infinity of nothingness. But no. I’m stuck, forever here to watch drones get married, start families, fall in love… Why am I here? What did I do to endure this suffering? I’ve been here for centuries. Watched the decimation of my family line, the rape of my sister, murder of my father, things I probably would have been able to prevent if I was there.

It’s so lonely here on the other side, I haven’t spoken a word out loud for almost 80 years. Because what’s the point? The worst thing about it is being able to see everyone progress and not being able to interact with them, or maybe the inability to have someone touch love and care for you. It’s just nothingness.

Live your life to the fullest as this is what is in store for you, an eternity of torture and torment, oh well.

She is restless. Sitting in front of a computer monitor trying to contain a lifetime in 15 minutes. Trying to squeeze in a few words a life that was lived and a life that wasn’t. Her heart can’t contain it, her mind can’t, her room can’t contain it either. How could then a few words do it?

She is writing about the hope that is renewed as the dawn is re-birthed every day. The faith that hasn’t yet seen it all. About her real self that is yet to be manifested in a whole new way as she is becoming more and more who she was born to be.

The pictures on the wall remind her of the special moments she has lived. The sleeping man next to her reminds her of all that is yet to be lived. The silent hot night is just one of the many that she has lived; yet it is special. She can hear it whisper to her : “you are blessed”.

He woke up in the morning, and looked up at the damp patch in the corner of the room. He then wondered who was going to show up on this day, would it be white lightning, or the green eyed monster. White lightning was the mad wild white stallion that he was trying to break in, he is attempting to get a saddle and reins on this wild horse, but white lightning is a feisty beast, and doesn’t like to be controlled. But given time, he hopes that they can learn to respect one another, and white lightning won’t give him to much of a bumpy ride.

He knows that there will be times when he will loose control of the wild horse, and loose grip of the reins, and fall off. But he hopes that with help from his family, he can stand back up, and dust himself off, with only a few minor cuts and bruises. He hasn’t named the green eyed monster, as he doesn’t want to be familiar with him. This beast turns up unannounced, and at anytime, night or day. He was doing so well riding white lightning, and he was approaching the finish line, when the monster showed up, and ripped the reins from his hands. This is how he describes what it’s like living with bipolar disorder.

This mental state of hers is deteriorating, falling apart as she types. Another pretty face taken for granted, and lost in a wonderland of words. Only sure about one thing, she is alone. Alone because she pushes them away, the human race. She picks up a book and is lost again. She reads to escape this world, and writes to turn it into something else. Looking close, while she grips this pencil in her hand, a familiar feeling, it shakes. If you trace her fingers to her arm you see the cuts that bury deep into her wrist and forearm. Three months have passed and they have only faded a little. If only you could see into her body, you would notice the crack in her rip cage, and the collapsed lung that threatened to take her life two years ago. But the only visible scars from that night lie among her face, busted cheeks and scarred temple. Bruises long gone. Her shoulders start to cave with the weight of her mothers relapse, her dads disappearance and reappearance, death following her in every step along the way. She made her peace with him, why can’t he make his peace with her. People threaten to take her life and he said no. She tried to take her own and he said no. Begging to put her out of her misery. Wondering if she is here for a reason. Only time will tell.

Every form of creating is an escape, from what she still doesn’t know. She’ happy, mostly, even though she knows she shouldn’t be. There is a weird sadness and yet poetic justice about her situation. Moved from one entrapment to another, never sure which is worse. Yet here she is, still smiling and laughing because that’s all that she can do. To say she find’s this world disturbing is pushing it a bit far. There is a lot in this world she finds beautiful and there is so much to be happy about. Overly emotional and a weirdo in her own right, that’s what she is growing to accept. People come and go in her life, she watches her own life progress as if she is an on looker for things her body says and does without her permission. There have been so many late nights where she sits up cringing over thing’s she’s said and done anywhere from 2 minutes ago to 18 years ago. That in itself making her cringe. There are those around her, her friends and peers that she sees changing, being so different from who they used to be. So many of them posting their lives on social media, filling up folder after folder of selfie and fun yet hers lay bare, the latest upload 3 months ago of raspberries on her fingers because they looked like people. The childish curiosity and amusement still there. She sees all the statuses, while she sits on the sidelines of everyone else’s life, as pathetic as that is, and watches as they post how dweeb-y they USED to be and here she is, unable to say those words because the truth be told, she still is. Her weird, erratic behavior covering the scars and loathing. A volatile concoction of bitterness, love and naivety. The happy mess she’s made her life.

The same wind that scattered the leaves outside accompanied by the sounds of a passing train fills the room accented by the crisp fall air. The vibrant aroma of a fresh cup of coffee seemed to have extricated itself from the thick, cream coating over the surface, penetrating deep into his nose, watering his mouth. He craved the subtle undertone of caramel, and his cup showed a festive color. He wraps his fingers around it, enjoying the heat spreading through his hands. But without a conscious thought, it is in his hand, and the first milky sip creeps over his taste buds and down his throat. After only a few minutes he is bathed in the kick of the caffeine.

With cookies and candy nearby, he begins typing on his computer. At first his thoughts flow free and smooth like a quiet stream. But after twenty minutes or so his creative thought process hits a road block. He turns to his outline he made only minutes before hoping for more creative words. Checking the online timer he still has about ten minutes before the planned time runs out.

He has a to do list perched on his desk to serve as a reminder to stay on task. He loads some of his favorite mood music on his computer into his headset. The creative center of his brain stimulated by the music provides him with the visual and emotional thoughts he now types onto the page. Words begin to flow more freely and faster. Soon paragraphs, even chapters are written. Lost in his own world he can feel, taste, and experience every nuance his characters are experiencing.

As he types, the deep emotional thoughts translate onto the page bringing his characters to life. The timer runs out indicating a red flashing message on his screen. He stops typing. While taking a break, he reads the words his mind had provided him.

His eyes tear up as he reads what he created realizing the beauty of the words. Reading them aloud almost brings them to life.

If only he could enter that world.

She was the type of girl who was loud and outgoing. Her curly smokey brown hair and dark chocolate brown eyes that everyone though was always happy. when someone would look at her she would always be smiling , as if she had no worries in the world. At least thats what people thought. She was the happiest yet the saddest person. She never knew what she felt. she once mentioned she was seeing a psychologist to help with whatever she had,that didn’t help, it just confused her more than she already was. She was alice in wonderland but in her own world. she didn’t know whether she was mad sad or happy so she just smiled the pain away. No one ever seemed to ask how she felt because they didn’t care, but when it came to them she was the one who was always there. she was an excellent student, she played sports, and was loved by her family, yet she hated herself. Why? who knows. all she knows is that she doesn’t lover herself. she wishes that she could be the perfect picture of a teenage girl that society looks for. Those curves,flat stomach, colored eyes, etc. she had extremely nice features yet she wasn’t satisfied, she didn’t like what she saw when she would look into the mirror. all she saw was a hideous girl starring back at her. she’d would wake up knowing that she would be the same girl in the mirror. she worked out everyday and ate so little to meet societies expectations, but no matter what it wasn’t good enough for her or society. Her only escape was writing and music, she couldn’t describe her feelings or thoughts, she was emotionally and mentally muted. she would talk about anything and everything except herself. she doesn’t feel loved , she feels as if shell never be good enough for anyone or that no one will ever see her for who she truly is. On the outside she’s beautiful, smart, funny, outgoing etc. yet on the inside there is the ugly part of her that consumes her more and more everyday, she was sinking into a dark hole that no one knew about. she would take pills that would make her feel good, she would smoke pot and eat edibles, it didn’t complete her. she’s missing something that completes her but what could it be? Love? Attention? she doesn’t even know the answer to that, all she wants is to be left alone but at the same time she wants to be happy, she doesn’t want to portray to be something she’s not. She’s tired of it! She wants to be set free and be that little girl that everyone knew she was, she doesn’t want to be this rotten 16 year old girl. Her mother always tried to figure her out but she never got anywhere because she would never try to talk to anyone. Instead of talking to someone she goes to sleep or goes to work out. Her body says one thing yet her mind and soul say another. She is searching for ways to communicate through her actions yet no one understands her complexity, but thats what makes her who she is. Her complexity of emotions and mentality make her beautiful.

She sits on her couch. Goes for the remote to watch news. News is not her kind of thing but today she needs to watch. She feels the urge to see what’s happening to the world. How can she be so interested today in news? She asks herself. Deep down, she is scared. Not sure of what to do with her life. She has just finished campus and does not know what life ahead has in store for her. All she is sure of is that she wants the best life. She doesn’t want to look back and regret one day. As she sits there, she sees this cockroach just fumbling around her living room. It hits her that she has dirty utensils. Utensils from the previous day. Nothing nags her than doing the utensils but does she have an option? She let’s go the thought and picks her phone to call her little brother to see how he is doing. As she goes through her contacts, her phone vibrates..she looks, it is her boyfriend calling to ask her to meet up tomorrow they need to talk. What is it that he wants to talk about? What had she done? This freaked her out. The nervous feeling inside her does not allow her to watch the television in peace. She walks to her bedroom, lies down and lets the night slip away..

She always remembered herself listening to music. By now she pinned it down to the fact that she dreaded being alone. It wasn’t fear of the dark or any other shady thing that might be luring in dark corners, she had her own personal demons to keep her entertained. Those vengeful entities with such free will but no sense of boundaries that kept reaching out to gradually more sacred and untouched parts of herself. No music in the world could stop them today. The turntable was whistling jazz tunes and coffee was bubbling on the stove-top. She looked outside the window and the sharp stillness felt like failure. She felt the failures she’d experienced and all the failures yet to come weighing down on her. All those opportunities she’d missed and all of those she’d never gotten. Why? What was she afraid of? For one, she was afraid of answering that question.

He sits in his newly-furnished living room. Alone, as always. Of course, this is a burden that he has always bestowed upon himself. He could not be lonely, people like him enough. But nevertheless he is alone. Perhaps subconsciously, for his consciousness constantly dreads it, this is the way that he wants it to be. He silently types out his “creative” piece, only listening to the conversation within his mind and the only-occasional clicking of keys. You see, he wants to be a writer; ever since he was a small child he has dreamed of touching people’s hearts in the way that his heart has never been touched. A weird sentence? Yes, but truthful nonetheless. He has always had a sort of appreciation for the art of creative writing and reading, an appreciation that grew into a desire, not a desire to entertain but more of a desire to awe people, to make them think. Unfortunately, his laziness is the only thing that has ever stopped him from achieving his own potential. He certainly will never be the person who bows down to society and proceeds to lick it’s sweaty, fungus-ridden puss-covered toes but the least he can do, he thinks to himself, is work so that he eventually will not have to. There has always been this game he has played in his head. One where he writes something that is truly phenomenal, a piece that nobody in their right minds would ever dare to pass up, and then he shows it to a teacher or professor, somebody with power. Of course, they would be so impressed by it that they rush out of their office or classroom, wherever they are reading it at the time, and drive straight to their friend Steve-The-Editor’s house and he is so impressed by it that he immediately bestows a book deal upon the boy and he makes it big. Within two years time, he is talking movie-deals, daily interviews, widespread acclaim and above all else, a more than ideal living situation. But instead, the boy just sits alone in his newly-furnished living room, thinking of his glory-days and all they are meant to be.

An Exorcism

He listened to the audio tape, wandering idly in this crypt, that extended under the Parisian bedrock-the ossuary giving the city a foundation of bones. “This historic place was originally a quarry, a place where stone was dug…” He ignored it, too focused on exploring. He was not usually like this, but there was a difference lurking in his actions, something strong, something elemental, something overpowering. Fear-He was scared, not of the grinning skulls that littered this labyrinth, nor of the musky scent of the already decomposed skulls and bones, not even of the long narrow corridors, and leaking pipes.

He feared what the skulls implied; they were identical, forgotten, alone, and He prayed for them. For everything has a past, an origin, and with any beginning comes an end. With that realization He prayed. This time for himself. For his beginning was known, but his end, that was uncertain. Would He end forgotten, alone, indistinguishable, an enigma, from the rest, in the eternal conformity of death?

With these thoughts relentlessly agonizing him, He slowed, his extensional crisis not yet resolved, instead looming over him, in an insidious invasion. He felt meaningless, after all, without humanity the sun would still shine, space would still expand, and the mantle would still convect. What was the worth? Why were they here? What was life if not an exercise in futility? These Toxic thoughts pained his soul, and He could find no answer-no reason for his self-importance in the face of these fears and questions. It seems fitting that in a place of death, these questions haunted him.

He felt alone, until He looked at his family, and thought of his friends, and in a flash of realization, his blindness to the beauty of humanity lifted, and He remembered. He remembered the beauty of our endurance, dauntless in the face of a hostile world, a species that rose from the bottom of the food chain to the ones that create it. A race that when faced with nature’s wrath, they rebuild, and repopulate in the exact same places. Using the god-given tool of innovation, to create a society that links the world together. Rising above all that burdened them until they were smart and resilient enough to ask these questions.

With that, He realized that the answer to his crisis was in the company of his fellow man. He wouldn’t die as a nobody, because the people He loved would remember him. His life had barely begun, He had an opportunity-no a gift-to make an impact, and to change the world. With that his demons had been exorcised, that in an odd juxtaposition, his restoration of hope, occurred in a place of sadness, mouring, and death. But He supposed, that is the nature of humanity, finding inspiration in the oddest places.

He was lying in his bed, listening to the voice of newspaper flickering through the wind of ceiling fan. He was tired and having a sever headache. But was determined to learn how to write since he is very close to giving an entrance for a college. When I talk about his frame of mind, he is very scared, someone who has a confidence with a sense of doubt – “Will I be able to achieve this?”. He thinks and longs for sleeping, but there is a burning sensation, a desire, a goal that keeps him awake during the nights, gives him a typical of 4 hours of sleep every night. After all, what keeps him alive is the what kills him the most – desire to achieve success.

He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know where else to go, who to tell or who even to trust. So he panicked. Without a second to think, he quickly grabbed the phone out of Uncle Jack’s coat pocket and dialed 9-1-1. The phone hardly rang before a operator answered. ” 9-1-1 what’s your emergency?” “Yes! can you please send medical help to 123 Main Street, my uncle has been shot and he’s not responding! There’s blood, a shit load of blood, everywhere.” he cried. After, he ended the call, quickly wiped the phone clean of any fingerprints and placed the phone in a wooden drawer near the closet.

She sits alone at a desk, a dual-monitor computer flickering lazily in front of her as she scrolls through websites online. Her eyes are tired, for such a young soul. She has had enough. The dark circles under her eyes made her seem like an infant panda, or possibly a raccoon, and no matter how much makeup she used she could never quite rid herself of them.

Often, she finds herself wandering aimlessly in her own mind; the mind itself seemingly a vast expanse of intrigue and wonder. Thoughts can linger for hours, or disappear as quickly as they come into being. After a while, she often forgets herself in her thoughts and lets time pass her by.

The stress of exams lingers over her, a hovering overlord dooming her to fail. She, however, ignores it. With a wave of her pen, she writes facts and figures to remember for the next day. A flicker of her weary eyes across a page gives her a sense of reassurement as she realises she knows more than she once thought.

The clock ticks seven. Her revision session is over. She is content and prepared, even if she looks physically exhausted.

She wakes up every morning at six o’clock sharp. Not a little bit more nor less. She likes doing that,even if its not a school morning or a day necessary for her to wake up so early. She thinks by doing that, she can catch up with time and run alongside it, not behind. She’ll sleep very late at night and wake up with the sun, a constant routine she’s careful not to break. Afraid that if she did, one precious hour will passed without her enjoying her favorite youtube channels, usually talking about different psychology topics or the meaning of her birth chart explained by amateur astrologers. She likes the silence that comes with the early morning, when everyone in her family is still asleep. For a moment, she knows that she’s safe, with only the sun and sounds of someone speaking through her iphone screen or sometimes, just her own thoughts ringing in her ears like small bells reminding her that she’s alive and all the reasons why she should be glad of that. Breathing in and out, opening and closing her eyes, a small smile tugged at her lips, and birds singing, vaguely signaling that a new day is approaching.

He is sitting in the separate room as a study room .He looks joyful remembering his family, his child and of course his parents too. Even he tries to ignore the some cuts he received in his fresh battle with his spouse. As he is somehow determine to overcome by this. Now again the question which makes him vociferous is what to do.. It is very long time ago now as he remembers his old work job. Because there is nothing credibility left in that concern or by that job. As it is morning time,he has to do some rituals but completing some more sentences. Of course he is now determined man. who has seen all gritty petty of life. He tries to answer his questions then why he is sitting ideal.

She sits back in the same seat she always sits in at 1:10pm. She scans the room around her. “What am I doing here?” she questions herself. “I belong somewhere bigger, better, faster.. most importantly more creative.” She begins to think of everything she’s ever been through and then moves onto thinking about everything she deserves. This girl had been through hell and back and never really seems to get a break. In her 7th grade year she was told that she needed to move to a house almost 20 miles away from her whole life, not extremely far.. But it was a lot for a 12 year old. There was something revealed about her parents. They were addicts. They were addicted to the effects that heroin gave them. The way it made them feel, but they realized they needed help and there was only one place their child could go and still have some sort of way to go back and forth to her school that she couldn’t just drop. Her heart dropped to her stomach every time she ever started to think about the place she was sent. She felt sick of everything she’d been through because she fears every day she’ll have to go back. The girl was sent to her aunt’s house. Sounds all great and family oriented until you realize the way she was treated and what she had to go through. When she first stepped foot into the home that she would live in for the next 6 months, she felt ery. She cried herself to sleep for a majority of the nights spent in the basement of their home. She contemplating ending her life more than once but she continued to hold on, “For mom,” she would remind herself, “Stay Strong for mom” She paced around the basement trying to figure out how to get out of her hell on earth. She was treated as a red headed step child… some would even call it a life like cinderella. She was told to make a meal once a day for the people she was staying with. She had family counselors that would come to the house and speak with her, they would find any way to possibly help her. She was in the deepest depression… nothing seemed to pull her out from the dark depths she had entered. Now the day she was taken out of the home was the most traumatic experience she had encountered. “TWO WORDS. THANK. YOU.” These words rang through her head to this day. Her aunt screamed these words at her whilst in a family counseling session. She now struggles keeping herself together everytime someone raises their voice even in the slightest bit directed towards her. Her body trembles occasionally throughout the course of her life due to these events. She doesn’t remember breathing this day. She just remembers crying and balling herself up for self protection. She was rushed into the basement to collect what she could grab. “You are the most ungrateful, disrespectful, selfish kid I’ve ever met!” The young girl still thinks about herself like this. She takes one look in the mirror. Disrespectful. Selfish. Not good enough.. This is what she sees. New things have been added to the ways she sees herself because her self esteem was destroyed. Ugly. Untalented. Rude. Broken. That word… Broken. There was no way to unsee this word written across her forehead. She never thought she would be able to be loved again. After she left her aunt’s house she moved from one house to the other of her family. She was moved to another aunt’s house, this time her mom was with her. Her mom had to leave the recovery house she was staying in because the broken hearted girl wasn’t able to keep herself together anymore after the horrifying memories that blocked her state of mind. After a few months they were asked to leave there as well, due to having a relationship with her father. He was also a recovering addict and wasn’t the best with keeping his old ways under keeps. He had stolen about 200 dollars in change from the woman who allowed his girlfriend and daughter to stay. They moved forward from this and the young girls grandmother allowed them to enter her home. At this time in her life she was about 13 now. Her mother was diagnosed with an unknown disease that caused her brain to swell. Her mom fell back into a deep depression and the only way she knew how to cope with this was to begin using again. She was constantly in and out of the hospital and her young daughter struggled with the idea that she had no clue what could happen to her mom. Eventually she was released and all was well, except that fact that they were sooner than later kicked out of this home they were staying in as well. Her heart broke. She wasn’t good enough, her mind flew to the conclusion that her family didn’t love her. Hate grew in her heart. She began to come off as hard and unloving. Her heart looked black. She didn’t feel anything anymore. She definitely believed no one would love her anymore. Here comes the part where we fast forward 2 years. She falls in love with a boy she never thought she would even have noticed. She fell in love with not only this boy but his family, his heart, his looks, and his interests. He put on the cover of loving her more than anything. She opened her heart to the boy, she gave him everything. Near the end of the relationship she gave him her body, her heart, her soul and her mind. He was the first boy she’s ever gave these things to. She valued herself more than expected and took these things very seriously. But not long after she did this he decided it was time for things to come to an end. She never saw this coming… she had planned so far in advance for them. She started planning for next year, next summer, their one year. She truly believed that he was the one to help her through everything. He lightened up her life in ways that hadn’t been lit up in years. She found herself in a dark space again. She didn’t really understand why it hurt her so bad to have her heart broke over and over again. Her mind told her this would become a normal thing. The broken girl never really stops being broken right?

At the moment, she was worried. It felt like everything was all too much and not enough at the same time, and it was overwhelming in a way that was seemingly impossible to explain. She was sitting in a chair with ugly red flowers sewed onto a grey fabric, and she was contemplating her life. It felt like so much had already happened, but there was still more to come. It was an exciting thought, but it was also what was frighting her. She had everything planned. A college acceptance letter was tacked onto her wall above her bed; her future was ready to begin. She would attend an unreasonably expensive school, live in mediocre dorms with a room mate she feared she would hate, but she would survive. The college wasn’t far from home, so any time she felt her sanity slip she knew her mother was only a twenty minute drive away. Her mother could always help her clear her mind, and she knew within the next couple of years, she was bound to need plenty of clearing. College wouldn’t be easy. She would be working on her writing, investing herself into the one thing she truly loved, even though she knew it was a bad idea. That this tacit rarely worked, and it rarely worked for people like her. People with so much doubt in themselves that the feel that maybe everything would just be easier if they gave up and did something smarter. Maybe she could do something easier with her life. Major in math, like she always thought she would, maybe become the veterinarian she had dreamed herself to be for so many years before she got it in her head that she wanted to be a writer. Still, as she considers quitting on her dream and doing something that would be more successful in the future, she can’t ignore that fact that she wouldn’t be happy in any other life. She’s passionate about writing, more passionate about creating her own words than reading others, and this is saying something because she can often be found hiding somewhere with a book in her hands, ignoring f all of the responsibilities of high school and life. She wishes that it would be easy to get where she wants to go, but she knows it won’t be, and all she can do is hope that she can keep her doubt at bay for long enough to do something amazing, because she knows she can. But she doesn’t know if shes strong enough for that. Strong enough to ignore the world and all the judgmental people in it who are trying to hold her back. Doesn’t know if she can ignore herself for that long. This is what scares her. Herself. So she sits in her ugly chair and prays that she doesn’t get in her own way of changing the world with her own words.

Behind a desk loaded with papers, she sits in an office chair looking anywhere but at those files waited to be sorted through. She wonders, ‘How much paper would it take to completely barricade me into this office I despise? Could I stop my boss from popping in periodically if I flooded this room with papers, making it impossible to open the door without risking a paper cut frenzy?’ She wouldn’t mind the paper cuts if it meant more autonomy and less need for these useless details depicted on every form. She sips her coffee, which the receptionist brewed too strong (again) and will surely cause a queasy stomach as she taps fingers and feet, hoping to make 5 o’clock come more quickly. Coffee is no time machine though – merely a morning ritual which always seems like a comfort until she’s at the bottom of the cup, realizing it actually brought her almost no comfort at all. ‘Oh well’. she thinks. ‘Maybe tomorrow’s cup will help the time pass faster.’ And yet time passes at the same rate it always has, ticking away her life, file by file, cup by cup.

Eleven Years Ago They make it seem like a past can just be forgotten. They don’t truly realize what it really was like. Smoke. Silence. Constant pain and fear. Hungers of a child compel her out of the safety of the closet. Creeping past the slumbering Bringer of Agony and Rare Love, she trips over imagined escapes. Scouring the kitchen, she looked for something – or anything to eat. But a roar of the mother’s wrath interrupted her anxious search. A fist met her stormy blue eye. Cries of confusion and agony echo in the sparse and bare apartment. She falls face first into the cruddy, grey shag carpet, fresh cigarette butts singing her cheekbones. She whimpers like a kicked puppy, trying her hardest to not let The Woman see her tears carving canyons down her pale freckled face. She knows this to be her life, and that it will never change. At the tender age of five, she already knew that her mother couldn’t and wouldn’t love her, and each day will follow like the one before it. Abuse would’ve been her eternity. But she also did not know of hope. She didn’t realize that the unexpected can occur in the deepest, darkest of midnights. When the silver moon was just a glowing crust, the storm in her eyes brewed. A thought rose like the tide, and an idea crashed down in waves. Before her mind could rationalize the idiocy, she crawled out of the sleeping bag in the closet. The Woman had left the child alone that night, again. Grabbing her coat, shoes, and a cereal bar, she climbed out onto the steel ladder going down the five story apartment complex. Her footfalls made little to no noise as she clambered clumsily. A tomcat yowled and hid when she stepped out onto the pavement. She looked both ways. The stars winked mischievously as she disappeared down the unknown alleyway, escaping from the frying pan and into the great and terrible fire itself.

Now She sat in her creative writing class. Creative non – fiction, huh? Sounded interesting. She recalled the stolen file hidden under her mattress. She knew she was adopted. Her parents knew that at seven years old, she was bound to remember something and thus didn’t keep it a secret. But they also never gave her any details. They say they really never knew the background of the little blonde child they opened up their arms for. It wasn’t until she was older that she recalled memories of eating rotten apples and discarded, half eaten sandwiches in the darkness. She remembered grey shag carpets, and a ripped sleeping bag in a tiny closet. Images that she couldn’t have imagined on her own began sprouting up from nowhere. She didn’t dare tell her parents. They always assumed her overactive imagination tended to skew her version of reality. They thought they knew better than to trust her words. So just the other day, when her parents were gone, she poked around in her dad’s office looking for the keys to the intimidating file cabinet prowling in the corner. She didn’t believe that her parents were as ignorant as they portrayed themselves to be. Besides, when you go through a huge financial and legal change like adopting a child, don’t you usually keep records of everything? They had to be in that filing cabinet. She had shuffled around through the desk drawers and the bookshelf beside her computer. She saw a ring of little keys beside a small wicker basket filled with other random brick-a-brack. Excitedly, she tried the first key. It didn’t even insert. She heard her mom open the garage door. The second slid in easily, but refused to turn. The dogs were sitting at the laundry room door expectantly. Her heart racing, she almost dropped the keys before using the last one. Slippery like butter, it turned. The drawer popped open. Her eyes glanced at all the different files, and saw the one titled Annalia. The file was heavy, and she thrust it into her shirt. The papers felt cold and sharp against her sweaty back as her mother walked into the house, laden with groceries. “What are you doing in dad’s office?” Her mom was definitely suspicious. “I was getting printer paper for a drawing. It looks nicer than the lined notebook stuff.” She nodded. “Ok. Help unload the car please, then get started on your homework. And remember, it’s trash to the curb night, and you have to be at choir practice at 6:30…” After school that day, she plopped herself on to her bed and pulled the thick file out from under her mattress. She didn’t know what she expected to find, but this – this was something else entirely. It was a record, from the day she was introduced to the family on their doorstep in the August air, to just few days ago while she was working out at the Dojo. She read her mother’s handwriting, of every single conceivable mistake and error she made, and was picked apart and analyzed. There were even notes from some parental class she was taking, something about child development and discipline. She read every single day entry. Then behind the notebook there were medical reports dating 2001 – 08. It was a little hard reading the messy handwriting of a doctor, especially with the older technology of photocopying fading the paper. The day that she put into state custody, apparently there was a very thorough physical examination. She had purple and black bruises all along her arms and legs and stomach and back, and even rings around her neck from a chokehold. The were long red streaks, presumed by the writer as proof of a constant whipping from a belt. There was also damage to her lungs from secondhand smoking. She had three deep puncture wounds on the bottom of her left foot that were infected. She vaguely remembered crying on brick steps, holding a bloody foot and smoke curling around her tear stricken face. She was horrified. She always dreamed of finding her parents, and meeting them again. She imagined herself to be like Annie, where her parents would come back for her someday. She knew that she couldn’t just go back to live with them again, but she liked the idea of both sets of parents all sitting down at the dinner table, laughing and eating delicious food together. She could see her adoptive dad taking out the monopoly game board, and both of them having conversations about boyfriends, and moms sharing their own mother’s chocolate chip cookie recipes. Her fantasy was destroyed. That could never be. Her own mother was only thirteen years older, young enough to be an older sister. Her father went unmentioned throughout the file, as if he only existed to bring her into the world, then ceased to exist. There were also gaps. 2006 and 2007 weren’t recorded. She knew she was going to have to learn more. This file – this wasn’t enough. Her hunger for the truth to be dragged out only increased when she snuck the file back to the cabinet after making more copies of every single page. She stored her copies between the layers of spare sheets on the top shelf in her closet. They couldn’t know. Not yet. She needed to know more. This couldn’t be the end.

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Kami Blog > Introducing Yourself Creatively

Inspiration

Introducing yourself creatively.

Creative classroom introductions

The first day of school with a new class can be stressful. Although we can’t help you write your syllabus, Kami can help with the process of your students getting to know you.

The first time you meet your new learners should be memorable. You can make a good first impression in a fun way that they’ll remember and hopefully help new students with their own self-introductions.

Whether you’re a new teacher looking for a creative way to introduce yourself, or an old pro just looking for something more than, “Good Morning class, my name is…”, we’ve got some creative ways and a few templates that can turn your intro into a great icebreaker.

Everyone knows the value of a good first impression. As they say, you only get to make one. Why not make it something fun and memorable? Time Magazine ran an article based on several expert testimonies about what constitutes a good first impression. They had some obvious (and not so obvious) tips.

• Adjust your attitude Students will pick up on whatever energy you bring into the classroom whether it be positive or negative. There will always be things you can’t control that will affect your day, but you can always focus on the things that you do have control over. It can be a great help to your classroom management if your first appearance in a new class is one of you on a good day. It might be as simple as making sure you get a good night’s sleep and a decent breakfast before the first day of school.
• Search for common ground Everybody enjoys people with whom they have things in common. That’s obvious. But how to establish common ground with a room full of teenagers? You could try having music that you enjoy playing as they enter the room and see who recognizes it. Or maybe wear a t-shirt with a pop culture reference on it. Go for something that you enjoy (that’s age appropriate!) and see which of your students is an old soul. They may surprise you!
• Shift the focus from yourself to others Although this blog is about your self-introduction, that doesn’t mean the first class of the school year has to be all about you! Use this as an opportunity to get your students to open up and introduce themselves as well. People strongly remember how someone else makes them feel. If your classroom is going to be an effective learning environment, you’ll need to get to know each other in the first week.
• Be yourself Although this seems obvious, sometimes you can be less than authentic without even realizing it. If you are new to teaching or still find public speaking difficult, your mannerisms might be overly formal. Focus on having relaxed, but confident body language. And if you’re reading from notes or a computer, don’t forget to maintain eye contact where you can!

This last point is crucial. Body Language Matters has a great blog specifically aimed at teachers! It includes the importance of keeping your hands free and palms open, the value of good eye contact, and even the significance of where you point your feet!

Why not kick off your school year in one of these creative ways, and take the self-introduction less traveled?

• Check out our super helpful blogs on warm-up activities for the classroom. We have a blog for high school and middle school classes.
• Do a teacher feature on social media: For obvious reasons, it isn’t wise to share your personal social media details in class, but you could easily make a post on your school’s social media page and give your new students an idea of who you are before they come into class.
• Send out a biographical email: This one works well for high school students, who should be getting into the habit of checking their school emails regularly. Write a short piece about yourself so your new class can start the school year already knowing your name before you write it on the whiteboard.
• Send a letter or a postcard over the summer: If your students are in middle school or younger, a more analog approach could work well. Type up a letter or find a postcard template online that describes a bit about yourself and how excited you are to meet your new class. Children rarely receive mail so this could be a great way to make an exciting first impression on your learners before they even come back to school!
• Make your self-introduction into a slideshow presentation: A colorful template describing who you are can help transform that first class into a memorable lesson for your new learners. This also works well for online classes or blended learning environments.
• Make a quiz on Kahoot and have your students guess facts about yourself, previous careers you may have had, famous people you’ve met, or interesting places you’ve visited. You might even be able to impress them… maybe…
• An acrostic poem is a great tool for younger learners. Not just for English teachers! Once you’ve used the letters in your name to describe what kind of person you are, you can have your students do the same.

So, take some or all of these tips into your new class and make a first impression that will stick with your learners for the entire school year. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, though. Your learners will respect the content of your syllabus and how you deliver it throughout the year, regardless of the first day in class.

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• screenwriter

Bobby Crown New Member

Let me introduce myself....

Discussion in ' New Member Introductions ' started by Bobby Crown , Feb 22, 2021 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_f1f838b99e3addb42ad802279a6ea516'); }); Bobby Crown.. class clown. I've been doing my best to entertain people around me my entire life. I've been telling stories for as long as I can remember. Why not try my hand at writing movies?! Now, I'm not a complete novice in the writing game. I've been performing/writing whether it be in live theater, stand-up comedy, or musical venues since 1995! Yeah... I'm old. One of the biggest changes in my life occurred 2 years ago when I tore the quadriceps tendon in my knee while running. I would require surgery and be off my feet for about 7 months. After about a month of feeling sorry for myself, I decided it was finally time to write my first screenplay. So, I purchased Final Draft and I was off to the races! But not real racing, because of my stupid knee. I entered my screenplay in every competition out there and even made the quarterfinals in the Chicago Screenwriting Competition. However, many script evaluations kept arriving at the same conclusion. They all liked my story and dialogue, but my structure was... well... crap! An evaluator compared me to a car. "You have a good engine, but the outside is all dented up". So I've recently enrolled in The Los Angeles Film School to pursue a Bachelor's in Writing for Film & Television Program. I've recently finished my second screenplay during the pandemic and can't wait to start my third! My professional goal is to be a working writer in the entertainment industry. I want to tell stories and entertain people on a much larger platform than class clown Bobby had. I owe him for ruining his knees.  

Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_f1f838b99e3addb42ad802279a6ea516'); }); Welcome to the forum. Does the LA film school tell its students to sign up here? There have been a number of them recently.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_f1f838b99e3addb42ad802279a6ea516'); }); Thanks for the welcome! One of the assignments this week is to sign up for a forum related to our field.  

Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_f1f838b99e3addb42ad802279a6ea516'); }); Welcome. Is part of the assignment to explicitly mention LA film school? I ask because we often get LA film school peeps making a point about it, when no other new member is that specific. It's raised some eyebrows. I feel like they're asking you to advertise their school for them on writing forums. I haven't noticed many LA film school peeps actually actively engaging after signing up, either. Anyway, I hope you do, as we have a small but experienced screenwriting membership.  

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