Reading Like a Writer… Building Like a Writer… Building… Building Barn Doors

In June of 1998, I graduating from Rochester Community and Technical College with a Carpentry Diploma. A nine month program that I thought would open so many doors for me. I had dreams of owning my own construction business by the time I was 21. With that dream, I had another to go along with it. I wanted to drive racecars on the weekends. I had an obsession with driving fast. Multiple speeding tickets in my late teens will back that statement up. (Ironically, my job now allows me chat with people who also have an obsession with driving fast.)

While reading Mike Bunn’s, “Reading Like a Writer”, he wrote, “When you read like a writer, you are trying to figure out how the text you are reading was constructed so that you learn how to “build” one for yourself.” (74) Mr. Bunn also quoted author David Jauss. Mr. Jauss wrote, “Reading won’t help you much unless you learn to read like a writer. You must look at a book the way a carpenter looks at a house someone else built, examining the details in order to see how it was made” (74)

Let’s back up again to November 1998. After graduation, I got hired as a carpenter. I was working for a construction company framing at an assisted living complex in Northfield, MN. My plan was working out perfectly, until I woke up one morning with a swollen right arm. My arm also had a purplish tint to it and a strange pulse that could be felt throughout my arm. I had never experienced this before. I thought I had slept on it funny, so I shrugged it off and headed to work. Not too long after arriving at work, I decided to talk to my foreman about my arm. The symptoms were not going away and it felt like it was getting worse. After a look of shock from my foreman, after seeing the color of my arm, he told me to get to the hospital to check it out. (This was the last day I worked as a professional carpenter.)

I made an appointment to see my family physician at Mayo Clinic before leaving the jobsite. I rushed home to change clothes and headed off to Mayo. My Doctor didn’t take too long with his diagnosis. He felt there was a blood clot causing the issue. I was taken to get an ultrasound and then rushed into an operating room. I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Ultimately, this experience would cost me two small chunks being taken out of both my right and left first ribs. This helped open up blood flow into both of my arms. The biggest setback came when the doctors told me to look for a new career. The rib surgeries would cause nerve damage that would make it hard to be a carpenter fulltime.

Although I was dealt a major blow to my life goals, I did not give up on my carpentry skills. I have since renovated two homes that my wife and I bought. Literally from 2005 until present, I’ve been working on these two homes. The first home has since been sold. Both required demolition all the way down to the studs. During the renovations, I watched countless hours of home renovation shows. My wife and I toured homes during the Rochester Parade of Homes. We researched ideas and I took photos and mental notes on how certain designs were created from framing to the finish work. I learned how to do wiring and plumbing along the way as well. Years of mistakes and achievements have made me into the handy man I am today. My family and friends take full advantage of my years of research and drive to be the best builder I can be.

Much like the time, effort, and research I put into my carpentry work to make my wife happy and appealing to others, Mr. Bunn talks about choices we make as writers that can determine if our written work was well received by the readers. We can write in a way that will be appealing to a certain audience. We can structure our sentences in a way that will help with flow. I know some readers don’t want to read one word at a time. Mr. Bunn spoke about his time working as, what I call, a theatre attendant. He wrote, “I began to realize that the way I was reading—one word at a time—was exactly the same way that the author had written the text.” (72) It’s great that he used this experience to really study how words were being used to influence people’s emotions and thoughts. I enjoy reading when the author writes in a way that I don’t have to pause and reread multiple times. I also like to put myself in the story and experience what the writer is describing.

My latest project was building sliding barn doors in my basement entertainment room. One door blocks a closet opening. The other blocks a small toy room for my daughter. Like everything else I’ve done with my other projects, I spent a lot if time researching the look I wanted. I decided to build my doors from scratch. I could have gone to Menards and bought barn doors, but I decided to use real barn wood from a nearly 100 year old granary. It was slated to be burned down by the local fire department for training. I couldn’t watch it happen. Seeing old structures destroyed hurts my carpenter feelings. On a beautiful Spring day, I removed some boards from the granary with my son Noah. The boards I used told stories. There were initials carved into them along with some artwork. Some artwork displayed inappropriate images that I had make sure were not visible to its viewers. I had to modify the metal rail to make it work with how I needed the doors to function. The boards were planned and sanded to get the look I wanted. I had to trim the edges to make everything fit the size I needed. Time and care went into these doors to get the best response I could from my wife. In the end, she loves them. Thank God!

The nail holes left in the boards were made by people who shared a passion for building like me. I can’t help but wonder if we had similar life dreams and goals. They are all passed on now I assume. I felt it was important to let their work be visible and talked about for many more years to come.

All of this work and thought I put into these barn doors can relate to what Mr. Bunn was talking about in “Reading Like a Writer”. Writers have the ability to write something special, if they choose to take the time to look at the details that go into their writing.

Works Cited:

Bunn, Mike. “How to Read Like a Writer.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2, (2011) pp. 71-85

Jauss, David. “Articles of Faith.” Creative Writing in America: Theory and Pedagogy. Ed. Joseph Moxley. Urbana, IL: NCTE, (1989). Print.