ENGLISH: Having to Write a "Bio" of Yourself is Worse than Puberty

Recently I was sending some important documents out to an as-yet not-well-known individual. Amongst the details for what I should send in this bundle was

"A bio of yourself."

Now other people may not agree, but I think there are few things more horrible than having to write yourself into a few sentences...unless it be writing yourself into more than a few sentences.

What are the salient features of my life? Where I live? What I do? How often I go to the gym? How often I wash my hair?

And what's the right tone to take? Deadly serious? Playful and lighthearted? Fifth-grade assignment? (I tend to opt, by necessity, for that last one).

No matter what you've been up to recently, or in the last...your life, it tends to seem rather pitiful when gathered together in one place.

Oh, it doesn't? Your bio is WAY better than mine? Then you have the opposite problem: how much do you really tell? Surely you don't need to list every single A-paper you ever wrote, but how many past projects should you gesture at? What, for example, would Bill Clinton include on a "best-of" sheet?

At least I'm comforted by the fact that, though I take issue with bios because of the glaring light they throw on my doesn't-seem-that-impressive-now list of accomplishments, those on the other end of the achievement scale have the same problem.

Which is to say...there's nothing to look forward to in this department.

-Posted by Jilly