Patrick McManus - 1933
|
Advanced English III
Emmett High School, Emmett, ID
I. Personal and Professional Biography
To some people hunting and fishing may seem like boring and pointless endeavors, but in the works of Patrick F. McManus he takes away the boredom and adds humor. The reason for this topic of writing may lie in his childhood years that were filled with outdoor experiences, some of which include hunting and fishing. Due to the circumstances of growing up in a small town in a small state, they were everyday occurrences. For McManus, writing was not his passion, and as a child and young adult his joy was found in drawing and painting. It wasn't until he began to put time and effort into writing later in college that he developed a fondness for it and a desire to develop his talent. Now, years later, he has written many works, sold over five million copies of his books, and been on the New York Times bestseller list. McManus's writings have influenced attitudes about outdoor life. Even though he did not always look at writing as a career he has been successful and shown that writing truly is his niche in life (Contemporary 188).
Patrick F. McManus was born on August 25, 1933, to Francis Edwards and Mabel Delana, in a little farmhouse three miles out of Sandpoint, Idaho. McManus's father was a logger and farm worker (Contemporary 188) who died when McManus was only six ("My Life"). As a result his mother became a schoolteacher at the one-room schoolhouse in Sandpoint. She took care of all the labor well as teaching all eight grades. Her duties consisted of chopping firewood, hauling drinking water, shoveling snow, completing janitorial duties, and cooking school lunch. The school was a little log cabin that was heated with an old barrel stove and lit by kerosene lanterns. As a young boy McManus skipped school often to go hiking up Schweitzer Creek with his friends, and, because his mother was the teacher, he figured it would be no big deal because she would never flunk her son. McManus's mother knew better and flunked him in the first grade, due to multiple absences. As a boy, he took up most of his time drawing and painting; it was his passion ("My Life").
In high school McManus worked in the dams along the Clark Fork River. He worked driving trucks, servicing equipment, assisting drillers, running a jackhammer, and he high-scaled for about a year. He loved high scaling, and thought that was what he wanted to become until a tragic accident that killed another high scaler caused him to think again. After that incident McManus made up his mind that he was going to college. He wanted more than to live in a small town and work at a high-risk job for the rest of his life. He was ready to get out and move on ("My Life").
McManus saved up his money from construction and went to college. He attended Washington State College for his freshman year. In his freshman English composition class he received F's on all his essays. The more essays he wrote, the more he saw how much he enjoyed writing. He began to spend as much time writing as he had spent drawing. He worked at his essays, and with every essay his writing got better. For his final essay he received an A+ and his English professor recommended him for English honors. After that class he decided to develop his writing talent ("My Life"). In college McManus went on to receive a Bachelor of the Arts in English in 1956, a Masters of the Arts in English in 1962, and his post graduate studies were completed from 1965 to 1967.
After college he wrote about travel or science-related topics. In 1967 he tried a humor piece, and it immediately sold. After that experience he began to write more and more humor pieces and after the great results he exclusively wrote humor (Contemporary 189). McManus chose to write about outdoor experiences, and he now admits that many of his ideas and writings come from his experiences of hiking up Schweitzer creek and going on his many fishing and hunting excursions as a child. The fun times he had are reflected in his works. He also says that many of them are imaginative. Other authors such as Mark Twain, James Thurber, and S.J. Perelman influenced his writing. McManus says that writing is hard work, but very exciting at times. He also says that writing is a very scary business which is part of what makes it so exciting and maybe why he enjoys it so much (Something 156-157).
Along with humor writing, McManus has had many careers ranging from reporting to teaching to editing and writing columns for magazines including Field and Stream, Spokane, and Outdoor Life . He has also received many awards for his accomplishments some of which are the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for Literary Excellence in 1983, the Trustees Medal, the Governor's Award for Literature in 1983, and many more prestigious awards. He has over five million copies of his books have been sold as of the year 2000, and he has also been on the New York Times bestseller list numerous times. Some of his published writings include: A Fine and Pleasant Misery, Kid Camping AAAiiii! To Zip, They Shoot Canoes Don't They?, Never Sniff a Gift Fish, and many other titles (Contemporary 188-189).
Although in the beginning he was confused and changed his mind constantly about what he wanted to do, he decided that he had a love for writing, Patrick McManus is a writer that just seemed to fall into the career. He found a talent that he had and worked to develop it. He did not really want solely to write books, so he expanded his horizons and took on many careers in journalism as well as other fields. He has worked hard and accomplished great things in his varied careers, as well as in his writing.
II. Works Cited
Flyleaf. They Shoot Canoes Don't they?. By Patrick McManus. New York: Holt, 1977.
"McManus, Patrick F(rancis)." Contemporary Authors-New Revision Series. Vol. 87. Detroit: Gale, 2000.
Something About the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Vol. 46. Detroit: Gale, 1987.
"Best Selling Humor Writer." McManus Plays. 17 April 2001
http://www.mcmanusplays.com/mcmanus/patbio.htmlMcManus, Patrick F. "My Life, Etc." McManus books. 17 April 2001 http://www.mcmanusbooks.com/Biography/pats_bio.htm
This essay was submitted by a student of Joanne Davis, an English teacher at Emmett High School in Idaho.