Sedaris moves on to New York City where he first works as a personal assistant to an obnoxious woman named Valencia, which he quickly trades for back-breaking labor as a mover. After graduating, he takes on the ambitious task of teaching a writing workshop, which turns out to be a flop. After running the gamut of artistic specialties, from sculpture to performance art, Sedaris finishes his degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by his sister's skill with a paintbrush, Sedaris begins an interesting journey developing as an artist. He happily trades technological talk for discussions about accomplishing the perfect tan. During his childhood, Sedaris is aware that he is his father's opposite, but like his sisters, shares his more creative and less cerebral personality with his mother. In Part 1, Sedaris introduces himself with stories from his childhood where unwelcome sessions with a speech teacher and a music teacher reveal that he feels like he doesn't fit in. The book is divided into two parts, and with a few exceptions, focuses on the early part of Sedaris's life in the first half, and the more recent years of his life while living in France in the second half. The essays are strung together with Sedaris's candid manner and a persistent language theme.

David Sedaris, a humorist and writer, presents a compilation of comical personal essays in Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Me talk pretty