I enjoyed reading all of Murray’s reasons for writing the
personal essay but the one that stuck out the most to me was: Writing the
personal essay allows me to make use of my experience. I explore the lives I
have lived and am living, even those I may live in the future. When writing a
personal essay, the writer, myself included, usually focuses on his or her own
memories. For instance, when writing the snapshots essay, we were told to share
our own vivid memories with the reader and were told to show the reader exactly
how we were feeling at the time of the snapshot. Like Murray said, while
writing my snapshots, I was able to make use of my experience. I did in face
explore the lives I have lived in the past.
While I myself do not write personal essays very often if at all, I do
wish to start writing them. I feel as if doing so will help me discover new
things about myself like Murray describes.
I found all of Murray’s advice very helpful and I have
identified with each area at least once in my writing career but I found the
section called The Lead the most
helpful to me. During my entire life, I have found that the part of writing I
have most struggled with is the introduction. No matter what type of essay I am
writing, I can never seem to come up with a clever first sentence. His tips
like: never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech, never use a long
word where a short one will do, etc. are all very helpful and I will definitely
be sure to remember them while beginning an essay. In the next draft of my feature article I will definitely look back at my previous first sentence and make sure I abided by the suggestions made by Murray.
I feel the same way about struggling with thinking of a clever lead. I used to get so caught up in thinking of one that I would waste time that I could be writing, but now I have gotten into a habit where I just start writing whatever comes to mind because I know I can come back and fix it later.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with writing to make use of an experience, taking the time to clear your mind and really digest what has happened. It often helps you make sense of things, because it creates a visual road map. You can see that path that has lead up to the experience, and where it has lead you since then. The nice thing is, it barely takes any time at all. Hindsight is 20/20, and instead of waiting years for it to hit you, writing is a more efficient way to illuminate your hindsight.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said. When writing i too have always struggled with the introduction. Once I find out how to begin the rest comes naturally but for some reason i always spend the majority of my writing time trying to figure out how to even begin. Also i used to type essays and then right clicked to find a bigger word to seem smart but after reading murrays article i know that i shouldn't do that either.
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