What I want to get out of writing

I have really enjoyed taking this class. I think that I have learned a lot about my writing. This is the first writing class I have taken besides composition classes and I have learned a lot. I am going to continue writing and have gotten a lot out of takeing this class. In the future I am definatly going to keep a journal. It would be nice to have something published evenutally, but for now I am just going to write drafts in a journal. At one point when I have found something that I want to share I am going to make a personal essay out of it and submit it to be published. This class was so helpful because I was able to learn about different types of writing and different genres. I think it was a big help that we had to publish something in the end because it gave me confidence to actaully try to get something published for the first time. One major part of this class that I am gong to take with me is my draft writing skills. I found that I write better by discussing my ideas with someone else. Getting my ideas into words spoken out loud allowed me to hear what I was writing about or thinking about writing about, and then I was able to generat new idea. I am definalty going to keep on writing, hopefully to get something published some time in the future.

reflective essay

Coming up with a topic for writing my memoir was not hard. I think I had so many options to write about, I just had to pick the one I wanted to share. I started out deciding what I was going to write about by jotting down a few topics that I thought would make a good memoir. Out of about five topics that I had written down, I finally decided to write about my trip to Costa Rica. I felt like I had a lot to say about my vacation, but I didn’t just want to write a general paper about my entire vacation. After reading the story by Beard, I thought that I wanted to write about an event that happened in my life that would be interesting to the reader, and have an unexpected ending. This is when I decided to write about the story about surfing and the shark.
When I first started writing my paper I wanted to write a section leading up to how I got to Costa Rica. I wrote about how it was my boyfriend Chris that had asked me to go, and that we went with his brother and sister in law. I did this so I could give a little introduction, and not just start out in Costa Rica. I wanted to write about how
Chris had been getting me to try so many new things since I met him, and surfing was one of them. All this was what all lead up to the event that I wrote about.
Writing about the shark was the hardest part. I clearly remember what happened because it was a crazy thing for me to go through. However, it was difficult to organize all of the feelings and events that I felt in order to put them into words. In order to organize what happened I thought step my step the events that occurred, starting with paddling out into the water, and talking about how this was my very first experience surfing. I wanted to convey how scared I was, and why. One of my main ideas in the beginning was how scary the ocean was to me.
Finally, I got into the real story that I was telling. I wrote about how Chris was helping me surf, and how it was hard to catch waves. Then I got to the part where Chris asks me if he can get on the board with me, and the part when I start to think that he saw a shark. This is where I had to try to write all the terrified feelings that I felt, and put them into words so that readers could understand. The best that I could I wrote exactly what I was thinking.

However, it was the meeting with Dr. Chandler that actually lead me to my real story. I went into her office to revise a different essay. Since we weren’t going to be revising this essay, we were going to just talk briefly about this essay. Instead, we would up talking about this one the entire time, and not the one that we were origionally going to talk about. Dr. Chandler found that I was essentially writing about fears that are not actually there. The whole time in the conference we talked about how people for some reason are so afraid of something that is just not there, and how the fact that something is unseen can make it even more frightening. The whole time we would come up with things that people are afraid of even though they aren’t there, and different situations that these things could happen in.
Now, instead of writing an essay about my vacation my main point being about something that happened to me in Costa Rica, the main point of my essay was about unseen fears. I thought that this topic was a lot more interesting because it is something that people can relate to and even have experienced, even if they don’t know it.
I revised my essay by writing about certain situations that people are afraid of, even thought there is nothing there, such as in movies or books. There is also always the fact of how when something is being anticipated, people tend to think of the worst that can happen. Maybe this is because they want to be relieved when everything is ok, or maybe they just don’t want to be so upset when something actually does happen. I think that this was a good topic to write about because it is interesting and relevant to so many people.



I wanted my main point of the essay to be that when I write I need to look past the superficial aspect of the story and go and find a deeper meaning to my writing. For example my first draft of my memoir was about my costa rica trip and surfing. My final essay was about being afraid in general, with the shark experiance as an example of this. Is the point I am tyring to make obvious?

writing about writing my essay

I want to write about how I went about revising my memoir. I want to write about writing this essay because I think it is the most interesting out of all of my writing.

I picked this piece becuase it was the first time I thought that I didn't write about something superficial or obvious. Ater I had my conference with Dr. Chandler I decided to revise my memoir over my personal essay. Both of the pieces were about things that I had experianced, but after our conference Dr. Chandler helped me to find something in my writing that I didn't see right away.

The main point of my last essay is going to be about how I was able to, with help, find something in my first draft to take out and concentrate on rather then just write about the entire idea. For example, instead of just writing about my entire trip to Costa Rica, I revised my memoir into writing about hidden fear that people have for no reason. I think this is interesting because you wouldn't think I would take that perspective from the beginning of my essay and I think it would keep people reading the entire thing.

My organizing process is going to be to start off explaining how I came about coming up with the topic for my essay. Then I am going to write about how I went through the process of writing the events of the trip. The main point of my essay is going to be about my conference with Dr. Chandler because that is when we had our discussion about what my essay was actually about and where I came up with most of the ideas for my essay.

revising essays

The relationship to my material effected the composing process because when we were given a topic I would write about something that I knew about. Writing about something that I have first hand experiance about I felt confident in my writing. I feel that since I had personal experiance that the composing process was a little easier then if I was writing about something completely new to me. I was also able to make more catagories during my composign process, leading to more detail.

After writing the first draft, when I got my essays back, is when I would do more research. I would take the comments and change my essay according to what the comments said. At this point, instead of just writing what I knew about my topic I would research specific details and add that to my essay.

composing essays

As we were different essays to write about, I was able to compose my essays by taking several steps. First I would write down different topics that I would consider writing about. For example, for the personal essay wrote out ideas that I would like to share about my life through writing. Some of my possible topics were growing up living with my grandparents, my parents divorce and how it seperately effected me and each of my sisters, playing softball every summer until I was sixteen, and my sister's wedding. After I wrote all of my possible topics down I took the ones out that I thought I remembered the most about and would be able to convey through writing. I took those few choices and wrote down main topics that I would want to include in my essay. After that I just picked the topic that I wanted to write about the most.

I was able to choose my focus for my essays by thinking about what I wanted the reader to get out of my writing. After I decided what I wanted to outcome of my piece to be, I would just write the events that happened. When I wrote my personal essay I wanted people to understand the fact that I had so much fun growing up with my sisters, and that I missed those times. Every other section in my essay was about my sisters wedding, and then about growing up with my sisters. My overall feeling of the essay was for readers to understand that I am happy that things have turned out so well, but I also miss the old times. I was glad that I got the chance to write about this topic because I did have personal journal entries about my sisters wedding, and this was a way for me to expalin my feelings to other people. I wanted everyone who experianced the child's or siblings wedding to be able to relate to my feelings.

nature essay

One night when I was at work with my boyfriend Chris, he and his friend Scott decided that it would be a lot of fun to go camping that very night. I am usually up for new things so of course I said that I would go. I had never been camping before and was not expecting the experience that I got. Chris always told me about this place called Long Eddy in New York where he would always go camping with his friends when they were growing up. Whenever he would talk to me about it I would always picture him and his friends around a campfire doing “camping” things. I can’t even explain what “camping” things are, maybe cooking food over a big fire or maybe telling scary stores. I just thought of a bunch of old friends having a great time. When Chris told me that he wanted to go to Long Eddy with him, I was excited that he wanted me to see that place where he had so much fun with his close friends growing up.
We left as soon as we could and the drive up there was exciting and scary to me. The closer we got to Long Eddy, the further away we seemed to get from the living that I was used to. The roads were getting darker and the streetlights seemed to be getting farther apart by the minute. The only real lights were the headlights of our car. It took us about four hours to get there because we got a little lost on the way. When we got there it was like nothing I had pictured.

When we first got to Long Eddy it was just me, Chris and our one hundred and twenty pound Alaskan Malamute Nekinya. Scott and his friend had not gotten there yet. It was about twelve o’clock midnight when we got there and it was pitch black. I was used to the lights of the city and suburbs always being on no matter where you are. Where I live in New Jersey it is not pitch black. Because of streetlights, stores, buildings, and signs there is always lights on. The main difference here is the fact that you can actually see the stars in the sky. It was so beautiful to look at up so many stars where at my house you can’t see half of the stars that you can see at Long Eddy because of all the light pollution. Although all the beautiful stars were a captivating sight, the fact that it was pitch black and I was in an unknown place was making me uneasy. Even Nekinya was more comfortable then I was, after all he had been there so many times with Chris. I was afraid because I could not see anything and I had no idea where I was. I wouldn’t let the dog’s leash go because I knew that I would be safe with him. I could hear the water, but I did not really know how close it actually was. Nekinya was excited to hear the water and couldn’t’ wait to go swimming. It was up to Chris to start us a fire so we could see and get warm. The air was a little damp because it must have rained some time that day so starting a fire was no easy task. Eventually Chris did get the fire started, and I was able to see a little bit of the beauty that I was about to discover in the morning. All night around the fire Chris would tell me how beautiful the area was, and how amazed I would be when I woke up that morning. Eventually our friends got there, we had a few drinks and all went to bed.
That next morning I work up to the light of the sun. Nothing beats that, especially waking up to an annoying alarm clock and having to get up suddenly to go to work or school. This time it was the natural light of the sun that slowing woke me up. It was weird waking up in a tent outside where it was a little muggy from the morning dew. It felt a little gross to wake up that way but I was still extremely excited to see what Long Eddy looked like during the day. When I left the tent the first thing I saw that was so beautiful was the Delaware River. It was also soothing to go to sleep to the sound of the running water. The water was so clean, and I really like to go swimming so I was extra excited. The other most amazing thing about Long Eddy was all of the trees. You look across the river and you see endless trees. I wouldn’t help but think about what animals lived over there. That was a little scary to, but the beauty outweighed the scary aspect of it.
Something that I think is so interesting about camping is the fact that in order to get clean you have to go into the river to wash. We would bring soap and even shampoo and bathe in our bathing suits in the water. This was weird for me because I had never done it before and it was awkward trying to get clean while standing on the bottom of a river. I of course wore shoes but it was a weird concept.
Watching Nekinya in Long Eddy was an experience in itself. After all, a dog’s natural habitat is outside. It was interesting watching Nekinya go swimming in the water with out fear of anything. One other time when we went camping we were able to take a boat out into the Delaware, and Nekinya would walk around in the shallow parts of the water and howl like a wolf. This was such an experience because Malamutes don’t bark and barely make any noise. This is the only place that we would hear Nekinya make a sound. For some reason he must have felt something to make him howl like that. We were also a little bit concerned because we thought that he would attract some animals, but he never did.
If there was one thing that I didn’t like about camping was the bugs. I know bugs are a part of nature and they will always be outside, but they were not my favorite part of the experience.

I absolutely love camping now. Since my first experience camping I have been about twelve times. I like being outside and breathing fresh air and looking at the starts at night. After my first experience camping am not afraid because I know where I am. When I am in Long Eddy it is like leaving the real world for a little while and spending some much needed time with friends. Here I don’t have to worry about doing schoolwork, or paying bills. I leave all of my worries and problems home and come to Long Eddy where during the day I can lay out in the sun and read a book and at night I can sit and talk around a campfire with good friends while listening to the Delaware River go by. I will never forget my first experience camping, and I am looking forward to future camping trips!

publication venue

I had a hard time finding somewhere to publish one of my essays. At first I wasn't even sure which essay I wanted to submit. At first I thought I would go with the nature essay becasue I couldn't think of anywhere to submit my other essays. Then I thought I would submit my first personal essay about my sisters wedding to a teen magazine, because I thought it sounded like what you would read in something like Cosmo. Then I found out that it's hard to get excepted into magazines like those because I have never published before.

I finally decided to just look through the Writers Market book and find something that I though I could write a piece for. I was looking at womens magazines and didn't find anything. I eventually stumbled upon a magazine called Plus Attitude magazine where they accept pieces writen about posative uplifting experiances. This is where I thought that I would write a nature piece about my experiances surfing. I wanted to write my nature piece on it because sometimes its not about catchig a wave, but about being out there and just sitting on the board. Especially when I really can't surf all that well, its more about the experiance. I guess we will see how it all goes from here!!

literary journalism pre draft

Whenever I go on a vacation it is an entire experience. I enjoy the packing and preparing. I usually even do my boyfriends packing too. I like to wait at the airport, and be excited on the plane ride the entire way there. To me a vacation is flying somewhere too far away to drive, and staying somewhere with the entertainment that I enjoy. Normally I go to a beach spot, however I sometime would go to mountains to go snowboarding. After talking with other people about their vacations, I realized that people go to different places for all different reasons.

The first person I talked to was a girl named Jen. Jen is twenty-three and is in her last semester of college. She works part time, and still lives with her parents. In the conversation I had with Jen I found out that she does not have to fly to a place to go on vacation. I asked Jen how often she goes on vacation and she told me, “once a year”. When I asked who she went with she replied, “friends usually”. Then I asked Jen where she goes and why? This is when I found out that she doesn’t necessarily have to fly to get to her vacation spot. She told me: “usually to cities, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, etc. and the reason...hmm, I guess just to see different places, and big cities usually have a lot of tourist attractions and things to do and see, cause it's nice to be able to say you've seen a lot of different places.” Jen also told me that she does not find it easy to get the time to take a vacation because “between school, work, family stuff...it's hard to find the time, and then when you take into account that everyone else going is trying to balance the same things, it can become hard to plan a time that's convenient for everyone.”
The second person I talked to was a girl named Veronica. Veronica is twenty-one years old and has a twenty-two month daughter named Kayleigh. Veronica is a single mom and works full time. I was able to talk to Veronica about her vacations before and after she had her daughter, and the differences between the two experiences. Veronica told me that she also goes on vacations about once or twice a year with her family. She said: “A lot of times we go to California or west coast states, [also] Florida because we wanted to go to Disney World.” Veronica also told me that all other vacations are for scenic reasons, “Upstate Canada because my mom wanted to see it, and yellow stone park because it’s beautiful.” Then I asked Veronica if it was harder for her to go on vacations now that she has the baby. She responded quickly saying that she does defiantly find it harder because before the baby all she had to do was worry about herself, her parents doing all the planning. Now she has to make sure that she packs everything for herself and for Kayleigh like food, diapers, and the stroller to name a few things. Veronica also told me that fortunately she goes with her family where her mother would watch Kayleigh if Veronica wanted to sit by the pool. However, when the entire family goes out, she has to be much more responsible and assume full responsibility.
Then I talked to Pat, a fifty-three year old married woman. All of Pat’s children are older, out of the house and living on their own. Pat said that she goes on vacation twice a year with her husband and family members. When I asked her where she went on vacation and why, she responded: “Camping, I don’t know why I would go camping. Other vacations are to relax.” Pat also says that she goes on vacations with her grandson, like to Disney World.

I have found that different people go on vacations for different reasons, depending on their personal situations. Some people have it harder then others to get the time to go on vacations. Also everyone goes for somewhat of different reasons. The impression I got from everyone is that they all go for some sort of relaxation and to spend time with family or friends. The main difference here is why and where people go. Some people go to go sightseeing, others go to just relax. I guess it doesn’t matter where you go on a vacation as long as you are relaxed going to see something and be somewhere that you enjoy, and are with good people.

nature essay prewriting

For my nature essay I want to write about camping. I had my first camping experiance about three years ago, and I feel like it was a unique experiance because of how it started out. I think a lot of aspects of camping are exciteing and interesting.

I think there are two ways I can go about this essay. I can concentrate on one specific aspect of camping, or I can write about the entire experiance. I really enjoy camping, and after my frist experiance I loved it and always wanted to go back. I would definatly really enjoy writing a piece about camping and maybe choosing this one for publishing.

journalism essay

I am not sure what I am going to write about for this piece. At first I was going to write about snowboarding. I still might do this. If I do write about snowboarding I can talk to people who have been snowboarding for a long time, and talk to people who have just started. I would also like to talk to people who like snowborading to find out if they just like to snowboard or if they watch it on TV, or if they do any other activities that are like it.

Another topic that I was going to write about was my vacation to costa rica, or just vacations in general. Why do people take vacations, and how often. I would ask such questions as to what they do to prepare and what they plan to get out of a vacation.

Another option that I was thinking about writing about was about people who go to the gym. I could find out the difference between people who go a lot, people who go sometimes, and people who don't go at all. I think this is interesteing to me because I have been in all three of those situations and I know how I feel about it, but I think it makes for interesting writing. I would also like to find out what the majority of the people who go to the gym want to get out of it, and why they go.

I am not completely sure what I am going to write about this time. I find this essay harder because it is not entirely based on personal experiances.

Revising my Memoir

After writing my personal essay and memoir, I thought right away that I would want to continue revising my personal essay about my sisters wedding. I thought that one had more feeling in it and would be a lot easier to keep writing about, as well as a lot easier for my audience to relate to. I went into my meeting with Dr. Chandler and right away said that I would want to reviese my personal essay. After all I thought that I had put more time into that piece. So Dr. Chandler said that that was Ok but she just wanted to talk about my memoir first for a minute or two to get it out of they way, and then more on to my personal essay. As it turns out, we spent the entire meeting talking about my memoir and almost no time at all talking about my personal essay.

I have decided to revise my memoir instead of my personal essay. After my meeting with Dr. Chandler I defiantly have more confidence in it and I feel like I have a lot more to wirte about that I started out with in my first draft. I also feel like once my memoir is complete that a lot of people will be able to relate to it. I think that I need to delete a lot of insignificant details and add a lot more information about what the actual topic is. I also think I need to add more specifics of the even that I am writing about so I can explain the situation a lot better, and expalin my exact feelings more thoroughly.

truth in my memoir

When I was finished writing the first draft of my memoir, I thought it was boreing. Even though I wrote out all the facts as they happened, I thought that it needed to be more suspenceful. However, I never changed my origional draft and handed it in to Dr. Chandler the way it was.

After I handed in my first draft we had that class on Frey about truth. That class left me feeling that I actually did the right thing in leaving my draft they way it was. I thought that maybe if I was to add anything to my draft that it would in some ways become untrue.

Then I had my meeting with Dr. Chandler, and we had another class on truth in writing and I found that I would be able to add elements to my paper that would change it up but still keep it 100% true. We discussed taking out the first part of the essay and just concentrating on the main point a little more, where I could add more detail about my main point and still be able to stay on topic.

As far as I know my essay is completely true. I told the story the exact way that I remember it. I told my own feelings, and I portrayed the people in the story in the was that I saw them at the time. But the issue of truth comes up for me agian becasue the way I portray myself and the other people in my story is from my point of view. I know what I want them to come off like, but someone else reading my work can have a different opinion and get a different feeling. So I guess when I write the memoir I am keeping it true to what I know and remember. Hopefully the story and characters will be portrayed the way by readers the way I intend for them to be.

Discussion about Frey

I think it is an author's responsibility to tell the absolute truth when writing a non fiction piece. It is unethical to lead readers in the wrong direction. However, how will anyone ever know when a non fiction piece doesn't have any fiction parts? I think that an author would embellish on an even to make it more interesting, but all they really have to do is add a short sentence such as, this is how it felt, or this is what could have or would have happened.

I have never read Frey's book, but I have definately heard of it. Before hearing about all of the lies that Frey wrote about, his book was very popular. Why couldn't Frey have just labeled his book fiction. I think it is becasue saying that you actually went through something gives it a different effect they saying that you just made something up.

about personal essay

When someone reads my personal essay about my sister's wedding, I want them to feel happy. My essay is about growing up with my sisters, and everything that we used to do. Then I go on to tell about her wedding, and how we are all grown up. When I was writing it, it made me sad to think about the past, and that is part of what I want my reader to understand. I want the reader go through the emotion I went through when I was writing the essay, either with my experiances or with their own.

When I write about how my life was with my sisters growing up, I want my reader to get the feeling that I was very close with my two sisters, and the crazy funny things that I went through having an older sister.

When I write about the wedding in between the sections about when I was younger, I want the reader to get a feeling that this is a posative essay, not about losing the past, but about looking to the future. Although when I wrote my essay I was sad about looking to the past, and missing how things used to be, I overall want my essay to have a posative outcome. I think that my last paragraph about how the wedding was the best party I have ever been to, and how I want my sister to be proud of me shows that I am actually looking to the future. I overall want to leave my reader with a posative feeling about my experiance.

When I was younger I always thought that things would get easier as I got older, and I couldn’t wait to grow up. Now I can’t help but think about how much I wish things were the way they used to be. Now I realize that it’s a lot easier as a kid when you don’t have to worry about things such as bills, food shopping, and doing your own laundry. All I had to do as a kid was occasionally wash dishes after dinner, dust on weekends, and walk my dog a couple of times a day. Now I wish that I was still living with my mom, two sisters, grandparents, and dog, all in the same three bedroom one story house.

I am standing in church next to my younger sister, my two step sisters and a couple of close friends, all with our hair and make up all done. This is the same church that my mom made us come to when we were younger, and now I am happy to be here. We are all wearing the same red wine colored dress and looking down the isle, waiting for my older sister to walk down in her beautiful white gown. I never thought this day would come because in my mind my sisters and I would stay young forever, always arguing with each other or working together to come up with some money to buy some insignificant thing at the mall that we just had to have. The whole idea of one of us getting married and actually starting a life of our own was beyond my realm of thinking, until now.

When we were younger, my two sisters and I shared a small room that somehow fit three beds in it, one set of bunk beds and a mattress that only came out when it was time to go to sleep. Three single beds would have taken up the entire room. Of course, our room was always a mess. Naturally, as every other parent did, my mom would constantly tell us to clean our room. This was an ongoing battle because our room was never clean, but we always eventually did it. Now, cleaning this room was no easy task, we had a lot of stuff. I remember my older sister always coming up with ways to get me and my younger sister to do the cleaning while she either watched or just left completely. One time she grabbed this thing that looked like a fairy wand that must have been from an old Halloween costume and told us that when she tapped us on the head she would point to something and we had to put it away. So my older sister would smack both me and my younger sister on the head and we would put the thing she pointed to away. That’s how our room got clean that day.

All the bridesmaids and groomsmen are in the church and the next song to be played on the organ is “Here comes the bride.” My sister is walking down the isle with my step-father, and waiting for her is her future husband and my future brother in law. No one knew, but she had sneakers on under her dress. When they reach the end of what probably seemed like the longest short walk of her life, her future husband gives my mom a hug and shakes my step dads hand. In a few minutes he will be a part of my family.

Playing card and board games was a weekend ritual. Monopoly was a favorite of ours. My two sisters and I would gather around the table and decide who would be the banker who would get to be the car or the thimble, and who would go first. About twenty minutes into the game my older sister would start to make up rules. For example if she were to roll two fives she would say “ rolling double fives means you get $500”. Of course we agreed to all of these rules because we were younger and thought it was cool of her to do that. For some reason I liked the one dollar bills, so my sister would say “I’ll give you all of my ones if you give me park place”. Meanwhile she has all the money and boardwalk. The game is pretty much over.

Now my sister and her future husband are sitting up on the alter, and the ceremony is continuing. I remember crying, but she was laughing. Later I found out she was laughing because she told the priest that she had to pee. It turns out she had a little to much to drink in the limo ride over.

Now it’s about a month before Christmas, and we really loved Christmas growing up. Some years we spend months preparing Christmas gifts for my mom and grandparents. Of course when you are little you don’t buy gifts, you make them. One year my older sister decided to have us put together a Christmas concert for my mom and grandparents. We had this Disney Christmas record that had the words to all the songs on the back of it that we used as a guideline for our little concert. She made me and my younger sister practice singing everyday, and when we didn’t get the words right she would get upset with us. Trust me when I tell you that my younger sister and I were no American idol. Also around Christmas we just had to sleep next to the Christmas tree the night we put it up.


Now the actual wedding ceremony is over and we all walk back down the isle. My sister and her new husband stand there as happy as I have ever seen them and thank all of their guests for coming in hopes they will see them in a few minutes at the reception. Once we get to the reception hall the photographer gets us all together to take a family photo. It is very hard to get the entire family together on the same day at the same time since we all live in different states, so this is a rare occasion. Since all of our relatives are there, plus a few new additions, it is the biggest family photo yet.

Every Friday night we would be allowed to stay up late to watch TFIF. Because my mom worked nights, and because we didn’t have a TV in our room, we were allowed to sleep in my mom’s room on Friday nights. My grandparents would put a lot of blankets down and two of us would sleep on the floor and one of us would sleep on the couch. Needless to say, my older sister would sleep on the couch. A few years later, when my older sister would go out on Friday nights, it would be a fight between me and my younger sister about who got to sleep on the couch.

Now we are at the reception and all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen are announced and standing and facing each other in the middle of the dance floor. Next my sister and her husband will be announced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. They come running through the door and I don’t think that I have ever seen my sister so happy. Although I cry because I am happy for her, I am also sad because I know things will never be the same as they were. Of course she will always be my sister, but never again will we share the same room and play our old games the way we used to. Now my siter is there for me when I need her in other ways, such as giving me much needed advice, or loaning me a couple bucks when I need it. My last thought before the best party I have ever been to is that I can’t wait to see what happens next, and I hope she is proud of my when I get married!

personal essay vs memoir

As we have discussed in class on Wednesday, there are differences between personal essays and mamoirs. I thought that Lott's story "Brothers" was a memoir, but I believe that it turned out that it was a personal essay. I found out a little more about personal essays and memoirs to help us tell the difference, although to me they are quite similar.

Personal essays are about a personal experiance, where you can say exactly what you feel about that experiance. I felt that the personal essay was something that was written about over time, and not just about one specific moment. In the personal essay the writer tries to find their personal meaning of the experiance they are writing about. In Lott's essay he is writing about a feeling that he had and that evolved throughout his life.

In memoirs, there is more of an autobiographical feeling to it. The memoir captures a specific moment in the writers life that they want to tell you about. We see this in Beards writing.