Blog #2
Reading both pieces from the weekly readings really helped me narrow down my topic for the narrative essay. I really enjoyed reading "Scenes from Provincial Life". I found the story to have a lot of heart. It was very visually descriptive. It made the story come alive in a way that made me feel like it was me living through it. There were a few parts that stuck out to me including when his mother has to cut the hens tongues and he describes it like when she is "slapping stewing-steak down on the kitchen counter and cutting it into cubes...." It was very easy to see that happening. Or, when he talks about his trip to camp and when he describes nearly drowning in the river. It was very real.
Then I read "My Old Newcastle" and found it to be a different kind of descriptive. Not as much as an emotional experience but more of a visual experience. I like how he used colours, smells and similies to describe the landscape. Like in paragraph 9 when he says, "spring came with the smell of mud and grass burning int he fields above us" or, "In the autumn the leaves were red, of course, and the earth...became hard as a dull turnip." I found both pieces great examples of how to incorporate smells and feelings into a piece to make it have more impact. I've written my first draft of my essay and I hope that i've been able to capture that same kind of idea.
I was browsing through the Explorations and found a couple of websites to be of much help with deciding my topic and how I wanted to write about it. I think that my piece is a little more personal than anything i've written before. I drew on my experiences with the loss of my Dad to examine how i've been able to move ahead and grow into the person that I am today. I found the website "The Writing Life" to be of great help with it's "10 Suggestions for getting your memories onto page." I've never considered alot of those kinds of ideas and it was interesting to see how there are other ways to think of things. Suggestions number 8 was especially helpful. The idea of being as honest and personal as you can be and how you have to be accurate to your emotions if you're going to write about them. The "Finding Hidden Treasure" webpage was interesting too. I found it really helpful to see the many different ways that someone can draw from their histories to find a story worth telling. Looking at a photograph or using your personal experiences that you had while growing up were interesting ways to search for something.
I think that writing the writing the memoir was very personal but it caused me to think of circumstances in a different way. I really had to examine my experience and see how it affected me and what i'm able to take away from it. I enjoyed writing the first draft of the essay so i'm hoping that it will be a good read if anything.
Then I read "My Old Newcastle" and found it to be a different kind of descriptive. Not as much as an emotional experience but more of a visual experience. I like how he used colours, smells and similies to describe the landscape. Like in paragraph 9 when he says, "spring came with the smell of mud and grass burning int he fields above us" or, "In the autumn the leaves were red, of course, and the earth...became hard as a dull turnip." I found both pieces great examples of how to incorporate smells and feelings into a piece to make it have more impact. I've written my first draft of my essay and I hope that i've been able to capture that same kind of idea.
I was browsing through the Explorations and found a couple of websites to be of much help with deciding my topic and how I wanted to write about it. I think that my piece is a little more personal than anything i've written before. I drew on my experiences with the loss of my Dad to examine how i've been able to move ahead and grow into the person that I am today. I found the website "The Writing Life" to be of great help with it's "10 Suggestions for getting your memories onto page." I've never considered alot of those kinds of ideas and it was interesting to see how there are other ways to think of things. Suggestions number 8 was especially helpful. The idea of being as honest and personal as you can be and how you have to be accurate to your emotions if you're going to write about them. The "Finding Hidden Treasure" webpage was interesting too. I found it really helpful to see the many different ways that someone can draw from their histories to find a story worth telling. Looking at a photograph or using your personal experiences that you had while growing up were interesting ways to search for something.
I think that writing the writing the memoir was very personal but it caused me to think of circumstances in a different way. I really had to examine my experience and see how it affected me and what i'm able to take away from it. I enjoyed writing the first draft of the essay so i'm hoping that it will be a good read if anything.