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Kelsie Painter

Dr. Plunkett

9/23/2020

Composition 1101

Acts One and Two

I took the idea of snapshots of memories from the textbook to use as my basis for my

narrative, because I didn’t honestly realize we could write about anything in general. Thankfully,

that was a wise choice, because it eventually led me to my final essay, even though it wasn’t

exactly snapshots of memories. The strongest aspects of my writing come from my transitions

and attention to detail. For me, the more detail I write, the better, because it is one of the easiest

ways for me to understand stories fully.

I loved getting to go inside of my own head and dig out all of those suppressed feelings

that had been bottled up for some amount of time, because my essay involved emotions that were

extremely recent. The hardest part of my writing was picking the right details to include, as

sometimes I use too many which makes it harder for the reader to understand what's going on.

My beginning process to the essay could have had a better outline, for it wasn’t a very clear

representation of what exactly I was trying to convey to my readers. Yet, by the end of the

writing process, I felt confident in my essay, feeling like I took all of the places I was having

trouble connecting and connected them, as well as looking deeper into the importance of the

detail I was putting in, rather than just writing to get words on a page.

The final product of the essay came together naturally, as I felt like I had an introduction

that introduced the reader to what they would be reading about without overdoing it. My body
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paragraphs I believe worked well together and flowed nicely through the time frame of about 2

years of my life, as only certain aspects of my life were highlighted together. My conclusion let

the reader have a firm understanding of what I was wanting to tell them, while also being the

most important part of the essay that they read, for it included my thesis. I didn’t want to just tell

another pointless story about not giving up your dreams, because I had never given mine up, they

just became lost in the stress of my life. By talking about the negative effects of quarantine for

me, and the process I took to find myself again, I was able to find a public resonance, because

everyone at some point in time has gone through a momentary hardship like that. If they haven’t

hit that road block yet, when they do, they can refer back to my essay to see that it will not

always be the way we think.

I believe my essay does abide by the narrative genre, feeling like my strongest aspects of

my essay came about in my last few paragraphs when relating the downfall of the arts, my own

hardships, and the quarantine all in one. Creating a piece of writing that has a strong sense of

connection for all people is what I value most in my writing. The aspects of my writing that need

more work are my connections through time, and my transition from one moment in time to

another. I felt that sometimes they were lacking in progression, and revised those areas the most

out of anything. From the first draft till the final draft, my writing had a stronger sense of

purpose written within it. I felt as if I told a story of hardships in the arts rather than explain

another covid quarantine story, because majority of people now, I feel like have one. I was able

to highlight stronger areas of connection in my final draft compared to my first, which makes

finding the purpose of my essay easier than before.

I believe my essay passes the assignment. I took as much information from my peers and

professor as I could and incorporated it into my writing while following the rubric with each
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revision. My writing felt conveying in this essay, and it was one of my favorites that I have

written in a long time, because it was a story that I could relate to, and issues that I understand,

rather than another essay on the purpose of a classic novel. Over the past few weeks, I felt as if

my writing became stronger, for I was able to understand what it meant to write a true narrative

essay while still using forms of other essays like rhetoric and persuasion to help bring movement

to my own.

The only additional information I can even think to conjure up about this essay is how it

became relevant in my life again at the time of writing it. I was going through a smaller artist

block for a while, and then I sprained my ankle for the first time ever, and had to be sent home

for two days to get it looked at due to insurance issues, and ended up finishing the essay back in

my hometown where it all started. By being back home, I was able to read my essay out loud to

myself and look around at my room and picture everything that happened. Getting to drive by

my highschool brought back a lot of memories, and I was able to channel my emotions about

Mamma Mia from there accurately. It was a great reminder to listen to my own advice every

once in a while.