Personal Narrative: My Essay
At the end of July, I considered giving up on writing again. With all the hours I poured into my last essay, it felt like a slap in the face that they didn’t even send a “thank you for trying” letter. I spent the announcement day sitting on my in-law’s porch sipping coffee with Baileys and stewing over yet another essay contest loss. Lacking in ideas of where I went wrong, I tried imitating old photos of authors again for inspiration. Leaning on the arm of the wicker chair with my chin resting on curled fingers; I held my pen like a cigarette, hoping to channel the inventiveness of Orwell or Fleming.
With U of L’s tuition jumping to chest tightening $11,068 for fall and spring semesters, it became impossible for me to pay for school out of …show more content…
Staring at the white screen, my inner voice fell silent and my skull felt hollow; squeezing out a single idea was like squeezing water from a rock. Papers that I expected to finish in a couple of days ended up taking weeks to complete, and I resented myself for being so slow. The lower enthusiasm resulted in more YouTube and Reddit breaks during the brainstorming process. My confidence in my own paper was often crushed after I read other winning scholarship essays.
Two months passed and I had almost resigned myself to believing I didn’t have the “right-brain” creativity to make an award winning essay. In my frustration, I often joked that it would be easier to drop my pants in the middle of campus for money than it would be to write an attention-grabbing paper.
By June, I still hadn’t won a contest, but in my procrastination, I found a group on Reddit just for writers. Reading the struggles of the other posters put my mind at ease, and their advice helped melt away my negative attitude. I never considered creating a structured writing schedule, the concept of "show don't tell", or the average time it takes a writer to do quality work. I just assumed that most writers had the ability to sit down and type whatever was on their mind with impeccable grammar and
With U of L’s tuition jumping to chest tightening $11,068 for fall and spring semesters, it became impossible for me to pay for school out of …show more content…
Staring at the white screen, my inner voice fell silent and my skull felt hollow; squeezing out a single idea was like squeezing water from a rock. Papers that I expected to finish in a couple of days ended up taking weeks to complete, and I resented myself for being so slow. The lower enthusiasm resulted in more YouTube and Reddit breaks during the brainstorming process. My confidence in my own paper was often crushed after I read other winning scholarship essays.
Two months passed and I had almost resigned myself to believing I didn’t have the “right-brain” creativity to make an award winning essay. In my frustration, I often joked that it would be easier to drop my pants in the middle of campus for money than it would be to write an attention-grabbing paper.
By June, I still hadn’t won a contest, but in my procrastination, I found a group on Reddit just for writers. Reading the struggles of the other posters put my mind at ease, and their advice helped melt away my negative attitude. I never considered creating a structured writing schedule, the concept of "show don't tell", or the average time it takes a writer to do quality work. I just assumed that most writers had the ability to sit down and type whatever was on their mind with impeccable grammar and