I handed in my first essay in ten years last Thursday.  I was very nervous about it because I hadn’t written one in so long and I feel like my creative writing skills have gone kaput.  But, with the help of a few friends and the BYU writing lab, I was able to write a fairly decent essay. Or, at least I thought it was fairly decent. ;)

During the semester, my teacher wants the class to focus on ourselves, meaning, with the exception of my research paper, I’m required to write about me. :? Normally, I love to write about me as evidenced by my blog.  But, for some reason, an assigned topic about me seems scarier.

For my first essay, I was supposed to narrate an important personal experience.  In that narration, I needed to explain the meaning of the experience and I needed to make the experience real for the reader.  The hardest part for me was trying to pick an experience.  I feel like my life is so boring and that no one wants to read about it.  (It’s kind of ironic that I feel like that since I have a blog. :lol: )  I ended up switching my topic because I didn’t think my first topic was very compelling and I thought the second topic fit the purpose of the essay more.

Yesterday, my teacher handed our essays back.  I was surprised at the grade on mine.  It was a B-.  I know a B- isn’t bad, but I wasn’t expecting it.  I knew my essay didn’t deserve an A, but I thought it deserved at least a B or B+.  I’m not disappointed; I’m just shocked.  But, after reading my teacher’s comments, I understand why my essay received the grade it did.

I agree with most of my teacher’s feedback on my essay.  (If you want to read the essay, click the link to view the pdf or click the images to enlarge them.)  However, I think some of his feedback is more preference than an actual need for change.  For example, his first comment is “nutritious?”  Honestly, at that time in Corey’s and my life, nutritious wasn’t a determining factor for food.  That’s why I wrote what I wrote.  Also, he told me to name the item that we were charged for by mistake.  I didn’t remember what it was so I thought I came up with a clever way to refer to it.  Obviously, he didn’t think so. :roll:

I think my second essay, which is due tomorrow, will be much better.  First, I know what to expect from my teacher now.  And second, I worked very hard to implement the feedback from this first essay and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.

PS–My teacher said there was one student in the class whose essay was riddled with comma splices.  I’m very proud that he didn’t have to correct my grammar or change my word usage (other than when I called the extra item a stowaway).