Now that I’m back on track with my English Composition
course, it is time to turn my attention to my next assignment: the Narrative Essay.
This assignment isn’t especially hard. There are some reading assignments from each
of my text books, which I have already finished. My study guide directed me to keep a journal
for a couple of weeks, writing down two observations or events from each
day. I’m supposed to develop one of
these incidents into my narrative essay.
I have a couple of ideas that I think will make a pretty
decent essay. One is about something
that happened not to me, but to my wife.
She auditioned for the TV show “Deal or No Deal”, but I got to tag
along. The other is about the dedication
of a piece of my Navy ship in the hometown of the admiral my ship was named
after. It was a moving experience, and
one that I won’t forget for the rest of my life.
The narrative essay, as detailed in my assignment, is
supposed to contain some kind of timeline and lead to a climax or key action or
tension point in the event. I’m supposed
to do outlining, pre-writing, revising, more writing, polishing, etc.
The only problem is…I don’t write this way. I’m sort of like the old crotchety Sean Connery
character in the movie “Finding Forrester” in which he plays a reclusive
writer. He barks at the street-wise
Jamal character “the first key to writing is to write, not to think!”
That’s how I write. I
just write. To me, it’s like talking to
someone, having a conversation. You don’t
really have to think about it. You just
do it. But the English Composition study
guide wants me to PLAN everything I’m going to say, say it, re-write it, and
say it again. That kind of sucks the fun
out of the whole experience for me, and when I think something is not fun I
tend to procrastinate. I’m trying VERY
had not to do that. Three more essays,
and I’m done with this course. I’ve just
got to write them.
The whole process is supposed to take several days. I plan to finish it and submit it this
weekend. Wish me luck!