Overcoming the Dementor

Dear November 2014 Annalee,
You do finish your essay mostly on time. While editing it throughout thanksgiving break, do not despair. Things turn out okay. All that editing work is so appreciated when you accidentally sleep in too late the day it's due and only have an hour before you have to walk into class. As you frantically try and put in the correct MLA formatting and rewrite those last couple sentences in that terrifying hour, know that your essay does not suck. Honestly, the suckage is 0%. So good job!  But that said, it still could be better. I can't believe you missed writing "a" and "the" a couple times.
Now if only you would have actually wrote the 30 book reviews as you read them this semester.  That all-nighter was not a fun time.
Love,
Your Future Self

After crossing the finish line for my papers, I usually feel like a dementor sucked out all the love and fire I had going into it. But this time, that did not happen!
I still get pumped about Asian American portrayals, and racial shadows. I actually want to keep writing and researching them! And while my essay is technically done, I think I may still edit it more and perhaps submit it to symposiums and journals.

So what made the difference? Because, let's be real, I did still procrastinate it.

• The {Lack of a}Thesis: This research paper didn't have a big thesis or argument to it. It was more like me just saying what I found out about Asian American portrayals and then applying it to American Born Chinese and Eleanor & Park. This lack of structure immediately freaked me out at first, but it ended up decreasing a lot of the pressure of the essay. I didn't have to stress about creating a strong and convincing argument. *Side note: This kinda mirrors successful YA books: they aren't about the answers; they are about the character and his journey to find answers*

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• Stop Wallowing in Writer's Block: When I get writers' block, I tend to wallow. I refuse to try and write around it,  and stare at a blank word document of misery until I'm emotionally tired enough to curl into some blankets and sleep. I got stuck very quickly when writing this research essay. I had no idea how to explain hegemony ( the dominance of one group in a society) and racial shadows. I called my sister, who's also an English major, and she told me to write another section. Desperate (because the rough draft was in 2 days), I broke my habit and tried writing another part of it, and it worked! It actually helped me figure out how exactly I wanted to use hegemony and racial shadows in my essay.  
• The Connections between Books and Concepts worked: I wasn't sure how similarities or points of connection I could find with American Born Chinese and Eleanor & Park. I mean, one is a graphic novel blatantly about being both American and Chinese, while the other is a YA romance novel. But, once I started looking for particular characteristics of racial shadows in both, I found them. And it was awesome. Like, I had fun writing it. Last semester, I wrote an essay comparing Edmond Dantes (from The Count of Monte Cristo) and The Queen of Hearts ( from Alice in Wonderland) in the context of the displacement of God in both France and England in the 19th Century. It was torture to write.They did not fit together as smoothly. 

So this essay wasn't 100% stress free, but it was better than the last one. If you want to check it out, go ahead and click here: Was that Racist?  Now I need to stop procrastinating and study for finals.