Essay Writing: From Frolicking to Mental Breakdowns

Frolicking with Creative Non-Fiction! Pic Credit

Hello! I haven't really used this blog this semester, because up until this point, I've been happily frolicking through fields of Creative Non-Fiction. Creative Non-Fiction has its own difficulties, but I am much more engaged and happy even when I'm struggling through writing it. Soon, I will make a post about revising and editing, because that is where I'm having issues. But now, my frolicking days are over. Now is the wonderful time in the semester when research essays are no longer an abstract threat, but a reality that makes me sleep on my couch instead of a bed and have mental breakdowns in between rows of books in the library. Last semester, I felt like I made a lot of improvements with my essay writing issues, but this time, I feel like I'm back where I began. So here's the breakdown on what's making me despise writing:

Great Britain, Visited.

Almost to the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland

At the end of the first day of my study abroad, I laid down in a hostel bed in Scotland and wrote, dazedly, "My pictures cannot capture the beauty my eyes have seen." I feel the same now. I've started so many blog posts trying to summarize the trip. I don't know if my words can capture the beauty my eyes have seen, the hills my legs have climbed, and the animal poop my nose has smelled.  Am I being dramatic? Cliché? Possibly, probably. But sometimes life is wonderfully dramatic and magical and to be unreservedly gushy is to be truthful. Because this was a fairy-tale that was real.

Let's Get Personal!

FOR ENGLAND!

This month, I submitted a personal essay/narrative for a writing contest because, England don't come cheap and  I wanted to challenge myself in a new writing style. And I learned a lot from this experience! My topic was pretty open and vague: "Applied Christianity in daily living."
I've flirted with doing this essay contest since last semester and planned on doing it over Christmas Break, but let's be real, Christmas break was all about family, friends, and taking a reprieve from everything. After coming back from Christmas break, I wrote down this essay on every weekly to do list, and, in true procrastinator fashion, never did anything till I had 3 days to go. Last semester, I read this awesome BYU devotional speech about fear and faith, and it changed my perspective on life. So I knew I wanted to write something about changing my fear to faith, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. In my manic process of speed writing, I learned a lot about personal essays:

All About That Book

I'm a bookworm. I tend to read a lot of books. Shocker, I know. But I don't think I've ever read so many in such a short period of time than I did last semester. The book binge was so fun and stressful that I was a little delirious from it all when I came home and had to do a little book detox. Since I'll be reading and studying mainly Classic British Literature this semester, I wanted to say goodbye to YA lit and list some of my favorites before life gets crazy.

Best Dystopia: Unwind by Neal Shusterman