{"id":11859,"date":"2022-06-23T06:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=11859"},"modified":"2022-06-18T18:28:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T01:28:29","slug":"illuminating-the-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/illuminating-the-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"Illuminating The Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Dawdy.Arletta.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11862\" width=\"505\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Dawdy.Arletta.jpg 847w, https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Dawdy.Arletta-300x137.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Dawdy.Arletta-768x351.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 505px) 100vw, 505px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest Blogger Arletta Dawdy&#8217;s reflections on Susan Bono\u2019s talk, \u201cIlluminating The Essay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember the bogs of Ireland or those on the moors of England in old romance novels? The one where the heroine comes to the lonesome manor to be a governess, nurse, or maid only to fall for the moody master, his neighbor or maybe the groundsman. She\u2019s lost in the mire of boggish emotions until HE comes to her rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I don\u2019t see HIM rescuing this writer from her blogger\u2019s mind-bog. If you noticed, I\u2019ve been absent for, low, these many months and then I thought there might be hope showing on my horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewritespot.us\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.thewritespot.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marlene Cullen<\/a>, producer of Writers Forum, invited local heroine\/publisher\/\/teacher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.susanbono.com\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.susanbono.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Susan Bono<\/a> to inspire an October gathering by \u201cIlluminating The Essay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan has published personal narratives in her famed&nbsp; journal, Tiny Lights, for nearly twenty years. She is an expert in the form and offers references, stimulation and inspiration freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan Bono sees five keys to writing the personal essay:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Character: the self<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Problem: give yourself a problem<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Struggle: Problem creates conflict<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Epiphany: after struggle, a flood of new understanding<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Resolution: what you do differently as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan calls on the work of many experts including: Phillip Lopate\u2019s The Art of the Personal Essay; Adair Lara\u2019s Naked, Drunk and Writing; and Louise Desalvo\u2019s Writing as a Way of Healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of her references specialize in memoir which Susan finds to be good resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As so many good instructors do, Susan had exercises for us to try out. I found them to be great fun and marveled at the variety when students chose to share what they wrote. These are starter ideas which serve to establish the intent or direction of the essay\/narrative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here they are with a couple of my answers shared:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li>I want to tell you how [name of person] changed my life (Universal statement).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>My answer: John Steinbeck,&nbsp;and he did it twice: inspiring me to go into social work to change the world and to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I\u2019m trying to figure out how I feel about______________<\/li><li>I learned about&nbsp;obstinance . . .&nbsp;from&nbsp;my granddaughter, with her threats not to go to sleep, hands on hips, pursed lips . . . and then dissolving into tears as she gave up.<\/li><li>I never expected to________________<\/li><li>I will always regret . . . My answer:&nbsp;not starting to write earlier.<\/li><li>I never thought I\u2019d become a person who_______________________<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Paraphrasing Susan Bono\u2019s rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reader should know within three paragraphs what the essay is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check proportion of scene with real action against summary which moves reader thru time rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check the frame: sense of being triggered by past event and ends by bringing back to current event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use of dialogue brings others into the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use restraint when writing difficult themes as with violence, abuse . . .&nbsp; need not be gory to make point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>End or resolve with action or gesture as opposed to flowery words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your Turn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Challenge yourself:\u00a0 Try answering Susan\u2019s six openers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Posted on <a href=\"https:\/\/arlettawrites.wordpress.com\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/arlettawrites.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arletta Dawdy\u2019s Blog<\/a>, October 27. 3013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SAVE THE DATE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>July 7, 2022: Susan Bono will talk about&nbsp;Ready, Set, Pivot!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Personal narratives are documents of change. They always contain a \u201cbefore\u201d and \u201cafter.\u201d This is really useful to remember when building our stories. In our time together, we\u2019ll explore this concept and experiment with some structures that create natural pivots or shift points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/forum.php\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/forum.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Writers Forum<\/a> sponsors this free event on Zoom. You need to<a href=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/meeting\/register\/tZIqcu2rrzouGdMXE_JeK79IM8BMhzHwwHpS\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/meeting\/register\/tZIqcu2rrzouGdMXE_JeK79IM8BMhzHwwHpS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> register<\/a> to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note From Marlene:<\/strong> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Arletta-Dawdy\/e\/B008OCG65O?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&amp;qid=1655580786&amp;sr=8-1\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Arletta-Dawdy\/e\/B008OCG65O?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&amp;qid=1655580786&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\">Arletta Dawdy<\/a> has written a wonderful series of historical fiction: entertaining, engaging, and \u201cescapism\u201d reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guest Blogger Arletta Dawdy&#8217;s reflections on Susan Bono\u2019s talk, \u201cIlluminating The Essay.\u201d Remember the bogs of Ireland or those on the moors of England in old romance novels? The one where the heroine comes to the lonesome manor to be a governess, nurse, or maid only to fall for the moody master, his neighbor or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[786,113,106],"class_list":["post-11859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-arletta-dawdy","tag-personal-essay","tag-susan-bono"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-35h","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11859"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11868,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11859\/revisions\/11868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}