Context:  In our first paper I want you to free yourself and WRITE.  Start to trust your voice again, rediscover your confidence, make a bridge to the reader.

The assignment is to write a non-fiction first person narrative, exactly as the writers we’ll be reading have done.

Writing Task:  Choose a moment from your life that a) seems insignificant on the surface yet b) haunts your memory.  Explore the moment on papersing detail, dialogue, descriptionntil you discover what itàall about, you discover its meaning.

In the paper you can fill in backstory. But I want the paper to be built around one specific moment that sticks in your head.  It’s stuck in your memory and you’re not sure why.

For Example:  A moment of tension between you and your mom.

A moment of extreme loneliness.

A moment of regret for something you’ve done.

A moment in which you asked a question you’d never asked before.

A scrap of memory from junior high.  Or from high school.  Or from last month.

DON’T write about something huge:  Your plane landing at LAX.

Your parents’ divorce.

Your car accident.

Your relative’s death.

AND DON’T write a lesson:  About a homeless person you met.

About how you were a brat child, then you realized your parents only wanted the best for you.

About how you played too many computer games, then stopped.

AND DON’T even think about rewriting something you’ve written about before.

Instead:  write about a moment that shimmers like a film scene in your mind.  It’s powerful for some unknown reason.  It calls to you. Something happened, but you’re not sure what.  Your mind has held onto it for a reason.  But what’s the reason?  Write to find out.