Writer's Response 1

Brandy Hendon

English 3310-01



Writers Notebook Response (18)



         The best writing experience I have experienced since starting college happened two years ago when I took World Literature 2 at Tarrant County College. I was not very excited to take the class to begin with, however, once I got into the class and saw how great the instructor was, I was glad I decided to take it. We did quite a bit of writing on poems, plays, and essays by Emily Dickinson, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Voltaire, and Alexander Pope, to name a few. It was after reading Pope's “An Essay on Man” that I decided to do my final paper for the class on that piece.

         While reading “Essay” I knew instantly that I would use it for my final essay because I connected with it immediately. It just grabbed me and I related to it so easily. I have always been a person that believes “everything happens for a reason and that our life happens according to God's plan,” so writing about it was one of the easiest projects I have ever had—and enjoyed.

         Because I was writing about a subject that I felt so passionately about, I had to remind myself that I was writing this paper for a class assignment and to be mindful of that audience. Even though our professor was very laid back and easy going, I knew that this was a serious assignment and that my writing had to reflect that.

         In the end, I received a 99 on the essay. I remember laughing when I saw the grade and thinking “Wow! I'm happy I got a 99, but I wonder what it is that I did wrong to not get a 100” so I decided I had to ask the instructor. I emailed him and told him I was extremely grateful for the 99 and that I was certainly NOT complaining about it, however I was just curious what I did “wrong” to get a 99 instead of a 100. His response made me laugh out loud “Your paper was extremely well written and there wasn't anything 'wrong' with it so to speak, but it didn't make me wake up in the middle of the night and call my dad long distance to tell him about it. So you got a 99.” So I guess I'd have to say that being mindful of my audience and the purpose of my writing definitely helped the outcome.