Memoirs/Personal Essay

Here's the thing, I have a blistering high fever and have had so all weekend. Not only that but I have been throwing up everything I am putting down. I give this disclaimer because I do not know how clear I am being in writing about this reading. I have attempted to write my blog, but have been so dizzy!

This week we read about the difference between a memoir and a personal essay. For those of you that don't know the difference a memoir is a longer story over a broader amount of time and a personal essay is one that is a snapshot of a moment in one's life.


I find Zinnser's style to be provocative and interesting as a how to, but also as do as you please. He suggests that we don't go overboard in talking about ourselves and at the same time not to be afraid to take risks. I sure as hell wish I had Zinnser sitting on my couch as I roughed the world of the personal essay. I chose the snapshot, as I was not sure of myself and definitely didn't think I could pull off an entire memoir. I usually write fiction and I don't have a lot of stamina with that either. I enjoy the art of the short story more than the full novel (although that is a goal of mine).


Being ill, writing about myself, and reading about writing about myself, has produced an anxiety in me greater than I have felt since I attempted my first music review. I like to hide behind a character's voice rather than use my own -I consider myself the Johnny Depp of writers. Zinnser suggests that we find our own voice and I am seeing the power in that. I think that if I could just relax and be myself my fiction would improve as well as my attempts at creative non-fiction.

There's a story that he recaps about a student who's father was held captive during the Holocaust and she wanted her father to join her in Poland to revisit it. When he refused and did not want to talk about it she thought her story was done. But Zinnser, the brilliant man he is, told her that it wasn't his story but her story that she was after. This student did the work herself and realized that we only have our own stories. He also remarked on students that wanted to interview family members about certain events and he told them that was no longer a personal essay -more like journalism- and allowed the student the freedom to write how he remembered the event. I would love to say this helped me greatly during my first personal essay, but I did not enjoy the process, nor find that I did well at it. My fears of a weak voice were there and I did not accomplish what I had wanted after all, but I think with more guidance from Mr. Z I will get there or somewhere closer to there by the end of my eight weeks discovering the voice within me that is screaming "don't let me out!"