Your assignment is to Write a Personal Essay based on your "visit" with a family member from your family tree. You should have completed the Family Tree Field Trip Worksheet for this. If not, you may do so now.

Using your worksheet for reference write a personal essay about your trip.

1. Compile your answers from the first section, FIELD TRIP INFORMATION, into your first paragraph, your Introduction.
2. Using your responses from the second section, DESCRIPTION, form your second paragraph, your Setting.
3. The responses from the third section, EXPERIENCE, will make up your Body.
4. The final section, LASTING IMPRESSION, will comprise your Conclusion.

Some hints to keep in mind while writing...

• Keep your audience in mind. Imagine you are writing to a specific person, say, your best friend or a co-worker. Picture that person in your mind's eye as you relay the story of this experience. This will help your writing stay consistent and keep your audience captive.
• Use your natural "voice". This is a personal essay...don't try to be an "author". Write conversationally. This will help your audience relate better to you.
• Give personal details. You're not a reporter giving a blow-by-blow account of what happened, but rather you are inviting your reader to share this moment in your personal life.
• Tap into your sense memory. Remember the sights, sounds and scents as if you are experiencing them all over again and describe them vividly.
  • For example, don't just say, "there were kids there" but rather listen again and relay what you heard..."there were kids laughing and singing, playing "ring-around-a-rosie."
• Enjoy reliving the experience. The purpose of this exercise is to record a moment in time shared with a family member. You're not being graded. You're just remembering on paper. So, enjoy telling this story.

After completing this assignment, you will have acheived Objective #3 on our Family Tree Syllabus. If you have not completed the first two objectives yet, go back to the syllabus and see what you have left to do. CONGRATULATIONS on finishing this chapter in your Family Tree section of your memoir.

Consider what your next chapter will be...

How To Write ::  Suggested Chapters ::  Creative Writing Prompts ::  Journal Writing Prompts ::  Writing Exercises ::  Memoir Writing Tips ::  Ghostwriting ::  Get Published  :: Keep a Journal  :: Write a Letter  :: Make a Picture Scrapbook  :: Submit Your Story  :: Create an MBM Album  :: Publish a Book  :: First Visit to "The Old City"  :: Down Memory Lane  :: America  :: A Star is Born  :: Unconscious Truth  :: I was Touched by an Angel  :: The Middle Child  :: Dad  :: The Music Man  :: Two Dreams  :: 911  :: Once a Man, Twice a Child  :: Mission Space  :: The Night Before Christmas  :: Snow Hill Sniper  :: I Laid My Head in My Mother's Lap  :: Electroboy  :: The Glass Castle