Emmerson's Self Reliance

I feel that of the two essays I am more able to connect with Self Reliance. This could be because it is easier to understand and has a few quotes in it that everyone should hear during their life time. One of my favorite quotes from the essay is "that envy is ignorance:that imitation is suicide: that he must take himself for better or worse". I was able to connect to these small pieces of advice because I can honestly say that I have wished to have more than I have, its human nature. We strive for more than what we have, frankly human nature as a whole is a tad bit greedy.
I was especially able to connect to "imitation is suicide" because when I was little there was nothing I wanted more than to be my sister. She is a gorgeous girl and she always had this air of confidence about her that I always wanted. I literally followed her everywhere and wanted to do absolutely everything that she was doing and I wanted to wear all her clothes and have her do my hair and makeup. But I started to realize that she didn't like the things that I liked, she didn't play football out in the rain and mud with my brothers like I always loved to do. She was the girly cheerleader (ha ha which I did eventually turn into) who didn't want to get dirty or spend time outside period. The more I tried to be like her the less of myself I was, the old Sam was disappearing. I think that I finally came to a good compromise, I did become the fairly girly dancer and I like to get my hair done and get dressed up, but I can also throw down and take my brothers on in football (a thanksgiving tradition) I can even out eat and out burp my brothers...I think that I became a good mixture of both my sister and I, but all in all its me, no one else.

Essay Writing

Over the years I have written countless essays, some better than others. One amongst the millions that I wrote last year was about the character Hoppy Groenwald from Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One and how he related to the main character PK. Hoppy is one of my favorite characters and he served as a real inspiration to PK when he really needed a friend more than ever and is even the man who inspired him to begin boxing. I enjoyed writing this essay and it really taught be how easy it can be to write a quality essay when you have the proper format and know what you are doing. I learned how important quotes are and how intelligent they can make your paper sound when used properly. This essay also changed my opinion of essays. I used to think that they were the work of the devil but now I feel like I can just whip the paragraphs out and it doesn't seem as intimidating as it used to be. Liking the topic can help to, writing as essay does not have to mean hours of pencil pushing and trying to work to a dead line, it can be a fun challenge (depending on the subject)
As a writer I would say that I'm not bad, I'm definitely not the best writer in the world but I think it is one of my strong points. I have found that success comes from not trying to write as essay last minute and truly understanding your topic. Knowing the OHS format helps too. The tools you need are pretty straight forward, you need your book or source for strong concrete details (be sure to embed your quotes though because if you don't then it just doesn't work and takes away from the overall quality of your paper) a clear head, and either a computer or paper and a pencil. You also need to be able to make mistakes, you can't expect to get things right the first time (I've started this post over 3 times and I just now like it) you need to be able to problem solve, don't anger yourself, you will get your point across eventually. If you use this advice then you will find that you are able to write an essay much more smoothly and you will probably see a better grade from your teacher.