5Ws Wednesday
Why did we trust him?
Remember my post about how writing is hard and I’m not as good at it as I thought? (Good and easy…except it’s not.) Well, as I explained in that post (or I think I did), I did not give up on my writing class even though I was struggling with my 2nd assignment. I had read the assigned pages in our book and did the practice exercises and tried my best to craft a 700-word essay that followed the structure that was outlined in our assigned reading. It was awful. It didn’t feel like my writing. I gave it to Josh to read and he felt the same way. There were a lot of things he suggested I change about it. So I basically said F-it and rewrote the essay the way that felt natural to me. I did infuse some of what was explained in our reading, and I did keep some of what was in my original draft. In the end, I was pretty pleased with what I wrote, but still nervous. Did I include enough sensory details? The prompt said to make the reader feel like they’re experiencing the moment with you, did I do that?
We were supposed to write about a moment in our lives that made an impact on us. I chose to write about the appointment I had with my psychiatrist back in 2002 when he told me that I had to take a semester off of school and have ECT treatments. If ever there was a moment where I knew my life would change, it was that moment. I took Josh’s advice and tried to give context as to why this news from my doctor was so life changing. I tried to do that while also describing the actual moment in the doctor’s office. Whew! It was a balancing act and with only 700 words, it was also a challenge. When I went through to revise and cut down my words to meet the 700 word threshold, there was one line I refused to cut, my favorite one about my college journey:
“I had two years left and every semester meticulously planned so that I could graduate and become a teacher like I had wanted since I was a little girl teaching my Cabbage Patch dolls on the floor of my bedroom.”
I got feedback from my instructor this morning and wouldn’t you know it, she specifically called out this line as being “wonderful” and how it immediately gives the reader a sense of who I was and what was at stake when my plans unraveled. The rest of her email was just as glowing! She had a lot of great praise for this piece and while she did have a point or two where it could be improved, she concluded her analysis by saying this could be revised but she doesn’t think it needs much work. What?! This instructor, who has a very extensive list of publishing credits to her name, who has a book, who is teaching a class on writing, said that about my essay?! My essay?! This definitely made my morning, but it also brings up the question that I may have to break into a part 2 to really explore.
In her notes about what I could do to improve, she gave me a suggestion to “deepen the emotional experience“. She wants to know why I trusted this psychiatrist so completely. I made several references in my essay to the fact that whatever he said, I took as gospel and I didn’t hesitate to follow what he told me to do during that appointment.
And honestly, that’s a good question. Why did I trust him so much? Not just me, but Josh had complete faith in Dr. Simpson as well. At the point when I had that appointment I described in my essay, I had only been a patient of his for a little over a year. What was it about Dr. Simpson that made us trust him like we did? Since tomorrow is a day that I try to devote to talking about all things mental health, I’ll expand on this a little more. I vividly remember meeting him for the first time and what he said to me. I’d also like to get Josh’s opinion on that, which I’ll ask when we’re both home later today.
Stay tuned…
Leave a Reply