Write Your Slice of Life: 6 Quick and Easy Steps to Writing a Personal Essay

Do you know why the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series is so popular? Aside from terrific marketing and unequaled publicity, readers love the stories and personal essays. They are short, personal and teach a lesson or moral. If you would like to be a better writer of the personal essay, opinion pieces, reports and letters to the editor just follow the suggestions listed below:

1. Be brief. Many written reports or stories are 500 words or less. However, there is a general rule that an essay is between two and twenty typed, double-spaced pages. The most important criteria to remember is that a good piece needs to be an unbroken reading experience. The reader will lose interest if it is too long or wordy.

2. Tell a story. A personal essay is a story that has happened to you or that you know about firsthand. The reader assumes that it is nonfiction and that it will contain details and descriptions with which we are familiar. Structure your story around examples, using a pencil as your paintbrush to evoke images and paint a picture in the reader's mind.

3. Make a point. You will want to illustrate your point, teach a lesson, explain a specific topic, or even support or criticize an idea. Your goal is to win sympathy or agreement. Do not turn it into a sermon or a soapbox to present the superiority of your ideas by including "shoulds" or "musts" aimed at the reader.

4. Use your senses. Enliven your essay with sensuous detail like how it smelled, tasted, sounded or felt. Make the reader feel like they are seeing and experiencing it through your body.

5. Tell about the ordinary. Personal essays are often best when they describe a common but freely shared experience. It doesn't have to be about being a survivor of the Twin Towers. Talk about your reaction to 911. Or tell us about watching a sunset or baking bread. When you talk about walking your dog, take us along.

6. Make it engaging. An essay should arouse curiosity about life. Instead of preaching, invite us to consider your point of view by sharing the particular experience that brought you there, describe what happened, how you reacted, and why you interpret your experiences the way you do.

Think about your own interests and areas of special knowledge, activities, skills, attitudes, problems as well as typical obstacles faced in life. Teach us what you gained or lost in your life lesson. It is much easier to be convincing when you can draw from personal and firsthand information. Write it today. Submit it to Chicken Soup for the Soul or your local newspaper and become a published author. There are readers out there who want to share your slice of life.

? 2005 Judy H. Wright

This article has been prepared for your use by Judy H. Wright, author and life educator. You have permission to reprint it in your ezine or newsletter as long as the author and her web address is included http://www.artichokepress.com; 406-549-9813. Check out the website for upcoming workshops, tele-classes and books. You will also find FREE articles and be able to subscribe to the ezine The Artichoke-finding the heart of the story in the journey of life.

eco-friendly cleaning service Buffalo Grove ..
In The News:

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.
A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.
New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.
The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.
Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.
Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.
Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.
Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.
Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.
Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.
Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.
iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.
Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.
FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.
Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.
Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.
Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.
Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.
Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.
The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.
Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.
New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.
FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.
New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.
OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

5 Great Benefits To Writing Articles On The Internet!

Marketing on the internet can be a costly procedure, especially... Read More

Use Textpad Program for Easy Ezine and Web Site Submissions To Bring More Sales

When you create your articles in TextPad format, something like... Read More

Jump From Unknown to Widely Quoted in One Week

Start by Being QuotableIt's tough to stand out online. With... Read More

How To Increase Your Chances of Getting Your Article Published

Publishers and webmasters can spend massive amounts of time just... Read More

Four Article Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Internet Home Business Profits

Many internet home business owners today have learnt that one... Read More

Success Starts with Articles

No one can logically argue against the fact that content... Read More

Articles and Internet Branding: 5 Steps to Success

Are you ready to become an internet marketing expert? Are... Read More

Consultants - Writing Articles for the Internet Blankets the World with Your Expertise and Style

A Consultant could be an expert about absolutely anything.Calling yourself... Read More

Reprint Articles Hijacked by Text Link Ads - Great for Authors!

We all know that online publishers earn revenue from our... Read More

Advertisements and the Freelance Writer

Advertisements are one of the biggest indicators of a magazine's... Read More

Reprint Article Headlines ? the Reader is Secondary

A great headline can be the difference between having your... Read More

Interviews with Well-Known Ezine Writers #2: - John Colanzi

MS: John, you must be one of the most prolific... Read More

Your Resourcebox Giving You Profits?

Rule number one - You must write ezine articles and... Read More

Theres More Than One Way To Carve This Turkey

Although this may sound like a funny metaphor, if you... Read More

15 Commandments To Submitting Articles - Article Submission Sites

1) Don't use all capitals in your title:People don't like... Read More

Publishing: changing realities (IV)

How does a writing agency market itself effectively in a... Read More

How to Create High-Quality Backlinks the Search Engines Will Love

One great benefit of article marketing is the generation of... Read More

Be in the Trade Publications Your Customers Read

Your publicity dreams may include being featured in Forbes, Fortune,... Read More

How Webmasters Can Become Experts and Write Expert Articles!

Write articles, be recognized as an expert, drive a surge... Read More

Build Better Link Popularity with Syndicated Articles

There are many schools of thought on how to build... Read More

Write Your Ezine Article in 15 Minutes or Less!

Gasp! I can hear it from the purists now: Matt... Read More

Writing Articles - Six Mistakes To Avoid

Not writing articles yet? You really should try it, if... Read More

Five Great Ideas For Your Next Article

It's amazing how quickly free articles can generatetraffic - my... Read More

Write a Better Technical Article in Half the Time

Good technical articles are challenging to write. They're time-consuming, demanding... Read More

10 Things To Remember When Writing Articles To Market Your Website

Whatever you're selling, writing articles to distribute freely amongst webmasters... Read More

express cleaning service Arlington Heights ..