Page Rewrite Metacognition

After mulling over possible memoir ideas, I decided to write about a fender bender that I was in a few weeks ago. I felt really passionate about what had happened that day and decided that I could draw a lot of inspiration from it. Honestly, I didn’t really plan much more than that and simply allowed myself to think as I wrote. This plan proved effective because it allowed me to get my initial feelings about the accident to come across in a raw way.

For this project I made a conscious effort not to mimic Sedaris’s writing exactly and just use it as a basis for my own voice to seep through. For example, a typical page in Sedaris’s memoir had only twenty-seven pages, but I just felt so passionately about my memoir that I couldn’t limit my feelings to one page. I did, as the project required, used element of Sedaris’s writing to enhance my own. For example, I used a self-deprecating and brutally honest tone. I also used sarcasm, especially when discussing the cop’s questions. My use of “bad words” isn’t typically but I decided that Sedaris does the same and that they would help create the raw tone. Sedaris tends to be offensive when discussing certain topics. So, when talking about leaving my sister at school, and referring to the man who hit us as an “idiot” even after he apologized, I used a slightly offensive tone. My diction was strategic too. In order to achieve a sarcastic tone I would exaggerate light topics by using negative adjectives to describe them, like the “treacherous” four minute walk home. Also, I transitioned from referring to the officer as “police officer” to “cop” in order to mark my transition from respect to irreverence for him. When I wanted the reader to sympathize with my mom I transitioned from using “mom” to “mother”. I did use italics to differentiate my inner thoughts from what was said out loud. Overall I did an effective job of mixing my own voice and style with those of Sedaris.