Thoughts on The Art of Influence

I found the introduction to be quite informative. The points made, put into perspective why the personal essay can be successful and how to go about making your own successful. The first thing that stuck out to me, was the information on how "candor" can make the reader understanding of the authors embellishments (which, according to to this author, everyone seems to add). I thought that was an important thing to take away. I also found it interesting that to create a credible essay, one must avoid becoming self-righteous. The examples of famous writers  their own faults in their own writing was also a valuable lesson. I think doing so is always important, and the more I think about, many of the lessons touched on in this introduction are more or less common sense. Maybe all of the people who are known for writing personal essay just have a good grasp of that.

I think admitting to your own faults is something that we do in all of our writing. In argumentative research papers, we are taught to touch on the opposing view in order to prove your own is more factual. It's a common way of establishing credibility. I do think from the readings assigned this past week, that the personal essay is the most intriguing form of self-narrative to me, because it allows for a focused topic.