In this blog, I will be building onto my writing skills and continuing learning how to write present scenes. This post will be a continuation of my last blog post. I read and annotated Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway to get examples about how to use dialogue and symbolism in my writing.
Today I spent the day with my family. It is very rare that we get to spend time because we all have lives. All the kids in the family are all grown up. I miss the days like this. The laughs and the jokes. Talking about the great memories we share. The best memory my family and I share is our vacations in the Poconos. “Loved when we used to get together and go to the Poconos” I said looking over to my aunt. “We have so many home videos from there.” My aunt smiled and said, “I still have all of those videos on a disc.” “I remember the first time we went. I just wish we could go back to times like that. Having fun, eating food, playing games, going swimming. I don’t remember the last time we actually got together as a family and had fun. We are all so busy with our lives that we are losing the value of family.” My mom said in a sad tone as she continued to speak. “Some of our family members did not see or reached out in years. We are so divided now.” “Yeah I know but we are all together now. Having dinner on the last day of summer. Enjoying the company that we missed for years.” I said looking at my family members sitting around the table. “This is true. It is lots of people who do not have family at all. They have people who forgot about them. Lost people. One thing I learned in life is that blood does not always make you family. You can meet a friend and they treat you more like family than your own blood. They care about you and take you in. Their family starts to love you and now that is your family. Some people do not have it good like us. We have the luxury to sit at a table and bring up the best memories we have together” My aunt spat out with all her emotions laid out on the table as everyone listened. “She was right. Family means everything when you have a family that is genuine. Having a family built off love is the best feeling in the world. I am so grateful that we can get together no matter what problems we had in the past. This is everything” I added on t
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In this blog I will be composing a present scene with the help from these texts, What is Creative Nonfiction? by Lee Gutkind and My Name is Margaret by Maya Angelou.
I was at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in a large and MRI machine getting a scan of my abdominal area. I had to drink this thick, chalky, and white formula the doctor mixed up for me. It was some special stuff to “light up my intestines”. At this point I had been sick for 2 years, so getting a bunch of test done was normal now. After the machine completed the scan the doctor said I could go home and they would get the results in a few hours. As I sat in the passenger seat of mother’s car I had no clue this would be the worst day of my life. When I got home all I wanted to do was lay down and rest. I had no energy to do anything else but that. I walked into my bedroom and I heard my mom’s cell phone ring. She continued to walk into her bedroom and all I could heard was her voice as I laid down. “You want us to come back now?” Her voice had a more serious tone than it usually has. My mom walked into my bedroom and said, “Pack up a few outfits in your overnight night bag” “Where are we going?” I asked in a very confused and concerned voice. She looked over at me with worried eyes, “We have a spend a couple days in the hospital. You should be out in no time”. I was used to going to the hospital a lot because I am basically a medical mystery, but I have never stayed in the hospital. I had a rush of emotions. I thought “maybe this is a good thing so I can finally know what is wrong with me. On the other hand, I felt very afraid because I am only twelve and I am getting admitted into the hospital. We arrived at the hospital an hour later. As I walked into the hospital it was very cold. We were told to go to the emergency room so I could be admitted in. Of course, just like any hospital it took hours. I laid on the hospital bed and cried most of the time. My mom tried the cheer me up by getting me to listen to music or watch the Food Network on the hospital TV, but nothing could make me happy. It was scary for me, and even though my mom was there with me every step of the way I still felt alone. A very slender male doctor walked into the room. “We have taken a look into your scan and we had noticed that your condition is more serious than we thought. My other colleagues are very impressed that you were eating food as well as you are.” He said and smiled in my direction. I knew this would be the hardest journey for me. It was a rainy fall day in New York. I was walking down the street and I stumbled across a quint coffee shop. I stepped inside and got in line waiting to order. I ordered a tall mocha with pumpkin spice. I received my coffee and turned to find a table. As I scoped out the room I noticed three known writers; Don Murray, Maria Popova, and Anne Lamott. Me being a college student currently studying creative writing; this is the perfect moment to have a conversation about the most important topic in writing: The Writing Process. I walked over to their table, “Hi my name is Alexa and I am an inspiring writer. Do you mind if I ask; What is the writing process?” Murray glanced at me, put his coffee down and said, “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: pre- writing, writing, and rewriting.” I nodded and looked in Anne’s direction. “Do my drafts have to be perfect before I move onto the next step?” I asked in hopes she would answer. Anne looked at me with a slight smile on her face and said,” Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts”. I looked over at Maria “When is it a good time to work on my writing?” Maria looked up from her iPhone X and said, “I can work anywhere. I wrote in bedrooms and living rooms when I was growing up with my parents and my brother in a small house in Los Angeles. I worked on my typewriter in the living room, with the radio and my mother and dad and brother all talking at the same time. Later on, when I wanted to write Fahrenheit 451, I went up to UCLA and found a basement typing room where, if you inserted ten cents into the typewriter, you could buy thirty minutes of typing time.” I laughed at her response because I have always wanted a typewriter. “My writing process needs to be changed from the responses I have received from you all. I normally write on draft and try to make it perfect.” I asked, “Should I get people to read my drafts?” “Whenever I’m giving a lecture at a writing conference and happen to mention the benefits of finding someone to read your drafts, at least one older established writer comes up to me and says he or she would never in a million years show his or her work to another person before it was done. It is not a good idea, and I must stop telling my students that it will help them.” Anne added “ Then I go on telling people to consider finding someone who would not mind reading their drafts and marking them up with useful suggestions”. “And what is prewriting and writing to you? Mr. Murray” “Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft. Prewriting usually takes about 85 percent of the writer’s time. It includes the awareness of his world from which his subject is born. In prewriting, the writer focuses on that subject, spots an audience, chooses a form which may carry his subject to his audience. Pre- writing may include research and daydreaming, note-making and outlining, title-writing and lead-writing.” He continued to answer my question, “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment. When you complete a draft you know how much, and how little, you know. And the writing of this first draft—rough, searching, unfinished—may take as little as one percent of the writer’s time. “ I continued to ask questions, “Maria what if you aren’t a morning person, but you want to write well?” Maria took a sip of her coffee and answered “I’m always in a hurry to get going, though in general I dislike starting the day. I first have tea and then, at about ten o’clock, I get under way and work until one.” She continued to talk “If the work is going well, I spend a quarter or half an hour reading what I wrote the day before, and I make a few corrections. Then I continue from there. In order to pick up the thread I have to read what I’ve done.” It was now 6pm and we talked for about 2 hours. “Wow. This was very useful information. I will definitely take all this advice and put it into my writing. The Proust Questionnaire
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Alexa AaminahI will use this blog to present my work for English Composition. Archives
December 2018
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