Blog Assignment #8: Final Workshop Reflection

As this course is coming to an end I am realizing how much I have grown as a creative writer. This class has came with more than a few challenges with each assignment. By overcoming each challenge and using every writing technique required for each piece I received grades no less then an A-. Though there were many challenges the feeling of accomplishment after receiving each paper was great. I feel I can fully take on whatever writing challenge comes my way with hard work. In a way I am thankful for the challenges of this course. They have made me more conscious of my writing and of how the reader will perceive my writing. I have also learned new techniques of writing papers just a few pages in length. I've learned how to incorporate dialogue, strong details with a bit of emotional distance and how to create a sense of place into my writing. These are key components to great writing that I will take with me on my journey in the creative writing field.

The reading I enjoyed most was Frank McCourt’s excerpt from Angela’s Ashes. I find this piece so amazing because it is from the author’s point of view as a young child yet his memory and sense of character and place was so ripe. This piece taught me how important setting is in a memoir. This piece also showed me how I don’t have to write a memoir from a ‘looking back on life’ perspective.

“You never forget your first hallucination. Those that indulge in a little acid here and there know this is true and possibly those who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, hallucinations are no joke. Your mind takes you into a different world where everything is so tactile and intense. Inanimate objects take strange form, familiar people become unfamiliar in every sense except appearance, and noises of all kinds cloud your ears. Strangely enough every hallucination I have experienced was tactile to its fullest capacity, which means all five of my senses were being manipulated by my mind.

               

To avoid any confusion I’ll clear up a few things. First off, I swear, I’m not crazy. Second off, I’ve hallucinated hundreds of times and sometimes I get a kick out of it. And lastly, I am not a fan of acid or LSD. Moving on.”

This is my favorite piece I've written throughout this course. This is an excerpt from my experimental piece titled "I Swear, I'm not Crazy". I had the most fun with this piece because I had more freedom than the rest and I was able to show a more loosened and fun side of me. My other pieces seemed to have a more serious tone and the 'description of a place' piece was a made up romance. In this piece I share a sleep disorder that I struggle with and make is a somewhat fun topic and intriguing topic. I found it enjoyable to kind of trick the reader into thinking I do some weird heavy drug pretty often. 

Blog Assignment #7: Author's Note on Memoir

 "I walked downstairs and there he was dressed in his uniform with his bags packed. Sergeant Esquilin, my father, was being deployed overseas to Iraq. Though I had spent my entire life with him, living in the same home, eating the same dinner and watching the same shows from the same television, this day made me feel like fifteen years was not enough time. I felt angry that he was such a workaholic and even angrier at the fact that I was angry at someone who I could possibly lose forever. Feelings of hopelessness and depression overwhelmed my heart."

Right when I received this memoir assignment the first thing I thought to write about was my father being deployed to Iraq. At first I felt that this was a typical tragedy for a memoir until I sought out reasons on why my story in particular is special. My nephew was born two weeks before his due date on the same day my father was deployed overseas. It was truly a miracle and this was the motivation behind writing about this event in my life. 

I have about three journals with writings on random pages about my fathers departure and my everyday life while he was in Iraq. They are dear to me and they are always hard to read all the way through. For this assignment I figured I would use this event because it shaped so much of who I am today.

I had my doubts writing this piece because it took me almost two weeks to fully connect to it. I edited this paper about five times, over the course of three days, before submitting it and I still felt my words were not enough to express this heart breaking yet miraculous day of my life. I sat in front of my computer with Microsoft Word open for some time changing around words, editing dialogue and trying to find the perfect words. Surprisingly, I got an A on this paper and it was such a good feeling. I think this paper is perfect how it is, for the final portfolio. 

Blog Assignment #6: Planning an Interview for a 'Personal Profile'

I was able to finish my interview the day after this assignment was given to us. At first I was stumped on who to interview that would be interesting enough to write a paper on. That was until I had gotten an unexpected visit from my dear aunt Carmen. She is the most thrifty woman I know that enjoys the smaller things in life. She came over with some pizza and Pepsi and we started to catch up. She told me all about her volunteer work for Sandy victims who just so happened to be some of her closest friends. As she told her story I sat there in silence listening and thinking of how amazing of a story this was and how I had to write about it, whether it was a free write for my journal or writing for a class paper. After she told her story I had asked to conduct an interview with her and she was more than happy to. The interview was emotional and definitely hits the heart. She is a free woman and newly-wed lesbian that enjoys long walks, spending quality time with her loved ones and helping those in need. I think she is the perfect interviewee for this 'Personal Profile' assignment. 

I am thinking of writing this paper based on what it truly means to live free from my aunt’s point of view. I don’t want to just list the interview and write a very journalistic personal profile. Just some thoughts..

Blog Assignment #5: Responding to a Personal Memoir

Abradabra by Sharon Solwitz 

"Dialogue Between Two Halves of a Brain

X: I can't think straight. I want to die. It's like I'm already dead.
Y: Oh shut up. By it's nature, self is in bondage to death. Find a purpose apart from your desire to "feel better".

• This quote shows a strong sense of metaphor in Sharon's writing. This shows the humane thoughts of depression when dealing with loss, from one side of your mind. It then shows the other half rationing as to why it's alright to feel this way. In a broader sense, Sharon is writing with two opposing parts of her brain throughout this entire piece. Half the time she is teaching how to write effectively with distance and disconnect (without getting to personal) and half the time she is drawn into her heavy emotional feelings and reflects her free-associated thoughts into her writing. 

“Oh, Jesse

I want other people to miss him, to be affected, hurt, overwhelmed by the loss of him. Nick cries in his room, Meesouk’s grades have gone down, my friend Sheryl has upped her Zoloft. Good. Good, good, good.”

• This quote is incredibly real. This quote is effective to me as a reader because I find myself sympathizing with Sharon and her story as she shows a very vulnerable and realistic part of herself. This is an example of Sharon's personal feelings seeping into her work.

"Advice

Write what you can't remember"

• This is a clear quote that shows Sharon's attempt to stay on topic with the central theme of this piece which is how to write effectively. This quote is also effective because it is great advice for any non-fiction creative writer.. It is a reminder of how important and useful details can be in any piece. It also shows that details that are hard to remember or to heavy to remember, can be the most effective. 

Sharon Solwitz wins my attention in this piece with her inability to stay on topic in her piece. Her mind is always clouded with thoughts of the beloved child she had lost. I feel a sense of true self whenever she opens up to her overwhelming feelings. I can feel her longing to have her child back throughout the entire piece. Sharon also has a lot of literary pointers in this piece that I have learned from. Her contrast in her personal story and her actual lesson in writing is what kept me reading. I eagerly wanted to know more about each subject as the piece went on.

I think this memoir was published because it is a relate-able piece that shows it is okay to include personal heart wrenching details in one's work. This was a successful read because of the contrast and metaphor throughout the piece that I had mentioned earlier. This is a realistic fight between emotion, clarity and distance all at once. The author does a good job in balancing her emotions with the theme of teaching how to write effectively. Even when she is a little too drawn into her self, the reader is drawn in as well. I think this would be a best-seller because it shows the natural struggle of a person trying to regulate the natural feelings of depression and trying to function as normal as possible while dealing with the loss of a loved one. This piece is universally relate able on many levels and also is a piece with lots to learn from. 

Blog Assignment #3

Inherit the Earth; The things they Carried by Demetria Martinez

"To think of his or her plight only in terms of desperation fails to honer his or her full humanity. Of course there is desperation; everywhere it uproots and drives masses across borders in swelling numbers."

"The length of the entire U.S -Mexico border is almost two thousand miles; human rights groups estimate that at least one person a day dies trying to cross it."

These three lines are effective to me because they are a combination of fact and emotions that both give me a feeling of sentiment toward the characters in this piece. Demetria does a good job in making the reader feel sentimental toward the immigrants through her own poetic point of view and also through factual information. 

The first two lines develop a sense of hardships within the setting of the immigrants traveling, to cross the border. Her use of words is effective in putting me as a reader into a particular feeling towards the immigrants. The word plight indicates hardships and difficulties throughout the immigrant’s journey. Also she uses a poetic way of showing the amount of immigrants traveling; "swollen numbers". Using swollen as opposed to using the word large gives a personal sentiment and feeling of sympathy toward the amount of people having to travel and survive through their plight across the border.

Demetria uses prose style in her writing along with cold facts. Cold in a sense of emotional distance toward the facts she includes in this piece. This writing was very effective and eye opening. It gave me a new perspective on illegal citizens in America from Mexico and their journey and fight to cross the border.

I chose Demetria’s “Inherit theEarth; The Things They Carried” because her style of writing in this piece is one I can relate to and one I admire. She also sets a good example of how to incorporate a heavy amount of sentiment along with facts to create a good nonfiction piece of writing.

Blog Assignment #2

"The breeze of fall crept into the sunny mid-September day. As beautiful as the day was I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with hopelessness. I had one recurring thought taking over my being, that thought being California. To some it is home. To others it’s a vacation or a dream. For me it was a barrier and lingering thought that weighed heavy on my heart.                            
                I sat in bed for some time, sulking in my sadness until I could no longer bear it. I couldn't think of California as just California or as some beautiful city with palm trees and endless sunlight. I couldn't think of California without feeling my heart sink or without feeling an uncomfortably cold chill penetrate my soul. I needed a break from my fast paced and fixated mind, from California and its guaranteed discomfort."

                This piece was inspired by my boyfriend’s plans for his future. We were already in a long distance relationship and he had been planning to go even further for college. While writing this I thought of “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey. I thought of how he longed to be with his lover who was also far from him, except she was in a rehab center. I thought of the sadness that came along with their distance and it set the internal mood of the character (or narrator) in my vignette.

                I have written short stories in the past but none like this one. This is my first short story that was an assignment so I paid more attention to detail and clarity. Also, I made sure to include a good sense of setting along with a sense of self and sadness over the issue of California. Writing this non-fiction piece gave me more freedom as a writer as opposed to writing an academic essay. There were fewer restrictions on my writing and there was no definite form or rules I had to follow throughout the entire piece that would take away from my creativity. I was also able to embellish in this piece.

                I've learned write carefully and clearly for the readers understanding. I've learned that the reader may be unclear on particular things that have a big impact on how my piece will affect the reader or confuse the reader. 

Welcome to My Blog

Hi, my name is Melanie. I'm a writing and literature major that enjoys art whether it is music, drawing, writing or photography. I'm new to the writing and literature major and I'm excited to expand on my writing. Prior to taking this Creative Non-Fiction workshop class I have only taken basic writing courses. I chose Creative Non-Fiction as one of my courses this semester because it seems like a genre in writing that has plenty of room for self expression.

My writing is usually free writes or poetic pieces with a lot of repetition and a lyrical feel. I use writing as an outlet. I believe my writing should always come from a natural and honest place. When I force myself to write it usually results in writers block or writing that is not truly a reflection of myself. 

I've read a few books recently and none have had as big of an impact on me as when I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. I was introduced to this book by a former English teacher and role model. I read this book at a time where I was unmotivated and careless about school and my future. This book was a huge inspiration to me. It was the motivation I needed to be proactive about my future. It showed me that my dreams can be fulfilled although they may feel out of reach. It is after this book that I became more confident with my writing. I began keeping journals and doing free writes. Ever since then writing has been a passion of mine. 

I am officially a writing and literature major and I am ready to learn and take in all that I can.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!