Hey guys, for our blog post we had to write a memoir but instead of using what happened but using What if’s to see if we could find different endings to our story. Other types of this writing can be further explained in these:
My Memoir will be about a more positive time in my life. It was after the summer and I was heading up to college for my first time. I was so excited to be living alone for the first time that I ended up wanting to leave my hometown so badly that I asked to go up early. But what ended up on the car ride up was something that I haven’t really done in the past. I started to think about what if? What if I made the right choice of the day that I wanted to head up, what if something happened on my way up to one of the people helping me move? In the end I was happy when I was heading up, gave me free time to adjust to my new environment and helped me get the lay of the land so to speak. And despite my concerns, everyone had made it there on time and safely. What if something was wrong when we got there? Had I filled out all the forms correctly? Luckily for me, there was nothing wrong. I still remember my first reaction to the room, it smelled of old wood, but in a nice way, like a summer cabin that hasn’t been used for a year. And floor was dirty from years of use, but the room was great. My family helped me set up it to my liking and there weren’t any forms I had to fill out, so it was nice and easy for me to just settle in. What if I didn’t make the right choices about going to this college? Eventually I found out that I did make the wrong choice for me, but in the moment, it felt right. I was able make good friends with my roommate and we still have a strong bond to this day. I was able to meet a good group of friends and I am still their friend today. All in all, there are many possible endings to my story. It could have been the right choice for me, people could’ve gotten hurt and there could’ve been so much more than went wrong.
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Hey guys! This week we had to write about emotions and themes that we’re present in My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) and Hills Like White Elephants. The twist is that we had to come up with our own time in our lives where we felt connected to these themes in dialogue. Anyway hope you enjoy!
It was a Sunday afternoon, I was excited to head home after I had finished up finals and my mom was coming to pick me up from my apartment. Another three hour car ride to my house. Can’t say I was overly excited for that, but I couldn’t really complain. As I put my bags in the back seat of the car and I noticed something about my mom, she had almost a tear in her eyes, and her shoulders we’re a little hunched over. “Mom, What’s wrong?” I asked. “Pack your things up, I’ll tell you in the car” she responded. I was worried at this point, she hadn’t told me something was happening but at this point I was sure that there was some grave news. Some time had passed and we were well on the way home, there were trees passing by, covered with snow, and I could smell it on the air coming into the car. I felt the heat of the seat and the air hitting my face. “So what were you going to tell me mom?” I asked, with slight concern in my voice. “You know how your Grandma hasn’t been feeling well, well she passed away last week” she said. “Oh my god, why wasn’t I told earlier, when did this happen?” the questions came flying out of my mouth. “She passed away earlier this week, but we didn’t want to tell you because we wanted you to be focused on your tests” she replied. “Why would you think that? Mom, I don’t think that’s okay for you to do. She is my Grandma and you just don’t tell me when she passed away?” I said angrily. “Well honey we wanted you to do your best in school, and I’m sorry for not telling you earlier but I think that us not telling you was in your best interest.” she said. “I don’t think you should’ve kept this from me, even if you thought it was in my best interest, a death in the family is not something you keep from me. Please never ever do that again.” I said back quite irritated. “I’m sorry Daniel, next time I will tell you” she said with forgiveness in her voice. The rest of the car ride was a long silent ride home of my mixed emotions of being upset at my parents for not telling me what had happened and being sad about being the death of my Grandma Hey, welcome back to the blog! For this assignment we had to read these three pieces:
I walked into the library to start on the first draft of a writing assignment during the winter. I read the assignment as many times as I could but I was still stuck on what to write. This was a new experience for me. I normally don’t have trouble starting to write something, but the idea behind the prompt bothered me in some way. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to write and I didn’t even know what I wanted to even start with. After a little while a man came down to the same table as me as I was struggling. He eventually asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was struggling to start writing this assignment, I just didn’t know where to start. He said his favorite quote from any writer was “Writing is the act of making a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and is the most frightening”. I asked who had said that and he responded it was said by Don Murray. I then asked if there was another was something he said to help write if you have no idea what to even start with. The man simply responded saying that I should first start with prewriting. I simply asked what prewriting was, to which the man responded with “[it is] research and daydreaming, note-making and outlining, title-writing and lead-writing”. I asked who had said that then since he knew it off the top of his head and he said Don Murray again. I finally asked what tips he had on why I was having this sort of writer’s block. He simply responded with “This is not a question of correct or incorrect, of etiquette or custom. This is a matter of far higher importance. The writer, as he writes, is making ethical decisions. He doesn’t test his words by a rule book, but by life”. I finally asked how he knew so much on the writing process and he said that he should know of course, his name is Don Murray. Don Murray then left the table and I finally felt like I could start writing the piece because I didn’t have to make it perfect in the first place but just writing was the more important part of the process. After a little while another person sat down at the table and asked what I was writing. I told them what I was writing and how a man had helped me get past my writer's block, but I felt like there were still things I was missing. The women said to me “In the beginning, when there are zero pages, you have to cheer yourself into cranking stuff out, even if it later lands on the cutting room floor”. She said it was her favorite quote. I said I never really thought of writing when I was at zero words or pages. The idea of not having anything written down was always frightening to me. I asked how she knew so much about writing and she said her name was Mary Karr. I was excited because I knew who she was and I asked what was the most difficult part for her as a writer. Mary Karr said “For me, the last 20 percent of a book’s improvement takes 95 percent of the effort—all in the editing”. I found this interesting because to me, the hardest part of writing was always writing, I never gave much thought to the editing. I finally asked Mary what exactly I should do with my piece right now in the early stages of writing the piece. She said “ A writer can always go back to an earlier draft. The point is to have more curiosity about possible forms the work could take than sense of self-protection for your ego”. I thanked her for her help because I finally felt comfortable enough to start writing without anything inhibatting me. I decided that I would return tomorrow and keep writing my piece. The next day I went to same library since not only had I just met 2 famous writers but their help was amazing. I sat at the same table that I did the day before and began to write. After a little while a woman came up to me and asked what I was writing. I told her and then jokingly told her she must be a famous writer since I had already met 2 the previous day. She exclaimed that in fact she was! She was Anne Lamott. I said that I had never heard of her before but I was open to any advice that she could give me. She said “So I’d start writing without reining myself in. It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible.” I said that was weird, I never thought about writing just to write even if it was terrible writing. She then said, “ But because by then I had been writing for so long, I would eventually let myself trust the process—sort of, more or less. I’d write a first draft that was maybe twice as long as it should be, with a self-indulgent and boring beginning”. I responded with “So you were writing just to write and not to deal have anything that had the same resemblance of the actual piece you were trying to write?” She laughed, then said, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something— anything—down on paper”. She then said that was all she had time for unfortunately and that she had to leave the library. I thanked her again for her advice with the paper I was doing and she wished me the best of luck. I then went on to us all their advice to complete my assignment. For this post, I read A Fable for the Living (Kevin Brockmeier) to frame my blogging content. I found that his ideas on connecting to my author-self would make a great frame work in order for me to successfully achieve this.
Dear Fitzgerald, I know that you and I are often at odds. Even when if we worked together it would be better for us as a whole. The two of us together could do so much more than when we are apart. Unfortunately, we butt heads to often, like a pair of rams dueling. You want to be freer and want to be more creative than me. Whereas I wish you were more methodical and logical when you are working. I feel that we are almost always at odds. But you are too scared to come take control when I need you too. Is that because I force you away? I force you to hide? Am I too overbearing? Please tell me. I need to know. You and I together could reach the stars we both yearn for. We could be the change we both wish to see in this crazy world. We could achieve so much together. I’m sorry if I have been too much or if I have been crazy in the past. I want this to change for the both of us together. We are both here so why not work together? We can change the world together. My Three step plan to reach my author self is simple, the first step is open-up more. I often close out things that I find weird or things that I do not like. My author-self used to be ones of these things that I excluded from taking part in my life before. If I open-up more with not only myself but the world around me, I think I can start reaching my author-self more. My next step involves turning myself off. I feel that in order to reach my author-self, I must turn off my logical brain and reach more into my emotional and open side. I feel that it is there that my author-self lives. My final step to reach you is to have more fun, too often am I bored or tired with myself, yet I do nothing in order to change it. If I truly want to reach you, I must have fun with these experiences that you come out. Sincerely, Daniel For this post, The ideas in these articles How to Create a Weebly Website (Video Tutorial). All Writing is Multimodal (Cheryl Ball and Colin Charlton). It's All C.R.A.P: Four Principles of Design (Think Around Corners). Assessing Multimodal Student Work (Kent State University) explain what exactly is being talked about in the blog post.
This is The Proust Questionnaire, it was said that using this test helps explain a person’s lifestyle and personality better than a person explaining it themselves. Because of this, I hope this gives you a better insight on me as a person and writer.
__1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? My Idea of perfect happiness is being able to do nothing. Being able to just completely unwind and not care about the outside world is my ideal of happiness. __2.__What is your greatest fear? Living too long is my biggest fear. Not that I don’t want to live long, but there is such a thing as living too long especially now. I would rather live my life to the fullest rather than partially but for a longer time. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My complaisance is the trait I deplore the most in myself. I think that this maybe one of the weirdest things that comes to mind, but I feel that I get in my own head too much and that I don’t push myself hard enough. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? I hate when people are loud for no reason and force people into weird situations. That and greed. Loud people are more of a pet peeve of mine rather than something that truly frightens me in the world. Someone’s greed tells me more about the person than anything else. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? I admire Elon Musk’s commitment to humanity and saving the planet. He sets his mind to something and he strives to make the change in the world that he wants. I also got really inspired when he made the design for Tesla cars public knowledge to help reduce carbon emissions. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance is technology. I love learning about new technologies and how they work. It’s the thing I spend the most money on myself. __7.__What is your current state of mind? I’m just constantly over it. I’m honestly just rolling with the punches because that’s how I go through life. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Caring in my mind walks a very thin line between being a good or bad trait, it depends on how the person acts. Too much caring can make a person annoying to me but it little makes them apathetic. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I lie the most to try and get myself out of trouble. I don’t like getting in trouble, as I’m sure most people don’t so I lie to keep myself out of trouble. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? I dislike my torso; I think it’s too long which makes it a little harder to find shirts that I like in my size. If there was a way to have be normal proportioned it would be great. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? I don’t inherently hate anyone, I guess people that are popular that have no real reason to be popular. I do like the idea of not having Cardi B as a rapper anymore. __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Dependability or humor. I find that these traits are the ones that I am attracted to the most in another guy. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Humor and smile are the most attractive features in a female. Being able to joke around with someone is what makes me more attracted to them. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I overuse a lot of generic single use words the most out of all the words in my vocabulary. I don’t normally enjoy short conversations that get to the point. __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? My dog is my greatest love. Animals are better than humans I love the innocence of animals and I really hate to see my dog sick or unhappy or lonely. __16.__When and where were you happiest? Happiest when I’m left alone and not bothered. I don’t really like deep conversations with random people. I’d rather be left alone to think to myself or take to someone that I care about. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? Singing, my only realistic flaw is that I’m tone deaf. I don’t really think that there is too much that I would want to improve on but not to make myself into a celebrity but just to impress people in karaoke. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Be able to read minds or stop time. Superpowers are just better I don’t dislike anything too much to the point where I would want to change something about myself over having a superpower. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? I’m an eagle scout which is cool. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I’m glad that I did it. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I’d come back as a bear; they don’t really do much other than eat and sleep. Bears are also cool because they just hang around and don’t really do much other than eat and they also get to sleep for 6 months. __21.__Where would you most like to live? I’d come back as a bear; they don’t really do much other than eat and sleep. Bears are also cool because they just hang around and don’t really do much other than eat and they also get to sleep for 6 months. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My bed, it’s my most used object I love to sleep. It’s my favorite part of the day is when I go to sleep and it’s also my most prized possession. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? For me, I’m miserable almost all the times that I’m forced to have a conversation when I don’t want to. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? By far politician because you get paid to lie which I am pretty good at, but I also love entrepreneur because it so vague and spans such a wide variety of lifestyles and incomes. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? My shortness when I talk to others. I don’t enjoy long conversations because they don’t allow me to think about what exactly I want to say. __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Well put together conversations that are interesting and not just small talk. And I also enjoy a person’s dependability and humor over most other things that a person can offer. These two aspects of a person mean a lot to me. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? Mel Brooks, that man had a whole different view on how to consume and perceive media. He honestly one of the most brilliant comedy writers and he is also underrated. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Captain Nemo, he’s just a general badass in all the books and I love the adaptation of him in any movie. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? Diogenes, the father of cynicism. Hands down not only one of my favorite historical people but also not well known. __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My mom and my dad. They mean the world to me and I look up to them every day for inspiration in my life. They also guide me everyday with what I want to what I want to do. __31.__What are your favorite names? Dan. It’s my name don’t wear it out. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? People as a wide generalization, more specifically annoying or greedy people. __33.__What is your greatest regret? Not trying harder. There are many points in my life where I should have and could have tried a lot harder to further my life but I didn’t and that’s on me. __34.__How would you like to die? In a humorous way so at least it’s funny to read about. __35.__What is your motto? My motto is just be adaptable. You never know what life is going to throw at you on any day so just be accepting of changes I guess. |
Daniel Kamowski
This blog will be used to explore the messy processes of writing and to make meaning. ArchivesCategories |