Finding my Future... or Maybe Not

Jim Odom was a very helpful guest speaker for me. He taught me a lot more then I originally thought he would. I learned a very big lesson from him being that you don't have to have your life figured out before you graduate high school, even though that concept is shoved down your throat from the beginning of your senior and even junior year of high school. He is living proof that you don't always know what you're good at, and you don't have to find your calling early on in life. Which really spoke to me personally, because I feel like I haven't found what I'm supposed to do or who I am supposed to be. I don't know what my calling is or what I was made to do. And that's okay.

I also learned from him that when it comes to other people's opinions on your work, take it or leave it. Learn from it, take it as constructive criticism, or don't. Joining a writing critique group, can help you a lot with you're writing. Getting a second opinion on your work can actually help improve it more then it can hurt it, and the best part is, you don't have to take their advice if you choose not to. 

He also told us not to be afraid to write what we are really thinking. Even if it is embarrassing. Chances are that little embarrassing moment in your book, will make it more interesting and entertaining.  

I was so inspired by Mr. Odom, because I felt like him coming to talk to us really helped me with my writing technique. I love being in a creative writing class and it has helped me just as much but it was really great being able to hear real stories about writing from a published author. 

I asked Mr. Odom multiple questions because I was just so curious about the writing critiques and everything else he was talking about. I got all of my questions answered and that was very helpful. All in all, I would say I learned a lot about writing from Mr. Odom and I am very excited to use the news things he taught me in my writing. 

The Presence

I walked at an even, light pace. I was in no hurry. The wind was like ice to my skin and made my lungs feel like fire. ‘I should have worn a bigger jacket’ I thought to myself. The street light above me flickered once just as I walked under it. I looked up at it noticing the dozen gross bugs flying all around it, touching the light and bouncing off, touching the light and bouncing off. I heard a rustle behind me, startling me, and turned to look rather abruptly. What I saw when I turned around was only a few leaves blowing in the wind, leaving me to wonder where the noise came from. I picked up my pace now, wishing I was closer to home. I let my mind wonder onto Nick, that football player in my English class that asked me to help him with his essay tonight. That same football player that has lived a block away from me since we were seven. That same football player that has never noticed me before now. That same football player that couldn’t take his dreamy eyes away from mine tonight. I wondered if he would call.

I was so deep in a day dream about the boy that at first I didn’t notice the shadow on the side walk to the left of mine. Two shadows I said in my head. Then it hit me. I stopped dead in my tracks. Just then I felt pressure on my shoulder, like someone had placed their hand there. I squeezed my eyes closed and started walking faster and faster. I could feel a presence hanging over me. Like someone was following me, watching me. “I’m almost home” I thought to myself as I half walked, half jogged down the street. I swooped around the corner quickly and I was there. Home. I hurried down the brick path that lead to the front door. I opened the door immediately and slammed it behind me. I let out a quick breath. “I made it.” I said out loud.

 Lying awake in bed late that night, I felt a presence around me that let me know I wasn’t alone. It felt like eyes staring at me when I was in my empty room, that same feeling I got walking home earlier that night. It felt like something or someone was breathing down my neck.

The phone rang, and I thought to myself “It’s too late at night for Nick to be calling” but I let myself get excited anyway, hoping it was him. I shot up in my bed and reached over to my bed side table and grabbed my cell phone, it was from an unknown caller. I answered it and said ‘Hello’. The person on the other end of the line didn’t respond but I could hear their breathing, I knew someone was there. I said “Hello” again. Nothing, again. The breathing frightened me so I hung up the phone and sat very still in my bed for a few seconds. Just then there was a tap on my window. 

Halloween Questions

The best Halloween costume I ever wore was…

A trash can. I know what you’re thinking, ‘why would you want to dress up like a trash can?’ but let me tell you, it was a lot of fun. My best friend at the time, and I made our Halloween costumes that year. I’m not sure why we decided to be a trash can, but we just did. We cut out the bottom on plastic black trash cans for our legs to fit in and we wore suspenders around our shoulders that were attached to the top of the trash can to hold it up. We wore all black clothing underneath so it looked like we blended into the trash can. We saved some of our boxes and bottles instead of throwing them away and we stuffed our trash cans to make it really look like trash cans. Everyone we saw on Halloween night seemed to really get a kick out of it and we did too. We had so much fun that year, not only be “trashy” but also making the costumes.

My favorite Halloween was the time…

 My friends and I drove a few towns over to a town that I think remember the name of. You see, this was actually the night before Halloween, the 31^st, because the town decided that all of the children would go trick-or-treating the night before Halloween because this particular year, Halloween was on a Sunday and the town wanted to honor God’s Day. My two best friends and I were so excited about Halloween this year because we all had matching costumes. We were even more excited when we learned that we would have two full nights of trick-or-treating, which meant DOUBLE THE CANDY!!! I remember us picking out which pillow case we all wanted to carry. We decided to carry pillow cases with us this year because that meant we could carry more candy with a bigger bag to hold it all. We laughed and played and skipped and had all sorts of fun. I think that was the last childhood Halloween I had with my two best friends in the world and I miss it so much.

The Halloween costumes I’ve had in past years…

I remember one year my mother stayed up all night to make me a costume that I was convinced that I just HAD to wear. It was an Egyptian Princess, because at the time I was going through a huge Egyptian phrase where I just adored everything that had to do with Egypt. My mother used card board and she cut out shapes and strung them together with string and painted very detailed designed on it with bright colored paint and it looked amazing, it wasn’t very comfortable I remember, but it was pretty. I wish I still had that costume, I think I would appreciate it now, and appreciate how much hard work my mother put into it, a lot more than I did at the time.  

Dan in Real Life Questions

Number 3) I would write for a newspaper, which was actually what I wanted to do for a long time. I write for a newspaper now. It is my dream to be a travel journalist and write a column for a newspaper about the places I see, and the people I meet, and the experiences I have. I would travel all of the world and stay in one place for a week at a time and get to know the culture of that particular place and get to know the people that live there and their everyday lives. Then at the end of the week I would write about all that I learned and how it made me feel. I think it would be really interesting and it would help me grow as a person and I would become more cultured and well-traveled. I have always wanted to travel the world and I can’t think of a better way to make a living, then get paid to travel  the world and gain once in a life time experiences, but most importantly do what I love; write.

Number 16) I don’t think I have found my talent. My mom was a writer and reporter for a newspaper and a news station when she was younger and she always tells me that I was made to be a writer. That ever since I was little I have been writing and that it seems to be my calling, but I’m not sure. I love to write but I don’t think I am exceptionally good at it. I often get writer block or simply don’t know what to write about. I don’t get inspired easily, and I certainly don’t read enough. I’m not good at writing at nonfiction stories, or being really creative. I try to be descriptive but it doesn’t always sound the way I want it to. I think I am way too hard on myself to be a good writer, I think exceptional writers write from the heart and soul. They write about things they are passionate about, good or bad. At this time in my life, I’m not too passionate about many things. I can be passionate about the idea of things. You know what they say, you are your own worst critic and I fully believe in that.

Number 22) I’ve been going back and forth on this question. I think that we as humans tend to focus more on things that disappoint us, then the things that make us happy. It is just easier to focus on the negative more than the positive. I think that if you are a “glass half empty person” then it can seem like life is full of disappointment, whether that may be true or not. Sure, bad things happen to every person and we all get disappointed from time to time, whether we are disappoint in another person, about a situation, or even at ourselves, but that doesn’t mean everything is bad. Even I have days when it seems like everything is going wrong and nothing is going right for me, but I know that it’s just a bad day, not a bad life. It is easy to feel like there is a storm cloud hanging over our heads and sometimes it’s easier to feel bad for yourself rather then put on a fake smile to seem like you’re okay when you’re not and I completely understand that. I think what you get out of life is what you put into it. Life is full of things, and it is just how you choose to look at the life you were handed, and if you don’t like how something is playing out in your life, change it. You have the power to change your life at any moment

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Inspired by Edward Hopper

I chose this painting because I feel like I somehow have a personal connection to it. This paining by Edward Hopper reminds me a lot of a painting that my mom had hung up in our dining room when I was younger. I’m not even really sure how I remember the painting, or what happened to it. I think that I must have looked at it so many times because it hung on the wall for so long and I was always fascinated by it. I remember having so many questions about it that nobody in my family could answer.

The painting that I am referring to might always be a mystery because I don’t even know what artist painted it or what the title of the piece was, but I remember it pretty clearly. The painting was of a women behind a bar of a restaurant, I’m assuming she was the bar tender. She had a very tired and worn expression on her face. The women in the painting was wearing old style clothes, if I remember correctly and she had pale skin. I always thought that her face resembled one of a dog, and I’m not sure why I thought that, wild imagination I guess.

I think that my parents liked the painting so much because we have owned multiple restaurants of our own and I think they could relate to the exhaustion in the painting. Or maybe I’m making something up, maybe they had just been trying to fill space on a wall. But even so, it was on the same wall for way too long for them to not like it. I don’t think I noticed it missing for quite some time after it was gone, I think eventually I got tired of looking at it and wondering about it with unanswered questions. I think I studied it all that I could with the years it was up there, on that wall.

I used to imagine being her. I used to think about how that women in the painting, lived. I would make up stories in my head and imagine that I was all grown up to be her age and I worked in that same restaurant too. Of course I never actually knew what it meant to have a job or work in a restaurant but now that I do, I can honestly say, that I was way off from my imaginations. 

Disclaimer to Mrs.Fraser: I think that I missed the mark on this assignment. After writing this piece, I went back and reread the directions in your original post for this assignment I realized that I had the wrong idea of what this post was supposed to be about. If you would like for me to redo this assignment, I would be happy to. 

6 Word Memoir

"Love plus Laughter: Happily Ever After"

6 Word Memoir

"Thank you for breaking my heart"

Comments

Katie


I think Katie writes very descriptively, especially about things she is interested in.
I commented: "You definitely described this passage as beautifully as it was written. I think that if Fitzgerald were to read your thoughts on this passage, that he would think you got everything from it that you were supposed to. You really understood the meaning behind it, you captured the importance. Very nice work!" On her Gatsby piece. I think it was beautifully written and well described. I think she is very passionate about this book and it shows through her writing. I can tell that she has really thought about this book, the characters, the plot, and how Fitzgerald wrote it. I think she did a truly wonderful job on her Memorable Passage story.


I really like Katie's Inspirational Quote that says "If you judge people, you have no chance to love them" by Mother Theresa. I think this quote is important and I think that I could really learn from it. I know that I can be quick to judge by first impressions and by appearances. It is definitely one of my many flaws that I need to work on, in order to better myself. Seeing as how I am judgmental at times, I have never thought about judging people in this way, and it has completely changed my perspective. I commented "Hi Katie! I loves the quote by Mother Theresa, about judging people. I think that if everyone thought like this then the world would be a better place with nicer people in it. I like to think that maybe manners and complements will be the next new trend. Fingers crossed. Thank you for sharing." on this piece.

I really liked the idea of enough food in the world for everyone to eat, I agree. I also would agree with you about not having grief anymore. But also I think that without it, we wouldn't appreciate people and things as much as we should. Lastly, I think people feeling safe and free is a very nice idea as well. It is very easy to feel trapped in a p;ace or time or even a life. It is also easy to feel unsafe in situations or in the world in general. I would definitely vote for you for president :)




Taylor M (I accidentally thought she was in my group, instead of Taylor D)
'Breaker of Chains'
"I enjoyed every second of reading this piece. I too sometimes feel this way about certain people and things. I think you put a lot of emotion into this piece and it shows. I agree with Mrs. Fraser about the idea of outgrowing a life, very powerful. I think this was very beautifully written, Taylor."
And I forgot to add in my comment that I also really enjoyed her picture that she attached. I think it really captured the essence of the poem. I often get the feeling like I am outgrowing a time in my life or people. I think everything in your life passes through, even the good things and the bad things. I think people are only put into your life for certain periods of time and then you outgrow them, and I think that is what Taylor was trying to capture in this piece. I really loved it.


Mariah
Next, I commented "Hi Mariah! I really enjoyed your haiku about the monsters hiding with fear and evil, because when I think of monsters I think they do very similar things. Thank you so much for sharing!" On Mariah's haiku. I like that Mariah writes about darker elements, that most people avoid, like monsters and creatures. I am excited to read more of her work.

Favorite Quotes