Part A:

Before I came into this class I had my doubts, but I had taken this course previously in grade ten, which really developed me into the writer I am in grade twelve. I came in thinking why am I here, I’ve already disappointed myself in English, what good is it if I keep on failing. I would say I was embarrassed before to add anything onto my blog, because I was aware the rest of my class would be able to see it and judge how bad of a writer I was compared to them, I would say I was constantly comparing myself to my classmates because some of them were very experienced writers. My confidence for writing just wasn’t there, and I thought my marks defined who I was. Creative writing has really given me a voice for my writing side. I noticed myself reading more often, as before I dreaded it, but now I can’t put my book down. Its like I’m taken into a whole new dimension when I read, which has really evolved me into the writer I am. I have discovered my hidden love for self-development books, which I thought I would never have interest in, but this class allowed me to step outside my comfort zone from reading only non-fiction to stretching my vision. My confidence has taken a huge turn especially since, Mrs. Hunnisett, made me believe so and encouraged me to take her class. She really has brought me into the writer I am with her tips and tricks, and told me that we are all great writers, but we just need to surface that from within. I am now confident and proud to share my writing with my family and friends, including in class. Because I now know we have all been in the position where we feel we aren’t good enough. My voice has grown over this course. I noticed I was more the darker type of writer, which is what I love to write about because I feel I do best in those pieces. But this class has given me a chance to explore my thoughts and ideas further. Also, the practices we do in the class like no read ink has helped me with my grammar, especially knowing where to separate sentences and help them flow better. Anyone who struggles to feel hopeless at writing I would suggest this to anyone and everyone, no matter if you believe you are a strong writer or not. This experience will help you in the exploration of the type of writer you are. Creative writing is both something to enjoy and something that will benefit you greatly academically. I can tell you personally I’ve noticed my mark in English increase, and it’s through the simplest things like reading and writing you need to push your self to do every day. I know in the future I will be revisiting my blog and add more to my works, as well as continue to read at least 15- 30 minutes each day, and writing any sort of piece about it.

Part B:

My blog, I would say has a variety of everything, but it shifts more towards the darker side, which I enjoy writing about because it’s completely fictional coming from my imagination, and I feel like more of the happier pieces fall toward non- fictional, which is more of a challenge for me to write about. The aesthetic of my blog is also very simple, I personally like it that way because I see beauty in simplicity. When people read my blog I like the idea of them creating an image for themselves, which is another reason I keep it simple, so they are able to interpret it the way their imagination has created it. One of the negatives about my blogs is that most of them are poems, which necessarily isn’t a bad thing, but I need practice in all aspects of writing including writing about things I don’t enjoy, to benefit myself to see the places I need to work on. For example, short stories are a challenge for me, because I can’t produce a beginning, middle, and end in a concise and organized manner. I definitely do see that my love for poems comes easy, and its something I can express myself with, through any emotion I am feeling. It’s also a good way for anyone to express themselves because you can never be wrong about feelings that flood within. After this course, I will defiantly be expanding my knowledge by writing and adding onto my blog, and someday I want to show my writing to the world, its something I have been thinking about ever since I discovered who I was. I want to be able to share my story and journey through motivational writing and eventually branch out into a motivational speaker. This last year I got to meet amazing writers and hear what they have to offer, and I can honestly tell you a lot of my motivation and inspiration has been from them. A couple of the people I will continue to follow are Zainab, Kiran, and Simran. I haven’t really taken into consideration any professional bloggers or really had the chance to view their blogs, because we already have so many professionals in this class!

Part C:

An “aha” moment for me from the creative writing class, is that we are all from separate grades. It wasn’t like we were separated on levels we all had an equal voice and a great respect for one another. Yet we all have our own style of writing that is appreciated, and during class when we had to come up with a piece of writing within 5 minutes, its made me realize not to overthink things, but just get your thoughts on a page. As well as interacting with others as sparks of ideas flood through the room, and actually getting inspiration from elements around us. Another “aha” moment for me was when I realized I don’t need to clump all my writing together to emphasize the idea I was trying to get at. I discovered splitting up the piece gives it flow and clarity, which makes it easier to read my writing.  I also discovered that reading really does help with your writing and the more you read the better your writing gets. At one point in my life I never really listened to teachers who told me at every parent-teacher interview to read, read, read. It has taken me until the age of 17 to apply that concept and to really see the results in my self to believe so. One of my favorite books that have changed my view on reading this year is a self-development book by the author Napoleon Hill called Think and Grow Rich. Each time we read a book we are inspired we gain knowledge in a form of new vocabulary, new writing styles, and ideas we incorporate into our writing to improve it and make it ours. As a writer, I have accomplished to feel the confidence of hearing and saying my writing is as good as any other, but there is always something to improve on. Taking creative writing is not something I need to think about, sadly I have come to the end of this course but I  will definitely be exploring myself further every day by reading and reflecting off what I wrote, for two reasons; It is gonna benefit my future, as well as challenge me to make myself better by adding new vocabulary to my speech and writing.

Part D:

The author I chose for my writing seminar was Khaled Hosseini, I chose him because I felt most people would know who he is since he was the author we studied in grade eleven. I thought it would be interesting to further explore him and understand some background on him, which I discovered related directly to his books, where he talks about experiences taken place in Kabul his birthplace, which he incorporates in his book through the characters he develops. Khaled Hosseini tells his stories from third person point of view. As a writer, I’ve learned from Hosseini that even author such as himself have difficulty getting their thoughts down on paper since the ideas in your mind become approximations of what u expected once you write them down. The advice Hosseini gives is to move past these limitations as they will always be there to discourage us, but the clarity of your communication will be seen through a fog lacking clarity on your initial idea.

My emulations:

The Kite Runner (Khalid Hosseini):

The scrutiny of innocence that lies at our fingertips

Tainted and stripped naked from our bare hands

The days we shared untold stories

On the day I watched you leave

Away from a cruel world

To the safe heaven yearning your purity

You’ve sacrificed an abundance for me

Yet I left you stranded and unwanted

The memories of a forsaken bond ponder my being

Taunting me of your presence I crave

Wanting to live my childhood once again

Another author that inspired me was Sir Author Conan Doyle since the style of his writing was dark, I also learned from his advice is to write with confidence and write truly how you want to. I do intend to read more of his pieces after reading many of his short stories.

Emulation:

Hounds of Baskerville (Sir Author Conan Doyle):

A cold wind swept down from it and set us shivering

The atmosphere crept up behind me closer than my shadow

A grimace retaliation to move, as I lay paralyzed by the eyes peering into my soul

It was unknown of what lies within the trenches of the further

Distancing outward until time did not exist and life had no value

The lost spirit within the icy fog had an unspoken fleet

Of memories abandoned and forgotten about

I am a lost memory

I feel the evil lurk deeper and deeper into my soul

Soon I was unable to speak

As my life was robbed from me

Part E:

Short Story:

1. The title is called “Escape”, and the title I chose was significant because it was a symbol representing my character life. She had to undergo many challenges she faced and she came to a point where she couldn’t handle them anymore, and the only escape from her difficulties was to end her life, but really she came to lose everything.

2. I thought I had it all until the day came about I lost it all, including myself.

3. My purpose for this piece was to show to my audience, that something so little can trigger something with greater effects, so we shouldn’t question the power of anyone or anything.

4. A movie I watch a while ago triggered me to write something based off of it.

5. I decided to write about a relationship that couldn’t be better, but the fact of exploring other things while in the relationship can cause you to regret curiosity when everything that made you happy was torn away from you. Just as how the husband of my main character was killed, as a result of a jealous boyfriend. I decided to cause the girl to be left grieving alone, because of how I mentioned before my pieces are much darker, and that was a decision I made to give you inspiration of maybe talking about how she might have dealt with that feeling.

6. At first, I hadn’t had a clue on coming up with a topic I wanted to write about so I chose three. I started by writing the intro for each of them and as I began to feel disinterested with one I started the next until I had a story flowing, which was also something I could connect with and I connected with the fact this story was dark, so my ideas started flowing more easily and quickly. First I began with a rough copy until I finished the story then went back in and edited, which I found much more effective since I’m not stopping to correct something so I don’t lose my ideas. Towards the end, I realized that brainstorming is better than just getting a topic right off the bat and continuing with it.

7. Overall I was very happy with the outcome by brainstorming and getting my thoughts together I realized it was much easier than throwing it on paper all in one day.

A poem:

1. The title of my poem is “The power of Love” I chose this title because I wanted to emphasize the fact that love can hurt or it can preserve the feeling of the spark you initially get with your loved one and explore the ideas of the two types of love.

2. I am trapped willingly between the indifference of love and pain because I’m afraid of letting go.

3. My purpose was to let the audience know, that holding onto our past can break us.

4. In class, we were each given the opportunity to write about specific individuals we interviewed at Bow View Manor, and the topic of love aroused as she spoke about her and her husband, and how she believed their love was a mistake. Until later she realized she became the person she was because of him, which inspired me to write a poem about love.

5. Again this piece could not have been simply about love, but I had to incorporate the darker side of love.”A woman of innocence who mistaken love and hatred” It wasn’t a love two could feel until they’re gone you realize ” love binds and love reminds”.

6. This was one piece I was so inspired by, in one seating in class my thoughts spilled out onto the paper, and later I went in and changed a couple words, and sentences here and there.

7. Poetry is something I’m so inspired by it comes so easily, so I had no difficulty with it.