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Example of a Final Draft of an Essay: Contemplations Within Tookany Creek Park

Within the thick steel and brick buildings that fill Northeast Philadelphia there is a hidden expanse of woodland cleaved by a rugged, narrow creek and a winding blacktop road. The creek is Tookany Creek, the park is Tookany Creek Park, and the road is Tookany Creek Parkway. Entering the park itself brings about a transformation from brick and wood twin houses to the natural world. Suddenly you are surrounded by a carpet of grass and dirt eventually met by the seemingly endless wall of the tree line.

Just before the tree line there is a mulch-padded playground, where my parents would take my brother and I every Fourth of July to celebrate and play. I have countless memories of running around with the rough feeling of mulch packed into my shoes until I could shake it out. I stared across the parkway trying to decipher exactly where my parents took their wedding photos.

  I would ask my parents if we could go over the bridge and go exploring, trying to find the area where they took the photographs. The site was a grassy plain where an enormous tree took root in the ground. The root system itself symbolizes the roots of my own personal family tree. In a way, the park itself represents a past that led to the creation of my family.

 When my family and I ceased exploring Tookany due to the ever demanding realities of growing up and entering the “real world”, I began to explore it with some of my friends.  Instead of the playground we would walk down to the creek and sit upon the rocks that overlooked the slow moving current. We sat there talking about our various teenage issues and fears about the future, while taking in the tranquility of nature.

If we sat still long enough, we heard the chatter of the creek, the murmurs of the wind through the grass and leaves, then a rustling coming from the grass beneath our feet. Looking down we would see the flash of a grayish brown tail flinging itself into the creek. It was a Northern Water Snake that raised its head high out of the water and shimmied further down the creek. I was absolutely amazed and awestruck. If I existed quietly in nature for a period of time, soon enough someone or something would come around and connect back with me. From this experience I developed a theory that when one just exists within nature, while observing nature in all of its glory a person would be able to connect with the animals and nature that live within that space.

Being in nature leads me to a calm and serene place where the hustle of daily life drifts off to the back of my mind allowing the natural space to take over. My attention focused on the natural space allows my brain to observe more closely the movement of grass and flowers and notice an animal. Sitting calm and still shows the animal that I am not a threat to it. The animal then comes closer to observe me before moving on.

 I would even like to imagine that sitting below a tree in the park a bit of my energy is released from my body and rushes down into the earth. Once the earth senses this it releases some of its own energy to rush into my body, creating a spiritual circuit. While connected to each other, the earth and I meld into one, our energy combining. Oneness with the earth then allows me to feel what the earth feels and sees and vice versa. The animals sensing this oneness are drawn to me and come closer to explore.

For me, this experience is a way to escape the “real world” and the cityscape that I live in. I belong to a larger community. I become more like the earth and its wild animals. Anyone can experience this and create a closer bond to the earth. It does not matter where you are or who you are, anyone can create a bond with the earth and live in abundant nature.

My theory proved to be true in another situation. My friends and I were stomping along the dirt trail, discussing school, while my eyes connected with the dark black of a deer’s eyes. There was a doe about ten yards away from where we were walking. She was frozen in fear at the sight of us. I quickly spun and informed my friends of the doe and told them to be quiet. In those few seconds, the deer managed to run off into the tree line. I was drawn to connect with the deer again. In an almost trance-like state, I walked closer to the deer, but stopped once I noticed she was getting jittery. I slipped down on my knees and sat crossed legged on the ground watching the deer, who now seemed to invite, even invite my presence.

Tookany Creek Park is a place where not only can I find connections with my own family, but the family the earth has given me. When people personify the earth, they have a point. The earth does create a family that she can give you and you can connect to your own family.

Now as I walk along the pockmarked dirt trails of Tookany Creek, my mind always wanders to a statement I heard years ago about the meaning of the state’s name.  Pennsylvania means “Penn’s woods” named for the founder William Penn and the vast forest that inhabited Pennsylvania years before the land was settled and colonized in 1681. I cannot help but imagine how this area was mainly forests filled with trees, fields, creeks, and rivers. It just makes me feel extremely connected to the past. As if I was existing in the same space that the original settlers of Philadelphia existed in three hundred and thirty eight years ago.

It draws me to the rich history of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia itself, that instilled within such a pride and a connection for being a member of a city that is the birthplace of the United States of America and survived countless centuries and is still thriving. Getting my roots into the actual landscape of my city allows me to stay ever connected with my metaphorical roots.

Looking at my own connections in the present makes me very aware and present of both the past and future of Tookany Creek Park. In the past, was there a girl three hundred and thirty eight years ago that also holds these woods in a special place in her heart? Did she also find that mother earth truly gave her connections to her own blood family and then her own environmental family,that composes her whole world? Would she walk through untouched woodlands brimming with signs of animal life? As she was treading her own path through the trees, would she have seen circular deer droppings and see the flicker of a white tail of a deer? For her were the woods an escape from her real life?

In three hundred and thirty seven years, will the park outlast global warming and climate change to fill another girl’s heart and inspire her to find her own personal roots within the nature of Philadelphia? She could be completely unaware that a park once stood here as she walks down the street surrounded by steel and concrete buildings. She could also walk past an abandoned park that has grass and trees growing in and around trash. The smell of decaying animals and rotting trash could cause her to ignore it.

Her story is reliant upon the way people will treat the park, and how people treat the earth. If the park continues to be filled with trash it will eventually begin to just be a landfill. The city may continue to grow and the park can be taken over by buildings. Climate change can eventually kill all of the plants and animals and leave the park barren. If none of these issues change then she will have one of the above futures. If we do something about these issues this girl may be able to have a similar experience as I had.

[cups-and-compositions]

Wri-lax through Editing an Essay

 Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a mug of rose tea. This week we will be continuing to explore our writing journey through professional writing by putting the finishing touches on an essay. Last week we covered drafting an essay from an outline for an essay and this week we will edit that first draft of an essay to the best essay it can be.

To begin editing an essay, one must first read through their essay out loud. This allows you to process what you wrote. This also eliminates your brain from not processing certain mistakes you may have made. You make the edits as you go. You then should read your essay multiple times continuing to do this, till you are happy with your essay overall. 

After you finish this portion, perhaps you can send your essay to other people to read and edit. Then these people can tell you what they think about it. You can take into account their thoughts and suggested edits to make your essay reach the best point it could be.

 With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to edit? You can even print out your essay and take a pen or pencil to it to edit. Or you can use your computer and the word processor you used to write your essay. Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. Then begin to edit. I will be posting my version of the final draft of an essay. So look out for that post!

CCC

[cups-and-compositions]

Example of a Draft of an Essay

Contemplations in Tookany Creek Park

Within the thick steel and brick buildings that fill Northeast Philadelphia there is a hidden expanse of woodland cleaved by a rugged, narrow creek and a winding blacktop road. The creek is Tookany Creek, the park is Tookany Creek Park, and the road is Tookany Creek Parkway. Entering the park itself brings about a transformation from brick and wood twin houses to the natural world. Suddenly you are surrounded by a carpet of grass and dirt eventually met by the seemingly endless wall of the tree line.

Just before the tree line there is a mulch-padded playground, where my parents would take my brother and I every Fourth of July to celebrate and play. I have countless memories of running around with the rough feeling of mulch packed into my shoes until I could shake it out. I stared across the parkway trying to decipher exactly where my parents took their wedding photos.

 I would ask my parents if we could go over the bridge and go exploring, trying to find the area where they took the photographs. The site was a grassy plain where an enormous tree took root in the ground. The root system itself symbolizes the roots of my own personal family tree. In a way, the park itself represents a past that led to the creation of my family.

 When my family and I ceased exploring Tookany due to the ever demanding realities of growing up and entering the “real world”, I began to explore it with some of my friends.  Instead of the playground we would walk down to the creek and sit upon the rocks that overlooked the slow moving current. We sat there talking about our various teenage issues and fears about the future, while taking in the tranquility of nature.

If we sat still long enough, we heard the chatter of the creek, the murmurs of the wind through the grass and leaves, then a rustling coming from the grass beneath our feet. Looking down we would see the flash of a grayish brown tail flinging itself into the creek. It was a Northern Water Snake that raised its head high out of the water and shimmied further down the creek. I was absolutely amazed and awestruck. If I existed quietly in nature for a period of time, soon enough someone or something would come around and connect back with me. From this experience I developed a theory that when one just exists within nature, while observing nature in all of its glory a person would be able to connect with the animals and nature that live within that space.

Being in nature leads me to a calm and serene place where the hustle of daily life drifts off to the back of my mind allowing the natural space to take over. My attention focused on the natural space allows my brain to observe more closely the movement of grass and flowers and notice an animal. Sitting calm and still shows the animal that I am not a threat to it. The animal then comes closer to observe me before moving on.

 I would even like to imagine that sitting below a tree in the park a bit of my energy is released from my body and rushes down into the earth. Once the earth senses this it releases some of its own energy to rush into my body, creating a spiritual circuit. While connected to each other, the earth and I meld into one our energy combining. Oneness with the earth then allows me to feel what it feels and see what it sees and vice versa. The animals sensing this oneness are drawn to me and come closer to explore.

For me, this experience is a way to escape the “real world” and the cityscape that I live in. I belong to a larger community. I become more like the earth and its wild animals. Anyone can experience this and create a closer bond to the earth. It does not matter where you are or who you are, anyone can create a bond with the earth and live in abundant nature.

My theory of just existing within nature until an animal chooses to live within the space I am occupying in its world proved true in another situation. My friends and I were stomping along the dirt trail, discussing school, while my eyes connected with the dark black of a deer’s eyes. There was a doe about ten yards away from where we were walking. She was frozen in fear at the sight of us. I quickly spun and informed my friends of the doe and told them to be quiet. In those few seconds, the deer managed to run off into the tree line. I was drawn to connect with the deer again. In an almost trance-like state, I walked closer to the deer, but stopped once I noticed she was getting jittery. I slipped down on my knees and sat crossed legged on the ground watching the deer, who now seemed to invite, even invite my presence.

Tookany Creek Park is a place where not only can I find connections with my own family, but the family the earth has given me. When people personify the earth, they have a point. The earth does create a family that she can give you and you can connect to your own family.

Now as I walk along the pockmarked dirt trails of Tookany Creek, my mind always wanders to a statement I heard years ago about the meaning of the state’s name.  Pennsylvania means “Penn’s woods” named for the founder William Penn and the vast forest that inhabited Pennsylvania years before the land was settled and colonized in 1681. I cannot help but imagine how this area was mainly forests filled with trees, fields, creeks, and rivers. It just makes me feel extremely connected to the past. As if I was existing in the same space that the original settlers of Philadelphia existed in three hundred and thirty eight years ago.

It draws me to the rich history of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia itself, that instilled within such a pride and a connection for being a member of a city that is the birthplace of the United States of America and survived countless centuries and is still thriving. Getting my roots into the actual landscape of my city allows me to stay ever connected with my metaphorical roots.

Looking at my own connections in the present makes me very aware and present of both the past and future of Tookany Creek Park. In the past, was there a girl three hundred and thirty eight years ago that also holds these woods in a special place in her heart? Did she also find that mother earth truly gave her connections to her own blood family and then her own environmental family,that composes her whole world? Would she walk through untouched woodlands brimming with signs of animal life? As she was treading her own path through the trees, would she have seen circular deer droppings and see the flicker of a white tail of a deer? For her were the woods an escape from her real life?

In three hundred and thirty seven years, will the park outlast global warming and climate change to fill another girl’s heart and inspire her to find her own personal roots within the nature of Philadelphia? She could be completely unaware that a park once stood here as she walks down the street surrounded by steel and concrete buildings. She could also walk past an abandoned park that has grass and trees growing in and around trash. The smell of decaying animals and rotting trash could cause her to ignore it.

Her story is reliant upon the way people will treat the park, and how people treat the earth. If the park continues to be filled with trash it will eventually begin to just be a landfill. The city may continue to grow and the park can be taken over by buildings. Climate change can eventually kill all of the plants and animals and leave the park barren. If none of these issues change then she will have one of the above futures. If we do something about these issues this girl may be able to have a similar experience as I had.

[cups-and-compositions]

Drafting an Essay

Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a glass of lemonade with ice. This week we will be continuing to explore our writing journey through professional writing by beginning to write an essay. Writing an essay is a process so we will spend some time on it. Last week we covered creating an outline for an essay and this week we will use that outline to create the first draft of an essay.

To begin drafting an essay, one must first decide on a topic. From this topic you would then get an idea of what you want to write about. If this essay involves research, conduct that research using the internet or books and take notes on your findings.Then you can begin creating your essays outline. Use this outline as a guide to draft the first copy of your essay. From here, I personally like to set the essay aside for a bit to clear my head and then I later come back to begin to edit the essay.

Follow the basic outline you have yourself for your essay in the outline, but also use your notes from your research to help you create your draft. You can also refer back to the actual sources and sites you used as well. If you have used any spaces for research you should also create a bibliography formally listing these sites, to avoid plagiarism.

 With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, and use your outline to create a draft of your essay. Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. Then begin to write. I will be posting my version of the first draft of an essay. So look out for that post!

CCC

[cups-and-compositions]

Example of an Outline of an Essay

Outline of Contemplations Within Tookany Creek Park:

A. Intro to Tookany Creek Park, with personal history. Start with Penn's wood quip. Then dive into mom and dad and the wedding pictures and how they shared the place with me and Michael. Describe how it's this hidden gem of woods that you can find in the city. Fourth of July here and then tie up personal history and colonial history.

B. Colonial History, with nature and me going alone. How my imagination brings me back to how Philadelphia, Pennsylvania used to look and what it was like to live in this area 337 years ago. Literally transporting current me into the past as sort of a past self.

C. Closing with the future of earth, bringing us back to the present with me acknowledging how much the world has changed both for the better and for the worst and then speculating upon how much more the world could change in another 337 years and what a girl like me could think in the future.  

[cups-and-compositions]

Wrilax with the Process of Writing an Essay

      Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a glass of coffee with cream and sugar. This week we will be continuing to explore our writing journey through professional writing through writing essays. Writing essays is a process so we will be beginning to explore this process. 

     To begin drafting an essay, one must first decide on a topic. From this topic you would then get an idea of what you want to write about. If this essay involves research, conduct that research using the internet or books and take notes on your findings.Then you can begin creating your essays outline.

     First, you will decide if you would like to use Roman Numerals or Letters as the base of your outline. You would then put down I or A and  write the thesis, or main idea of your essay next to that. You will then begin to draft the body paragraphs of your essay. This will contain the supporting information and research formulated in ways that make sense, this will be next to II or B and so on. This will lead to your conclusion which wraps up all of your main points in a new and interesting way which would be labeled as III or C and so on. Next week we will explore the next step in the process of formulating these ideas into a readable essay.

      With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, and use your imagination to guide yourself to draft an outline for an essay on any subject.Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. Then begin to write and create an outline. I will be posting my version of an outline of an essay. So look out for that post!

CCC

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Example of Poetry: Sister Sin

Sister Sin

            She came from a dust-covered land.

                                                               Scarlet lips drip noxious elixirs into young ears.  

                    Reviving oppressed areas of men’s brains,   

                                                       A flash of her smile was a cup of whiskey Jesse James’ first lover,    

                                                      then to many a brother of the James-Younger gang.

                  Who else passed among them schemes?

                                                      Hunting like the gold miner for precious rock.   

Men’s loins and brains inflamed, left to lie baking in the sun.

                                                                    Maggots crawling out of men’s faces,

     after Sister Sin paid them a visit.

                                                                            Would she rot her sisters’ flesh?

           Left to become the dust covering the land?

                                      One by one men crumbled, maggots fleeing dried flesh.                Skin crack and peel, flesh and muscle show.         

                                         Flesh feeding the land and creatures,          

until only boney tumbleweeds blew in wind.

                                                                                  Sister Sin called out,

                     “To dust you returned. No more will your weakness harm this land.”

                                                                Curiosity struck the women and they drew nearer,

                                                             Emaciated minds in need of sustenance.

        Being welcomed to digest teachings.

                                        ��                                     Sister Sin fed their appetite,

            Took hands to cleanse and prepare earth.

                                                                 As the years passed gardens bloomed. Fighting and violence decreased abundant harvest shared.

                                       Minds filled by the elixir of whiskey, now fill their bellies.

The women’s livelihood increasing more than gold.

                                             Purpose filling the women as the river began to flow.

             The dusty and dry land masked by green.     

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Example of Short Fiction: Reversing the Decay

Reversing the Decay

Julian’s feet crunched the multicolored dying leaves as the unseasonably warm air flowed through his hair. He thought about how unusual it was in mid-October for the suburbs surrounding New York. The closer he got to the park the more mothers came leaving the park with their children, probably heading home to make dinners for their husbands. He pities those women that lived like that, but now he had more in common than he had with them before. Especially after losing his job at a huge law firm, after it was revealed that the head of the firm was embezzling money.

  Julian looked down dragging his feet kicking the decay around, but a shock of bright green amongst the reds, yellows, reds and browns caught his eye. He bent down pushing leaves to the side only to pick a perfectly shaped healthy green leaf among the dead ones. It was soft and pliable to the touch just as if plucked it from a tree in the middle of spring. He had the strangest urge to take the leaf with him, so he put it inside his jacket pocket.

It reminded him of when he and Catherine met in law school, they both loved nature and after class they would spend hours studying in the park and testing each other. That didn’t take long to turn into dates and picnics in the park. Now it seemed he only took walks to clear his head and make him feel as though he had a purpose in life. Especially, now that only Cat was working, he felt as though he had nothing to contribute to this household. Opening the front door the leaf fall out of his pocket, he picked it up walking into his home.

The clock’s arms stretch further apart signifying another turn of an hour. Julian sits on couch glaring back and forth between the front door and the clock. Catherine walks in the door. She drops her black suit jacket and matching satchel bag that land on the floor fanning out into a barrier before her feet.

“What’s for dinner, baby?” Catherine asks sidestepping the barrier to walk over to her husband and give him a peck on the cheek.

“I didn’t make dinner, Cat. Maybe you should have picked something up on your way home if you were going to stay at the office so late.” Catherine’s eyes widen and her hands to fly to her hips asserting her posture over Julian.

“First of all, it’s not my fault. I had to stay late. A past client needed some legal advice and my boss, of course, let someone else deal with it. You know how much of a bitch he is.” Her voice softens slightly as she sighs and sits down next to him.

“I just thought that since your home all day you may have wanted to takeover more of the household duties, if not, it’s fine. We could always split them up like we did before.”

“I get it, Catherine, I lost my job, and you have to take on more responsibilities within the firm. You don’t have to rub it in my damn face!” Julian jumps off the couch pulling on a green sweatshirt and walks to the door.

“I need to go take a walk. Why don’t you heat up some leftovers from last night? I’m not hungry.”

Catherine’s words float out to an empty room. “I just thought that having you run the house for a bit would help make you feel useful. I never meant for this.” She then remembered that the client that came in for legal advice tonight needed a lawyer and preferably fast. He didn’t specify who he wanted, so she decided to send him a short e-mail, on Julian’s behalf. She just prayed that this worked and that Julian would appreciate this.

[cups-and-compositions]

Wri-lax with Creating Poetry

    Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a glass of iced green tea. This week we will be continuing to explore the world of creative writing through writing poetry.

     Writing poetry at  first glance is both simplistic and challenging, but is in fact so much more than that. It is experimenting with word syntax and meaning to create an abstract art piece made out of words. You can play with matching the syllables, rhyme scheme, and lines of each stanza to fit within a set mold or even create your own. You can also free form these works. There is so much a writer can do to express themselves creatively with this type of writing. 

     There is an easy way to identify the aspects that engaging poetry utilizes to draw in the reader, in the acronym S.P.I.C.E. The writing is Sensuous in engaging the five senses and the sensibilities of a person’s mind. The writing is Probable in it may contain many aspects that could happen in the real world, but possibly may not happen in the real world. The writing is Imaginative as the words are filled with imagination from the writer. The writing is Concrete as it contains no abstractions. And finally, the writing is Experimental as it plays around with the existing words in our vocabulary.. 

     With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, and use your imagination to guide yourself to a type of poem.Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. I will be sharing my short sample of poetry in a second blog post. Keep an eye out for that post! Feel free to share your own examples of your poetry or writing to me. 

CCC

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Example of Memoir

     Here is my example of Memoir. Please let me know what you think.

     Walking throughout the city of London, I was able to pass by five different public parks within a span of a few city blocks. They were filled with different natural landscapes combined with manmade features that were purposely placed within these natural environments. It perfectly encompasses the new-world relationship individuals have with nature of the twenty-first century being viewing it as the world’s convenience, wherever it can be placed into our busy and technologically artificial world . This brought to my mind who wrong it was for our society to suppress the natural world to bend to our will and fit our needs for it. Who are we to determine that? Are we trying to give ourselves god-like powers?

       The Imperial War Museum is surrounded by a garden and encased by a larger park. When you pass under the black wrought iron gates, you are met by the view of two large cannons flanked by missiles at the end of a concrete walkway, lined with white and yellow roses and other pink tulips. This was a moment for me, where the sobering idea of war was intermixed with the beauty of the natural world. Once again our society was trying to fit the nature around us to fit in with our narrative of the world.  Past the stone walls that mark the end of the museum is a wide of array of yellowing grass and leaves, preparing themselves for the harsh british winter. This park was filled with various groups of people lounging, walking, cycling, or playing games.

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Example of Personal Essay

     This is an example of nature writing taken from my experiences visiting London, England for the first time. I will be taking this same passage, but changing it to memoir as the example of my memoir writing. Please let me know what you think!

     All thirty three boroughs of London, share one feature: how there is nature tucked into any urban space it can exist in. Walking throughout the city I was able to pass by five different public parks within a span of a few city blocks. They were filled with different natural landscapes combined with manmade features that were purposely placed within these natural environments. It perfectly encompasses the new-world relationship individuals have with nature of the twenty-first century being viewing it as the world’s convenience, wherever it can be placed into our busy and technologically artificial world .

     Right near my hotel in the borough of Waterloo, there is the Imperial War Museum, which is surrounded by a garden and encased by a larger park. When you pass under the black wrought iron gates, you are met by the view of two large cannons flanked by missiles at the end of a concrete walkway, lined with white and yellow roses and other pink tulips. Past the stone walls that mark the end of the museum is a wide of array of yellowing grass and leaves, preparing themselves for the harsh british winter. This park was filled with various groups of people lounging, walking, cycling, or playing games.

[cups-and-compositions]

Wri-lax and Create Your Own Story

      Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a glass of half iced tea and half lemonade. This week we will be continuing to explore the world of creative writing through writing fiction.

     Writing fiction at a first glance is both simplistic and challenging, but is in fact so much more than that. It is a commanding prose to tell whatever story you would like in whatever way. It is being able to experiment with the meaning of words and phrases to reflect the innermost workings of society. This allows you as a writer to experiment with different aspects to craft an engaging story.

     There is an easy way to identify the aspects that engaging fiction writing utilizes to draw in the reader, in the acronym S.P.I.C.E. The writing is Sensuous in engaging the five senses and the sensibilities of a person’s mind. The writing is Probable in it may contain many aspects that could happen in the real world, but possibly may not happen in the real world. The writing is Imaginative as the words are filled with imagination from the writer. The writing is Concrete as it contains no abstractions. And finally, the writing is Experiential as it comes from the writer’s own experiences out in society. 

     With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, and use your imagination to guide a story. Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. I will be sharing my short sample of fiction in a second blog post. Keep an eye out for that post!

CCC

[cups-and-compositions]

Wri-laxation from Writing Memoir

    Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. This week we will be continuing to explore the world of creative writing through writing a memoir.

     Writing a memoir at a first glance seems nearly identical to writing a personal essay, but there is one defining difference. Memoir does not contain explication. When writing a memoir you can tell true stories about one’s life. No matter how boring you may think your life is, you have many stories to tell. Something to keep in mind with this is that you can share extremely personal stories that you may have a hard time explaining to people in person. You control your stories completely. 

    The creativity of writing a memoir comes from the way you express the emotions of a singular moment in the scene you set up. Memoir contains more showing than telling. You can do this by utilizing your memories or imagination to create a scene, which will show the facts to your readers, using the scene. 

     With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, go through your old pictures, and take a walk through your memories, just as you did with a personal essay. Then come inside, grab yourself a drink, settle into your comfortable space, and grab your tools. Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. I will be sharing my short sample of memoir in a second blog post on Monday. Keep an eye out for that post!

CCC

[cups-and-compositions]

Wri-lax through Writing a Personal Essay

     Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a Twinings peppermint tea without sugar and cream. This week we will be beginning to explore the world of creative writing through the personal essay.

    When writing a personal essay is that it should tell true stories about one’s life. No matter how boring you may think your life is, you have many stories to tell. Something to keep in mind with this is that you can share extremely personal stories that you may have a hard time explaining to people in person. You control your stories completely. 

    The creativity of writing the personal essay comes from balancing the way you convey the facts and emotions of the story. The way to do this is to balance the amount of exposition, which is explaining the facts, and presenting a scene. You can do this by utilizing your memories or imagination to create a scene and explicate the facts to your readers, using the scene. You can contain some straight facts as well if you would like.    

     With this new information, why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, go through your old pictures, and take a walk through your memories. Then come inside, grab yourself a drink, settle into your comfortable space, and grab your tools. Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. Then think of all of your relevant memories get started. I will be sharing my short personal essay in a second blog post on Monday. Keep an eye out for that post!

CCC

[cups-and-compositions]

My Nature Writing Experiment

     Hello all! As promised I too would share the results of my journey of wri-laxation by venturing out into the natural world.

      Unseasonably warm rain blotches the asphalt trail sludging together with the dirt near the grassy field to form puddles. Despite it being 39 degrees Farenheight, the pressure on my skin leaves it slick. A cold trail of sweat tickles my back. The even beat of my footsteps keep time for the staccato melody of the raindrops. 

    Black line sketches stand opaque against the milky grey of the sky; like the skeletal remains of a long-forgotten body they remind me of the life they once supported. The air is filled with the smell of nothingness of mud and cold air further marking the grave of the plants and flowers. 

     Dark green stubble sways to the ground in front of my feet, a lifeboat floating in the mud. Looking up I see the thin spikes of green hanging on those branches, a subtle reminder that life can still exist within the cold. Warmth, sun, and flora will come back to bless the earth, right?

     Please let me know what you think of my nature writing. Feel free to post your own journey into nature writing. See you on Saturday with our next edition of Cups and Compositions. 

[cups-and-compositions]

Wri-lax with Nature Writing

     Welcome back to Cups and Compositions! Grab your beverage of choice and let’s get to work. This week I will be drinking a Green Tea Matcha Frappuccino from Starbucks.We will be beginning to explore the world of creative writing through nature writing. 

    First, we must define what nature writing is. Nature writing is  nonfiction or fictional creative writing that focuses upon the natural world to tell a story. Good nature writing incorporates the natural world into the writing seamlessly by focusing upon nature as a focal point. Besides that it can really be any type of writing one could want.

   There is an easy way to identify the aspects that engaging nature writing utilizes to draw in the reader, in the acronym S.P.I.C.E.S. The writing is Sensuous in engaging the five senses. The writing is Personal in it may contain many aspects of the writer itself. The writing is Imaginative as the words are filled with imagination from the writer. The writing is Concrete as it has its roots in something earthly and contains no abstractions. The writing is Experiential as it comes from the writer’s own experiences out in nature. And finally the writing is Specific as it draws upon facts that a reader may call upon. 

    With this new information,why not set aside 30 minutes to write? First take a note-book and pen, maybe even a camera, and go take a walk out in nature. Write down everything you sense. Then come inside, grab yourself a drink, settle into your comfortable space, and grab your tools. Take a few moments to clear your head by closing your eyes and breathing in and out. When your mind is clear, repeat the mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. Then think of all of your experiences in nature and craft a short paragraph. I will be sharing my nature writing in a second blog post on Sunday. Keep an eye out for that post!

CCC

[cups-and-compositions]

Turning Relaxation Into Wri-laxation

I remember those nights in middle school where I’d pull out my notebook and pen from my desk drawer and write till my eyes were droopy. I miss those nights. Now, I force myself to sit down in front of a computer and type madly to fulfill my writing assignments. 

While my work in the past was extremely juvenile, containing the hormones of adolescence, it was enjoyable and fun to pour my half-baked thoughts out on paper and edit them. This writing process evoked a feeling inside my mind that my current writing process lacks: relaxation. 

My current writing process seems to consist of reading the assignment description and finding something interesting to explore in the words of a word document. It usually causes more stress than enjoyment. If I were to recreate those past nights in my current life, would I find some feeling in my writing process other than stress? 

I enjoy meditation, which helps me relax and unwind. Perhaps, I can create my own form of meditation using writing! 

I need to find a comfortable place to write, make myself one of my favorite drinks, and grab my trusty laptop. I will sit and close my eyes, taking deep breaths in and out, focusing on my breathing until my mind is clear. Next I dedicate thirty minutes of writing to relaxation as I recite the following mantra: I unwind my mind and fill pages with it. 

Welcome to Cups and Compositions! Here we will learn writing tips for various genres and write using a meditative writing process that I like to call wri-laxation. While enjoying a recommended drink to fill your mug, of course! Hopefully, I’ll see you next week when we start to explore on our wri-laxation journey!

    CCC