Reflections

Me, as the Writer

I would like to start off by saying that I never saw myself as a creative writer in the past. I had an interest in music, which then nurtured my interest in the arts in general, yet I was never fully motivated to read a book. I’ve slowly picked up on my reading habits and, consequentially, began to write. I started with poetry (as any emotional teenager would). I figured that I had a pretty good grip on rhyming considering that I’d written a few songs before. However, it began to feel repetitive, so I began to write short stories. Rarely did I ever finish one, but my very first submission for Creative Writing– the “Who are you?” assignment– was my very first short story that I completed. When I received a mark of 100% in return, I began to have faith in my ability to write.

I feel that my greatest improvements have been most evident in my development of my voice and style. Coming into Creative Writing, I never expected to write with an overarching theme in mind, but; overtime, I’ve come to discover a part of myself that’s really quite obsessed with the idea of being lost and not knowing where to go. Though that may seem odd (and, quite frankly, fairly concerning), through those experiences in these past months, I’ve learned the art of being an honest writer, and it has definitely helped me improve my writing exponentially. It has become my style– it is sort of a desperate, disillusioned, depressed, dream-like tone that I have created. Not only does it reflect the theme of my blog, it also gives me a unique voice that separates me from others.

My life is a roller coaster.

It is one that not a lot people would be willing to ride. Despite that, I know that there are others out there who are suffering at a greater scale. I have no right to complain. Instead, I’ve used my experiences , my broken heart, my agitation, my anger, my love, my tired brain, my sleepless nights, my built up stress, all this toward my writing. Not all of it is on my blog because some pieces are too personal, but I hope that, one day, I’ll be able to let it all out because my advice to future writers is precisely that. Honesty. As my mother would say, honesty is the best policy. Not only is it a good rule to go by in life, it is also a good rule for writing. There is something unique in an honest voice that rings differently that cannot be heard in pieces of pure fiction. It has affected my own writing, given me a power to be able to sway other people’s emotions in different directions.

Looking ahead, I don’t see myself dropping writing any time soon. It’s cathartic, so it’s incredibly beneficial to my teenage mind that’s constantly filled with stress. My hope is that I’ll be able to write a lot over the summer break. I want to write poetry, but I also want to write short stories and anecdotes– all inspired from activities that we did in-class. I had inexplicable fun in Creative Writing this semester, and I want to continue on that path for as long as I can.


Me, as the Blogger

Lost Amid the Skies was a title that took me around three days to figure out! I wanted it to be meaningful; a title that’s simultaneously gorgeous but profound. Earlier, I touched on my obsession with the idea of being lost. Evidently, it was the ultimate inspiration for what became the official title of my blog. The skies have always been a symbol for dreams and idealism. To be lost amid the skies is to be stuck in a world that you wish could’ve been but isn’t. To trap oneself in a world of fantasy and perfection. To know fully well that it cannot be, but to hope anyways that, one day, it might come true. I honestly think it’s quite clever, but that’s just my opinion. The only thing about my blog that threw me off is the choice of colours that I settled with. With each visit that I make, I realize more and more how hard it is to read. And what is a blog if it is illegible?

Three blogs that stood out to me in particular are the blogs that belong to Hefseeba, Jimmy, and Cindy. All three of them are excellent writers, and all three have such different voices. Inspired, I will definitely follow in their footsteps for the future!

My hope is to expand my range outside of my Creative Writing class. I want to see what the world has to offer in terms of professional blogging.


Me, as the Student

Perhaps my biggest “aha” moment was toward the end of the year when Ms. Hunnisett read Alysha Mohamed’s old personal response to us in-class. In the three years that I have studied in this high school. Never before had the foundations of writing a personal response been clearer to me than that very moment. I was in absolute awe seeing the connections from the prompt to the visual and, of course, to the written response. Better yet, though it may have been a “mini ELA lesson”, Alysha wrote a creative piece, so it was almost definitely a collective “AHA” moment for the creative minds that aren’t necessarily as talented in a critical aspect.

On top of this, No Red Ink has been my best friend for the entire semester. I never knew that I would be able to find so much joy in the practices that I was required to write. It expanded my writing, helping me most with my GUMPS, and expanding my variety in sentence structure.

Sadly, I am still not a very good reader. I know that, if I keep this up, my writing will slowly fall to the same level, but I cannot risk that! I’m determined to read more, but I just can’t seem to find the proper motivation to do it. Still, I was able to read even just a little bit every month. It was more than what I read in the past school year and summer in total. I found my favourite book the be The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It’s also where I found my quote for my blog.

To improve as a writer, I know that there is a simple solution. I just really have to read. It is as simple as that. I read a piece, I emulate, then my writing levels up a little each time. My only problem is my commitment to such a task. My mind wanders so much that I never seem to stop daydreaming. However, if I put my heart into it, I know that I will be able to accomplish my goals and become a better writer.


Me, as the Fan

While I am a huge fan of many of my fellow bloggers in class, I am in absolute awe of the poetry session that we had with Jade Bartlett! Poetry is the roots of my “career” as a writer, so it was a complete honour to stand before such an accomplished poet in Creative Writing. Her pieces were beautiful and meaningful and slightly dark in an honest way. I would love to read more of her writing!

When it comes to my Writer’s Seminar, I have to admit that I didn’t quite like it very much. My partner had chosen our writer, and I decided not oppose her. She ended up doing most of the work, and I still feel incredibly guilty. However, that’s not to say that I didn’t learn anything from studying Nicholas Sparks. We are both heavily influenced by romance that I’ve learned quite a few tips and tricks that he had to offer. His writing style is simple and easy follow– it is something can easily be emulated. If I had the chance to choose someone else, I would’ve chosen a playwright (Maybe Daniel MacIvor?). This would be closer to my interests and it would be something that I haven’t quite explored in a deeper level. Nonetheless, the emulation that I wrote from my writer’s seminar is something that I’m quite proud of, so I decided to include it here below:

And on this earth, this I swear,
I will be here with you forever,
I will write your name on the
Edges of every paper.
And every night, before I sleep,
I pray for the heavens to protect you.
And every morning, before I wake,
You will stir me to my consciousness because
I will think of you.
I think of you.
And even now I see you near
And even though you don’t know I’m here
I am here.
I will always be here.

I wish I could say that I intend to read more of the works of a specific writer but I’m so behind in reading in general that I think it would be wise not to focus on a specific writer.


Me, the Critic of my work

My “About Me” is my favourite piece on my blog thus far. It is one of the only pieces on my blog that reaches the word minimum (sorry) because I spent so much time writing it. When it was first assigned, I remember my brain as a blank slate, not knowing what to write for the assignment. I had initially assumed that I needed to be narcissistic in order to write about myself, so I wasn’t sure where to start. However, one late night, I realized that I need not be nothing more than truthful in my words. My “About me” is the story of a boy who is visited by an angel with whom he has fallen in love. The piece is divided into sections that are separated by bolded titles that reveal a little bit about myself ( I am a dreamer / I try my best to be patient etc.) To make myself clear, an angel does not visit me at night; that part is fiction. I would be lying, however, if I were to say that I wasn’t in love with someone as beautiful as an angel– but that’s a story for another time! Anyways, after writing my first draft, I decided that I wanted to change things up a bit. It was too simple and boring to just say things like “I am” or “I want”. With this in mind, I decided to create a narrative accompanied by my bland statements. Thus, my “About Me” was born!

My favourite piece in second place is “The Stress-ball Thief”. This was my anecdote in class, and it was the most fun I had in writing for the whole semester. Once again, I wrote with truth– I followed my mom’s advice. Yet, ironically, in the story, I failed to heed my mother’s words. “The Stress Ball Thief” is a piece inspired by a true to life event that occurred when I was around nine years old. It is a classic story of disobedience at the consequences that follow. Yet, staying true to my nature, my story has a twist in the end that was born from my mother’s endless love. This story was so easy to write; in fact, as soon as the assignment was given out, I knew immediately to write about my experience with theft at the Canadian Tire. It has all the elements of humour, stupidity, and an important story learned at the end. My biggest challenge was keeping it as small as possible to keep it from becoming too long. The story actually has many more layers that were unfortunately excluded from the final product. i felt that this exclusion was necessary because it would have made my anecdote much longer and possibly more boring than what it turned out be. Nonetheless, I am proud of what I created. The Stress-ball Thief stands as my number two favourite post on my blog of all time.

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