I had a hard time finding somewhere to publish one of my essays. At first I wasn't even sure which essay I wanted to submit. At first I thought I would go with the nature essay becasue I couldn't think of anywhere to submit my other essays. Then I thought I would submit my first personal essay about my sisters wedding to a teen magazine, because I thought it sounded like what you would read in something like Cosmo. Then I found out that it's hard to get excepted into magazines like those because I have never published before.
I finally decided to just look through the Writers Market book and find something that I though I could write a piece for. I was looking at womens magazines and didn't find anything. I eventually stumbled upon a magazine called Plus Attitude magazine where they accept pieces writen about posative uplifting experiances. This is where I thought that I would write a nature piece about my experiances surfing. I wanted to write my nature piece on it because sometimes its not about catchig a wave, but about being out there and just sitting on the board. Especially when I really can't surf all that well, its more about the experiance. I guess we will see how it all goes from here!!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
literary journalism pre draft
Whenever I go on a vacation it is an entire experience. I enjoy the packing and preparing. I usually even do my boyfriends packing too. I like to wait at the airport, and be excited on the plane ride the entire way there. To me a vacation is flying somewhere too far away to drive, and staying somewhere with the entertainment that I enjoy. Normally I go to a beach spot, however I sometime would go to mountains to go snowboarding. After talking with other people about their vacations, I realized that people go to different places for all different reasons.
The first person I talked to was a girl named Jen. Jen is twenty-three and is in her last semester of college. She works part time, and still lives with her parents. In the conversation I had with Jen I found out that she does not have to fly to a place to go on vacation. I asked Jen how often she goes on vacation and she told me, “once a year”. When I asked who she went with she replied, “friends usually”. Then I asked Jen where she goes and why? This is when I found out that she doesn’t necessarily have to fly to get to her vacation spot. She told me: “usually to cities, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, etc. and the reason...hmm, I guess just to see different places, and big cities usually have a lot of tourist attractions and things to do and see, cause it's nice to be able to say you've seen a lot of different places.” Jen also told me that she does not find it easy to get the time to take a vacation because “between school, work, family stuff...it's hard to find the time, and then when you take into account that everyone else going is trying to balance the same things, it can become hard to plan a time that's convenient for everyone.”
The second person I talked to was a girl named Veronica. Veronica is twenty-one years old and has a twenty-two month daughter named Kayleigh. Veronica is a single mom and works full time. I was able to talk to Veronica about her vacations before and after she had her daughter, and the differences between the two experiences. Veronica told me that she also goes on vacations about once or twice a year with her family. She said: “A lot of times we go to California or west coast states, [also] Florida because we wanted to go to Disney World.” Veronica also told me that all other vacations are for scenic reasons, “Upstate Canada because my mom wanted to see it, and yellow stone park because it’s beautiful.” Then I asked Veronica if it was harder for her to go on vacations now that she has the baby. She responded quickly saying that she does defiantly find it harder because before the baby all she had to do was worry about herself, her parents doing all the planning. Now she has to make sure that she packs everything for herself and for Kayleigh like food, diapers, and the stroller to name a few things. Veronica also told me that fortunately she goes with her family where her mother would watch Kayleigh if Veronica wanted to sit by the pool. However, when the entire family goes out, she has to be much more responsible and assume full responsibility.
Then I talked to Pat, a fifty-three year old married woman. All of Pat’s children are older, out of the house and living on their own. Pat said that she goes on vacation twice a year with her husband and family members. When I asked her where she went on vacation and why, she responded: “Camping, I don’t know why I would go camping. Other vacations are to relax.” Pat also says that she goes on vacations with her grandson, like to Disney World.
I have found that different people go on vacations for different reasons, depending on their personal situations. Some people have it harder then others to get the time to go on vacations. Also everyone goes for somewhat of different reasons. The impression I got from everyone is that they all go for some sort of relaxation and to spend time with family or friends. The main difference here is why and where people go. Some people go to go sightseeing, others go to just relax. I guess it doesn’t matter where you go on a vacation as long as you are relaxed going to see something and be somewhere that you enjoy, and are with good people.
The first person I talked to was a girl named Jen. Jen is twenty-three and is in her last semester of college. She works part time, and still lives with her parents. In the conversation I had with Jen I found out that she does not have to fly to a place to go on vacation. I asked Jen how often she goes on vacation and she told me, “once a year”. When I asked who she went with she replied, “friends usually”. Then I asked Jen where she goes and why? This is when I found out that she doesn’t necessarily have to fly to get to her vacation spot. She told me: “usually to cities, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, etc. and the reason...hmm, I guess just to see different places, and big cities usually have a lot of tourist attractions and things to do and see, cause it's nice to be able to say you've seen a lot of different places.” Jen also told me that she does not find it easy to get the time to take a vacation because “between school, work, family stuff...it's hard to find the time, and then when you take into account that everyone else going is trying to balance the same things, it can become hard to plan a time that's convenient for everyone.”
The second person I talked to was a girl named Veronica. Veronica is twenty-one years old and has a twenty-two month daughter named Kayleigh. Veronica is a single mom and works full time. I was able to talk to Veronica about her vacations before and after she had her daughter, and the differences between the two experiences. Veronica told me that she also goes on vacations about once or twice a year with her family. She said: “A lot of times we go to California or west coast states, [also] Florida because we wanted to go to Disney World.” Veronica also told me that all other vacations are for scenic reasons, “Upstate Canada because my mom wanted to see it, and yellow stone park because it’s beautiful.” Then I asked Veronica if it was harder for her to go on vacations now that she has the baby. She responded quickly saying that she does defiantly find it harder because before the baby all she had to do was worry about herself, her parents doing all the planning. Now she has to make sure that she packs everything for herself and for Kayleigh like food, diapers, and the stroller to name a few things. Veronica also told me that fortunately she goes with her family where her mother would watch Kayleigh if Veronica wanted to sit by the pool. However, when the entire family goes out, she has to be much more responsible and assume full responsibility.
Then I talked to Pat, a fifty-three year old married woman. All of Pat’s children are older, out of the house and living on their own. Pat said that she goes on vacation twice a year with her husband and family members. When I asked her where she went on vacation and why, she responded: “Camping, I don’t know why I would go camping. Other vacations are to relax.” Pat also says that she goes on vacations with her grandson, like to Disney World.
I have found that different people go on vacations for different reasons, depending on their personal situations. Some people have it harder then others to get the time to go on vacations. Also everyone goes for somewhat of different reasons. The impression I got from everyone is that they all go for some sort of relaxation and to spend time with family or friends. The main difference here is why and where people go. Some people go to go sightseeing, others go to just relax. I guess it doesn’t matter where you go on a vacation as long as you are relaxed going to see something and be somewhere that you enjoy, and are with good people.
nature essay prewriting
For my nature essay I want to write about camping. I had my first camping experiance about three years ago, and I feel like it was a unique experiance because of how it started out. I think a lot of aspects of camping are exciteing and interesting.
I think there are two ways I can go about this essay. I can concentrate on one specific aspect of camping, or I can write about the entire experiance. I really enjoy camping, and after my frist experiance I loved it and always wanted to go back. I would definatly really enjoy writing a piece about camping and maybe choosing this one for publishing.
I think there are two ways I can go about this essay. I can concentrate on one specific aspect of camping, or I can write about the entire experiance. I really enjoy camping, and after my frist experiance I loved it and always wanted to go back. I would definatly really enjoy writing a piece about camping and maybe choosing this one for publishing.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
journalism essay
I am not sure what I am going to write about for this piece. At first I was going to write about snowboarding. I still might do this. If I do write about snowboarding I can talk to people who have been snowboarding for a long time, and talk to people who have just started. I would also like to talk to people who like snowborading to find out if they just like to snowboard or if they watch it on TV, or if they do any other activities that are like it.
Another topic that I was going to write about was my vacation to costa rica, or just vacations in general. Why do people take vacations, and how often. I would ask such questions as to what they do to prepare and what they plan to get out of a vacation.
Another option that I was thinking about writing about was about people who go to the gym. I could find out the difference between people who go a lot, people who go sometimes, and people who don't go at all. I think this is interesteing to me because I have been in all three of those situations and I know how I feel about it, but I think it makes for interesting writing. I would also like to find out what the majority of the people who go to the gym want to get out of it, and why they go.
I am not completely sure what I am going to write about this time. I find this essay harder because it is not entirely based on personal experiances.
Another topic that I was going to write about was my vacation to costa rica, or just vacations in general. Why do people take vacations, and how often. I would ask such questions as to what they do to prepare and what they plan to get out of a vacation.
Another option that I was thinking about writing about was about people who go to the gym. I could find out the difference between people who go a lot, people who go sometimes, and people who don't go at all. I think this is interesteing to me because I have been in all three of those situations and I know how I feel about it, but I think it makes for interesting writing. I would also like to find out what the majority of the people who go to the gym want to get out of it, and why they go.
I am not completely sure what I am going to write about this time. I find this essay harder because it is not entirely based on personal experiances.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Revising my Memoir
After writing my personal essay and memoir, I thought right away that I would want to continue revising my personal essay about my sisters wedding. I thought that one had more feeling in it and would be a lot easier to keep writing about, as well as a lot easier for my audience to relate to. I went into my meeting with Dr. Chandler and right away said that I would want to reviese my personal essay. After all I thought that I had put more time into that piece. So Dr. Chandler said that that was Ok but she just wanted to talk about my memoir first for a minute or two to get it out of they way, and then more on to my personal essay. As it turns out, we spent the entire meeting talking about my memoir and almost no time at all talking about my personal essay.
I have decided to revise my memoir instead of my personal essay. After my meeting with Dr. Chandler I defiantly have more confidence in it and I feel like I have a lot more to wirte about that I started out with in my first draft. I also feel like once my memoir is complete that a lot of people will be able to relate to it. I think that I need to delete a lot of insignificant details and add a lot more information about what the actual topic is. I also think I need to add more specifics of the even that I am writing about so I can explain the situation a lot better, and expalin my exact feelings more thoroughly.
I have decided to revise my memoir instead of my personal essay. After my meeting with Dr. Chandler I defiantly have more confidence in it and I feel like I have a lot more to wirte about that I started out with in my first draft. I also feel like once my memoir is complete that a lot of people will be able to relate to it. I think that I need to delete a lot of insignificant details and add a lot more information about what the actual topic is. I also think I need to add more specifics of the even that I am writing about so I can explain the situation a lot better, and expalin my exact feelings more thoroughly.
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