A Writing Sample

You may have noticed that my phone says, "Writer" on it.  That is my dream.  If you asked me in grade school what I wanted to be, my answer was a writer.  I have done some writing for tv, but in my opinion that is nothing to brag about.  I currently write for work, but mostly grants and a few blog posts.  I have taken a few classes at the Indiana Writers Center, but recently missed out on a series class for young adult writing.  I tried doing NaNoWriMo last November and failed miserably and called it quits after unnecessarily stressing myself out.  However, I did learn that I can plan ahead and make an outline, so I will give it another go this November and see how things work out.

I am a bit picky when it comes to writing.  I think a good writer will allow you to close your eyes and use all five of your senses (okay, maybe four since books don't smell like much more than paper) to let you live inside of someone else's world.  I will side step and say that I did not like "Divergent" by Veronica Roth for that reason.  I did not feel like I had a great relationship with the characters.  I was not invited into their world and I did not get to know them.  I felt as though the author wanted me to watch from a distance and did not want to let me in.  I tell people it read like swiss cheese, leaving large gaps in the story.  In any case, here is a piece of NaNoWriMo.  I only have pieces and I have not looked at them since November, so you may see errors and find names that I just put in with plans to change later. Also, I will toss in that no one has read this before.

    If you look deep enough into someone’s eyes, you can see a story.  Sometimes it is the story of their life, other times it is the story of moment.  A fraction of a second captured in time to be shared for an unexpected amount of time.  There’s a saying that a memory lasts a lifetime.  That is the great thing about pictures.  They last longer than a lifetime.  Photographs taken more than one hundred years ago still exist today.  A good photographer will find a way to look into someone’s eyes and let the person tell their own story.  A great photographer will find a way to capture the emotion in a single frame and secure it for a million lifetimes.  It is a small reason why I love taking pictures.  I am actually contributing to history and I’m only sixteen.  How many other teenagers can say they are helping the people of the future understand themselves by revealing secrets of the past?

Here is another piece.  Do you feel it?  Did I take you there?  The above was meant to be the beginning of the story, so I hope I grabbed your attention and left you wanting more.  If you do want more I think I have about two or three more entries or pieces that I would be willing to post here.  As far as I am concerned, your time is valuable and if I'm going to put something out there for you or anyone else to read, it better be worth your time.