Creative Writing

Formal Writing Assignment #1

Autobiography

50 points

 

Choices:

1. Create a CD of your life (burn the CD for me).  Compile a list of songs that represent the many stages of your life.  Maybe they are songs that were prevalent during those stages or maybe they are the songs that remind you of the things from the past.  Create a CD cover.  The covers often lend insight into the music.  Along with the CD, write 2-3 sentences about why you chose each song.  The CD must contain at least 10 songs. 
2. Write an autobiographical essay.  Think of it as a reflection on the life you have lived so far.
3. Write an original song about your life.  It could be a song of tribute, remembrance, or lessons learned.  You will need to perform the song live or bring in the tape.  Either way, you will need to hand in a written copy of your song.
4. Write a fable using your life as a setting. A fable presents a moral. What moral could you teach with your life?  What would you want to learn from that fable?
5. Write a letter to a future child explaining to them who and why you are who you are.
6. Create an ad selling the furniture and personal items from your room.  How would you price things?  Why are those items in your room?  How long have they been there?  Why have you kept them there?
7. Write a series of letters that you would never send out.  It should be apparent in the letter why it was never sent.
8. Create a name tree.  Use pictures, poems, quotations and anything else you can think of to “leaf” a trees in an effort to show who you really are. 
9. If you have another idea, run it by me, I’m up to suggestions.

 

You will be graded in four different categories. 

Neatness and effort

Use of Class Time

Reflection of Author

Completion on Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name: __________________________                 Class Period: ________                        Date: _________

 

Category	15	10	5	0
Neatness and Effort	The autobiography project has no distracting errors, corrections or erasures and is easily read. It appears the student spent a lot of effort getting things just right.	The autobiography project has almost no distracting errors, corrections or erasures and is easily read. It appears the student worked hard on it.	The autobiography project is fairly readable but the quality is not too good on some parts. It looks like the student ran out of time or didn't take care of it.	Very messy and hard to read. It looks like the student threw it together at the last minute without much care.
Use of Time	Class time was used wisely. It is clear the student worked at home as well as at school.	Class time was used wisely. Student could have put in more time and effort outside of class.	Class time was not always used wisely, but student did do some additional work outside of class.	Class time was not used wisely and the student put in no additional effort.
Reflection of Author	The autobiography project strongly shows some part of the author's life. The author didn't hold back when writing about his or her life.	The autobiography project somewhat shows the author's life. The author held back a little when writing about his or her life.	The autobiography project shows a little about the author's life. The author held back quite a bit when writing about his or her life.	The autobiography project does not show anything about the author's life. The author didn't share anything about his or her life.
Completion on Time	The author turned the autobiography project in on time.     5 points			The author did not turn the autobiography project in on time.   0 points

 

Total  ____________/50 points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Example of Choice 6:

 

Everything must go.

A lifetime of memories awaits you if the price is right. 

 

For sale:

1 alarm clock with cracked face, due to daily throws against the wall.  Radio no longer works and the reception was never any good to start with.  What was once an annoyingly shrill screech to startle you from your slumber is now the sound of a dying cow that will not awaken anyone. Free to whomever would like this relic.

 

1 forgotten philodendron.  What was once a lush, green foliage has been reduced to a single bare stem. Travels well-has been through 3 moves.  This plant has seen more than any of my closest friends or members of my family.  Excellent for use as a dust collector.  $2.  Hanging basket and soil sold separately.

 

1 full size bed with mismatched sheets, pillowcases, and comforter.  Extremely comfortable after a long night of paper grading and movie watching.  Special gift from mom after having slept on a sleeping bag through first year of college. $4000.

 

1 bookshelf full of what else…shoes.  Due to owner’s obsessive compulsive nature, shoe count is currently at 35 pairs.  Size 12.  Perfect for the woman in your life who has sasquatch feet.  #150.  Within hours this count will rise, so unless you have a semi…hurry up.

 

1 true bookshelf.  Containing works of Shelley, Joyce, Yeats, Swift, Poe, Shakespeare, and Marx.  All the greats for a well-rounded education.  All read and cherished by owner.  If interested must be willing to explain intentions for the works.  Book burners not welcome. $15,000.

 

1 cedar chest.  The only piece of furniture made from true wood.  Family heirloom that contains all precious items of emotional value.  Photos, love letters, powderpuff jerseys, and many other trinkets from childhood.  $45,000.

 

22 Beatles posters.  Did I mention the obsessive-compulsive nature of the owner?  Come take you pick of posters from the greatest band to ever record an album.  Pictures range from the early years until the breakup.  You can’t be without at least one of these wonderful prints.

 

1 bag of movie stubs.  627 to be exact.  With this purchase comes  wasted college saving account  (12 years in the making) and a lonely life.  A special bonus of 14 stubs from Forrest Gump (2 from the very day it was released).  Al stubs date stamped and original.  $5 and a few tears from the owner.

 

1 dresser topped with lamp (broken shade included) and filled with undesired clothing.  $10.

 

1 tri level kitty condo.  Bought in the haste of any cat owner who wants to save doorframes and couch arms from the detrimental claws of family feline, yet wants.  Bought with the thought that it would appeal to said cats.  Immediately realized that family cat would never destroy it’s perch for sleeping.  $400 or new couch.

 

3 cats (declawed).  2 tigers and one cream.  All female.  Perfect for snuggling on a cold evening. Soft purrs are comfort to all.  Independent, charismatic, stealthy.  Tormentors to family dogs.  Priceless.

 

 

 

 

 

Example of Choice 4:

 

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well.  The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.  Finally he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. 

 

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him.  They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.  At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.  Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down.

 

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.  With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.  He would shake it off and take a step up.

 

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.  Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

 

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt.  The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.  Each of our troubles is a stepping stone.  We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up!  Shake it off and take a step up!

 

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred – Forgive.

Free your mind from worries –most never happen.

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.

Expect less.

 

Okay, enough of that stuff…here is the rest of the story.

 

The donkey later came back and kicked the crap out of the farmer who tried to bury him. The gash from the kick got infected, and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

 

Moral from today’s lesson: When you try to cover your ass, it always comes back to get you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Example of Choice 7

 

Alanis Morissette

Unsent

Dear Matthew I like you a lot I realize you're in a relationship with someone right now and I respect that I would like you to know that if you're ever single in the future and you want to come visit me in California I would be open to spending time with you and finding out how old you were when you wrote your first song

 

Dear Jonathan I liked you too much I used to be attracted to boys who would lie to me and think solely about themselves and you were plenty self-destructive for my taste at the time I used to say the more tragic the better the truth is whenever I think of the early 90's your face comes up with a vengeance like it was yesterday

 

Dear Terrance I love you muchly you've been nothing but open hearted and emotionally available and supportive and nurturing and consummately there for me I kept drawing you in and pushing you away I remember how beautiful it was to fall asleep on your couch and cry in front of you for the first time you were the best platform from which to jump beyond myself what was wrong with me

 

Dear Marcus you rocked my world you had a charismatic way about you with the women and you got me seriously thinking about spirituality and you wouldn't let me get away with kicking my own ass but I could never really feel and it's kinda too bad because we could've had much more fun

 

Dear Lou we learned so much I realize we won't be able to talk for some time and I understand that as I do you the long distance thing was the hardest and we did as well as we could we were together during a very tumultuous time in our lives I will always have your back and be curious about you and your career your whereabouts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Example of Choice 3:

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

by Robert Fulghum

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

  And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.

The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.

Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with out blankies for a nap.

Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put thing back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.