Dare if you want to, don’t fear you’ll fall. Take a chance, ‘cause it’s better than never to chance it at all.” ~Cinderella

This year, my writing has been on a journey. My work started as mediocre and through many endeavors, my writing has improved greatly. I believe my quote is telling someone that trying something new is better than trying nothing. It’s saying that it is better to try something new than to never experiencing something different and unique. I selected this quote because as a writer this year, I experienced many new and unfamiliar things, whether that being new skills or new forms of writing. By learning these unfamiliar skills, I was able to flourish as writer. Without learning, I would still be stuck where I was at the beginning of the year.
The journey began in September with the Why I Write piece. I walked into class and sat down. I grabbed a blue pen and my flash drive and left it on my desk. I dashed to the book-shelve and reached for my navy blue binder. It was now 1:15 and class was ready to start. I learned that we were going to complete a poem called “Why I Write.” In the poem we had to say why we wrote in the past, why we write currently and why we will write in the future. I was so interested by this assignment because I never did anything like it before. During the drafting though, I was so confused as to what I should say, from not knowing how something should be phrased to running out of ideas to use. I was frustrated with the project and myself. But instead of giving up, I kept working hard and I was able to do an exceptional job on it. I took risks that paid off and if I never took the risks I would have never gotten the experience. After completing the project, I truly knew who I was and what I will be as a writer.
A few months later, the trees had shed their colorful leaves. The sun set and rose much earlier. White, fluffy snow wrapped the ground like a thick blanket. White fog puffed out of the mouths of people outside. Now, I was more experienced as a writer. I had completed several pieces including a Frederick Douglass themed essay and project and an essay explaining my opinions on women’s rights in the Middle East. We learned that we would be created a project based upon a book that was challenged. I chose to read a book called Go Ask Alice. For my project I created a blog focused around my book. It was neat to design my own webpage. I could have chosen to do an iMovie or a podcast, which I have done before. Instead, I took a chance and was able to experience something I never did before. This project helped me grow because I learned how to complete a unique form of writing.
The journey went on. The air became warmer, the sun brighter. Trees began to grow in their green leaves after a long winter and flowers blossomed. Birds chirped early in the morning and cicadas began to crawl out of their shells. It was close to the end of the year, and I had come across one of the last Writing Workshop assignments of the year. The piece we worked on was centered on the unit of change. We chose a decade and had to write a narrative with characters from the decade we chose and the struggles they went through. I chose to write about a girl in the 1940’s whose family was separated by war. It was a challenge to research a different decade to make my piece more realistic. I had to find fashion trends, social expectations and slang of the time. Instead of procrastinating, I dove into the culture of the 1940’s. If I hadn’t done the research my piece would lack voice. I took risks that ended up being successful.
Throughout the year, Instead of being afraid, I dared to take chances that helped my writing thrive. I learned new forms of writing, how to make my work more descriptive and vivid vocabulary words. Like Cinderella said, taking chances is better than not taking any at all because without taking chances, accomplishing something is not possible.