Personal Writing Assignment

Dear Shell,

A couple months ago, my mom gave me an article from a magazine. This article was about writing, and had several writing assignments in it. Most of it is 'write 2 pages on ________' and will have a specific thing you need to write about. Such as write two pages in which something is too small, or write two pages about a jinx. It's more to get you to think and to just write, than to write a story for each. Even random ramblings are acceptable as long as it pertains to the subject. I've come up with a few of my own assignments but will also work on ones from the article as well.

In a blog, you can't really define where one page starts and another ends, since it's one long post until you end it and start a new post. But you can do two long paragraphs, or use a symbol to designate where one 'page' ends and another starts.

Assignment #1: Write two "pages" about nature.

I've always loved nature, the trees, the animals. The peace and quiet you find only when you're deep within the woods. You can't hear vehicles or people shouting, you don't smell fumes from the factories. All around you is the bright, vibrant colors of the season. In the spring, the leaves on the trees are a greenish-yellow color. Flowers are starting to open and face the sun with their colorful faces. In the woods you might find little purple violets covering the ground, smiling up at you in joy. The petals are a dark royal purple while the center is a bright yellow. No human has planted them, they were placed there by Mother Nature's own hands.

You may also find a wild flower that stand a couple feet tall on a long narrow stalk. The flower itself appears to be a large white flower from a distance, but when you come closer, you see that it is actually tons, maybe hundreds of very tiny white flowers clustered together. It is commonly known as Queen Anne's Lace, but is also known as a wild carrot.

In the summertime, the leaves on the trees appear to be a deeper green, filtering the sunlight so that only the rare sunbeam makes it through, like a spotlight onto the mossy ground. Under the canopy of leaves, the air is cooler, somewhat moist even. The scent of damp earth mixes with the fragrance of the flowers and trees.

With the fall, many more colors enter the portrait of nature. In enters the rusty brown, the burnt orange, the russet red. The leaves on the trees lose their brilliant green as they accept the change that comes every year. The trees explode with color. You'll see a tree with bright yellow leaves next to a tree with leaves so brightly red. If you catch the woods at the right time during the fall, it appears the whole forest is on fire with a riot of colors.

Wintertime could look bleak, if you look only at the trees missing their canopy of leaves. Stark, bare limbs stretched out. But winter brings it's own beauty to the woods. The snow is a pristine white, undamaged by the touch of humans. Ice glistens on the limbs of the trees, sparkling like diamonds in the air. The air is cold and crisp.

As a child, I loved to roam the woods around our house and the neighboring homes, during any of the seasons. I had several places where I would go to, to just sit and listen to nature, to enjoy the colors, sounds and smells of the beautiful portrait that Mother Nature painted that day. Some days that place might be up in a tree, watching the animals scurry beneath my hiding place, as they hunt for food. Other days that place could be a small clearing in the center of the woods, where the ground is soft and mossy, and I could lay on my back and stare up, looking at the trees, the sky. Watching the birds fly between the branches of the trees, or even higher up in the sky. Or, I could lay on my stomach and watch the smallest creatures as they moved among the rocks and moss. I could create a world for them in my mind, deciding where they are heading, what they are thinking or doing at that moment.

Regardless of where I will go in life, where I will end up, I will always hold dear to me, my love of nature. Mother Nature is a true artist who does not get the credit she deserves, for this masterpiece she creates every day of our lives.


Shell