My
experience on the Forty-Eighth Annual Literary Contest was different than I had
expected. I decided to write a short
story about a mountain biker riding a trail for the very first time, as he
recalls the lessons he’s learned while mountain biking. I changed my mind and ended
up writing the topic as a poem. Even though I didn’t win, I’m satisfied with my
personal achievement in being creative and expressing my ideas.
As
for my writing process, I first outlined the ideas for the topic and then began
writing my first draft. Almost immediately, I thought of writing a poem of the
same topic. I felt like the poem allowed me to better portray my message, since
I saw the short story turning into a fable. That was not the direction that I
wanted to go in, so I decided to make a poem. I went through numerous drafts
and ended up reducing the new trail experience to just one stanza, then having
one stanza for each of the three lessons learned, and then one stanza summing
up the entire poem and giving closure to the message.
I
feel like I did a good job. I like my poem and I find that it has good literary
value. I didn’t plan on winning, nor did I set it as a goal. Still, since I saw
it as a good poem, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I won. I was not surprised
nor negatively affected by the fact that I didn’t win. I’m still happy that I
was able to express how I feel about mountain biking and be creative.
_____________
Click
here to read my poem entry for the Forty-Eighth Annual Literary Contest.
If you had chosen to write the short story instead of the poem, how would it have ended?
ReplyDeleteGood question, Melissa!
ReplyDeleteI like how you wrote your entry about something you feel passionate about, despite how unconventional or uncommon it is. I can't really say I've read any poems or stories about mountain biking.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it would've been cool if you finished and submitted both the story and the poem... I know it's a lot of extra work though, and I certainly wouldn't have done it in time. Still, a cool idea for if you're ever bored and feel like writing.