I am in the process of applying for a writing internship affiliated with a major publication. In this process, I am asked to submit a writing sample. I'm going to take something that I've written about here and polish it into something presentable.
With that in mind, please help me choose the best Note from Behind the Language Barrier (of a Serious variety)!
The leading contestants at the moment are:
Wandering
Listening
Voyaging
Dreaming
Living
Please leave me a comment and vote for the one you think would make the best starting point for a piece of creative nonfiction (of the variety that one would find in a serious-style travel collection). Please! Of course, if you've been checking in for awhile now and have another suggestion, by all means let me know.
Your help is much appreciated!
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9 comments:
Hi Meredith! You don't know me...but I stumbled across your blog via a link on Dave's ESL Cafe and I've been keeping up with it for the last month or two. I myself am planning a move to Chile in a few months and I'd love to chat with you about your experience (I promise not to pester). If you're up for it you can email me at carolinenobert@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!
I vote for "Living" aka "Good Morning Valparaiso".
It has a great opening and I love your elegant and catchy use of the language, but it's the overall cadence, the scattering of short potent paragraphs with longer more descriptive ones that really soothes my soul. It's like a lullaby for grownups and I, for one, enjoy being pampered.
Good luck on your application. I'm rooting for you!
Hola Senorita,
I enjoyed all of them. I commented on Wanderings...If I must choose one it would be Dreaming...I loved your descriptions here...I could hear the click of that bolt as only you can in the early morning, in a mist...I could see the Port through the rusted railing...I could smell the cigarette smoke with the damps sea air...etc etc etc...I could see all you saw (described)...smelled, felt and enjoyed.
umm, I can't decide so can I vote for three? I liked Limache, The Hills are alive, and good morning.
Oh!!! Buena Suerte!!!
I would suggest "Voyaging" because in Voyaging you are giving details of the city and its surroundings.
Thanks for your opinions, everyone! I'll share the polished version once it's finished...I think I'm going to try to blend a few of them together.
"dreaming" and "listening" are my suggestions - Reading these feel like a very intimate snap-shot of where you are and what you're doing. Although they don't encompass the greater part of your day to day life or travels in the way your other posts do, referencing specific places or transits in the area, I think they're a unique and beautiful way to express your discovery.
- Not so anonymous Ally
I am a New Zealander who's been reading your blog because I'm doing an exchange in Valparaíso in January. (Any advice??)
All your blogs are well written. I really enjoy reading them, and I'm sure you'll get that internship. The Limache one was my favourite, I think, depending on what kind of piece you need... It had a great start and a great finish, and had funny moments as well as moments that made me think. Good luck!
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