Interview.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

-My mother inspired me to write this story because she is not only my mother she is also my best friend. And if my mother ever where to die I would still do whatever I can to just talk to her because I know she would always be listening. My step mother also inspired me to write this story because she has been battling breast cancer for over a year now and has been so strong through it all.

2. What kind of background info did you draw upon for this story?

-For this story I used both books and movies to draw upon my story. I read the book Ellen Foster it was about a girl dealing with the death of her mother and an abusive father. The book was written in diary form, so that’s where I got the idea to write my story in letter form.  I also watched the movie Forest Gump to try and relate my main character to Forest. They both are lost and trying to find themselves. Forest embarks on many different adventures, while my character Brooke thrives to do the same.

3. How did you decide upon names for your characters?

- Three years ago my step mother Amy became pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl. She wanted to name them Brooke and Adian because Brooke meant water and Adian meant fire. Unfortunately she lost the boy, but Brooke was still able to come into our lives. Brooke is sort of like a miracle baby and she is one of the smartest little girls I know. So, I had my main character be named Brooke and her best friend, and soon to be one true love is named Adian. In my story my main character Brooke has two twin brothers named Willy and Billy. I just thought it was cute having twins have similar sounding names. For the babysitter I gave her the name of Vicky because it is ver. For the babysitter I gave her the name of Vicky because it is very similar to the word icky and that is exactly how I wanted to portray that character.

4. What kind of environment do you write your best in?

-Like many other writers I prefer to write in a very quiet and peaceful setting. My room is where I do most of my writing.

5. What influences your writing?

-I like to watch a lot of movies and read books so I like to bounce my ideas off of them. My family also influences me because I have such a large family and each of them has gone through a lot and I look up to them because of all of the struggles they have overcome.

6. What makes your book unique?

-Personally I think by writing this book in letter form makes my book unique. I’ve read many books written in diary or journal entry form, but I haven’t seen a lot of stories written in letter form. I also think it is unique because my main character writes to her mother only once a year on the same day as her mother’s death.

7. What is the main theme of your book?

-The main theme of my book is never give up. My main character battles an endless fight and through it all she never gives up.  I want the reader to understand that any obstacle can be overcome if you just put your mind and heart into it.

8. How did you come up with this?

-I came up with this theme from two people my step mother Amy and my Nana. Both my Nana and Amy have been battling harmful illnesses; Amy, with breast cancer, and my Nana with Leukemia. Throughout it all they never gave up and they always had a smile on their face.

9. Do you read outside school?

-On occasions yes I do, but mostly I read fiction novels. I like creative books, or fantasy books, but I don’t think I could ever write a book like that.

10. How long is you book going to be?

- I don’t want to give the ending of the book away, but I will tell you that the book will stop when Brooke is in her early 20’s and will continue on by a new character.

11. What makes your main character different from the rest?

-My main character Brooke is different from the rest because she has something to fight for, her twin brothers. Brooke is forced to go through brutal beatings from her father and she takes them no matter what, because she knows if he isn’t hurting her he will go and hurt her brothers.

12. Is your story going to have protagonist vs. antagonist set up?

-Yes, Brooke will be the protagonist while her dad will be the antagonist. In the beginning I had the babysitter Vicky be the antagonist, but as the story goes on her father becomes the antagonist.

13. Do you anticipate how the fifth graders will react to your book?

-To be honest I don’t think that my story is for a fifth grade reading level. It’s very graphic and I’m just not sure they would understand what is going on.  I think my book is for more of a high school reading level.

14. How did you plan your writing process?

-To plan my writing process what I did was write down each age of my main character then under each age I listed what happens to her during that age.

15. Is your book a chapter book, or more of a story/ tale?

-My story is written in letter form and I made it so that each letter is one chapter.

16. What is your favorite children’s story?

-When I was a kid my favorite story was the Giving Tree. I would read that book every day. It was such a great story about friendship and I will definitely read it to my children if I have kids someday.

17. Who is your favorite author?

-My favorite author is the writer of the Twilight books Stephanie Mayer because she writes in a way where you feel like you are in the story. She knows how to keep you in the book and always wanting to read more.

18. What other books that you have read relate to your story?

-I think the book A Child Called It is very relatable to my story because that boy in the story also goes through abuse from his parents and throughout it all he never gave up just like my main character Brooke.

19. Why are the twins Willy and Billy so important to Brooke?

-The twins were born only a few days before her mother’s death, so the twins are the only thing she has left of her mother. They both look like her mother and she knows that if her mother were still alive she would want Brooke to do whatever it takes to protect them.

20. How do you feel after you read your own story?

-After I read my story I feel proud of myself for all of the hard work that I put into it. Also, I feel a bit emotional because I really connect with my main character. I really want the readers of my story to also connect with my main character so they understand that you should never give up. 

comments for free-write blogposts

http://sydneycochran7.blogspot.com/2011/10/perseverance-key-to-success.html?showComment=1318795858462#c5557652321778038124

http://adamferguson16.blogspot.com/2011/10/land-of-gweeblets-prologue.html?showComment=1318795477637#c4735762385777842177

http://codydaveyenglish.blogspot.com/2011/10/waking-up-to-music.html?showComment=1318794899996#c7318201485039259427

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http://scriordan94.blogspot.com/2011/10/abridged-technology-interview.html?showComment=1318793593651#c5662725611690945643

Much to blog about nothing...except the Bruins.

            The lighting in the packed train dims in and out as it whips by the lights in the tunnel, the music blasts in my ears as I listen to the beat. My brother is sitting next to me laughing at the dirty joke our friend just told him in a whispered voice. The crowd on the train is restless with excited anticipation for what the next several hours will bring. The train comes to its final stop at south station after having completed the short trek from Braintree. Fan by fan the train begins to lighten as the flow of black and gold colors spill out of its doors. My brother, our friend, and I walk with a certain swagger of pride for our team as we head towards the row of doors at the end of the track. As we pass through the doors our senses are overloaded by a euphoria of bright neon signs, and the supersonic hum of a caffeinated crowd preparing for a timeless ritual.

The house of worship is the Boston Garden; the ritual is a Bruins hockey game. The Boston Bruins are my favorite sports team to watch and I one hundred percent believe that they are the best hockey team in the world, second only to team USA. They have the perfect balance of skill, determination, and statistics. Last season when they swept across Canada from East to West going six and done against the best our syrup drinking neighbors could offer, I just knew we were going to get the cup. It also helped that the last time they went undefeated in Canada they won the cup in ’72.

            Watching the bruins score a goal in hockey is the best feeling in the world, there is literally nothing else like it. It’s this rush that only runs through your body for a few seconds maybe even less, but it literally has me standing in applause every time. So far it’s been a rocky start to the season, but with the best goaltender in the NHL, the best defensive line, the largest player (Big Z), and some of the best rookies to play the game, I’d say our chances of winning another cup this year are superb…knock on wood.

comments on this i believe essay's

http://007themoraldilema.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-is-what-i-believe.html?showComment=1317989009315#c4177219341391582000

http://codydaveyenglish.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-path.html?showComment=1317988387838#c5514331732100432526

http://adamferguson16.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-believe-life-is-improvised-solo.html?showComment=1317988001639#c7106162769560195804

http://nathanefuller.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/this-i-believe-essay-nanas-hugs/#comment-34

http://freelandjesse.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-i-believe.html?showComment=1318295051471#c3346075946117391489

http://ajcarverenglish.blogspot.com/2011/10/this-i-believe-college-essay.html?showComment=1318294663499#c2721323395730067198

http://ncarter-morality.blogspot.com/2011/10/success-of-man.html?showComment=1318294269525#c1189932239637797160

This I Believe...

Through strength my chains are broken

          Its six o’clock in the morning, darkness surrounds me; it’s the dead of winter, well below freezing. One by one, figures start to emerge from the darkness as we gather around the gymnasium doors, standing under a flickering flood light, waiting for our custodian to relieve us from our suffering. There is only one reason for us to be in a gym at six in the am; it was because we believed, and I still believe that keeping your mind and body strong is the ultimate and basic key to success in life. Discipline is the only way to control your body and mind, having control has helped me to enjoy life to the fullest. For me that form of discipline was lifting weights twice a day, five days a week. For me it was the smell of the iron as I pulled it in towards my face and then away with the same ferocity. It was the surreal feeling of my muscles contracting and expanding, the rap blaring in my ears, and the constant drum of my heart pounding. Lifting weights is the very definition of joy in my life, and to me discipline is lifting weights. The desire to see myself become better than anybody thought possible was what gave me the drive to push myself like that.
          Imagine for a moment, you are Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia. Every morning you wake up with the weight of a hundred million souls resting upon your shoulders. The only thing that will be the same for you every morning is the physical exercise. The most successful people in the world have strict workout regimens every day. Vladimir Putin practices Judo every morning as he gets up to lead Russia into the future, and Barack Obama had a basketball court installed in the backyard of the White House. If world leaders are exercising every day, then there must be a good reason for it all. There’s more to a little exercise every morning than meets the eye. It’s the basic building block to success in life. It’s the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night. Without doing it I would feel fake, like I was living a lie, and I believe that people do it to maintain some kind of control over their life.
          Athletes are who they are because they are in shape; they did not get to that position in sports by being out of shape. Adrian Gonzalez grew up in Tijuana, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Underprivileged and impoverished he was still able to become one of the greatest baseball players their ever was, or will ever be. It is discipline that carries us through life. Discipline carried Gonzales through danger to fame, and I believe that discipline will carry me, and anyone else who practices it, to success.
          Life is about making something happen, not waiting for them to happen. I believe the easiest way to get your life started on the right track is to give yourself a disciplined pattern of exercise to repeat everyday; something that is easily accomplished. I started by just banging out push-ups and sit-ups in my room every morning and again before I went to bed. Every little thing you do counts. If I had not started doing the basics in my room when I was just barely a teenager at fourteen years old, then I never would have started. You have to work your way up the ladder before you can reach the top, and that’s what I did, and have been doing since I started high school. Every challenge I completed gives me the energy needed to complete any task in life head-on.
          When I accomplish the small easy tasks it gives me the boost I need to tackle life’s bigger challenges. I believe when you deprive yourself of completing these little challenges you weaken your body. I know that feeling, it is a painful a lasting emotion, its called failure. Failure kills you; it kills your chances of leading a successful life. You cannot let failure ruin your life; you have got to give yourself a method to overcome failure. I believe that for me that method is self-discipline. I contribute most of my success to the self-discipline that I maintain in my lifestyle, and I know that all of my success in the future will be controlled by pushing my body and mind to its limits.

comments week 3

http://codydaveyenglish.blogspot.com/2011/09/evolution-of-morality.html?showComment=1316779547104#c6378054728254740823

http://thequestionofmorality.blogspot.com/2011/09/resolve-of-antigone.html?showComment=1316988628834#c6406603779272767174

http://freelandjesse.blogspot.com/2011/09/together-as-unit.html?showComment=1316989079221#c8977556174918603919

http://worldlitblogyo.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-theif-endless-moral-questions.html?showComment=1316989362950#c4229476539859994277

http://licensetobemorallyrational.blogspot.com/2011/09/leadership-and-sacrifice.html?showComment=1316989948089#c5722874646106683315

http://nathanefuller.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/morality-in-the-maze-runner-albys-descent/#comment-17

http://adamferguson16.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-thief-deaths-interest-in.html?showComment=1316990845192#c5971303486161682845

blog comments

http://codydaveyenglish.blogspot.com/2011/09/personal-blog.html

http://licensetobemorallyrational.blogspot.com/2011/09/walk-in-my-shoes-for-day.html

http://ncarter-morality.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-moral-compass-path-to-happiness.html

http://adamferguson16.blogspot.com/2011/09/moral-compass-defining-individuality.html

http://007themoraldilema.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-moral-direction.html#comments

The Moral Compass: Guide to the Decision Making of Mankind.

            My moral compass is broken down into four parts, or headings, North, South, East, and West. All the points carry me on my path through life. The compass contains the guidelines that I try to live my life by every day.

North: Ever since I can remember my father has been telling me to never let anyone tell me I cannot do something. Today, I have taken what he has said and I use it as my motivation in life. This advice has led me to try many new things, and I have learned that you cannot hope to succeed, or fail spectacularly until you have tried. I think this direction will allow me to try many, many more new positive things in my life.

South: Another thing my father used to tell me when I was a boy, and still does today, was to judge people by the their character, not by the color of their skin. As a soon to be adult, I try to treat everyone I meet as my equal. I want to be able to make positive connections with people so that I build solid relationships with my friends. This gives me peace at mind knowing I will have friends to call on in the future. Every day I strive to treat people with respect so that I in turn can receive the respect I deserve.

West: The best advice that I would tell someone to live their life by would be to be honest in life. I know firsthand the kind of positive effects that being honest can have. They can get you out of the most potent of situations. At times dishonesty can seem like a more approachable path, but the end is never visible; a lie has the potential to turn into anything. When I reflect on the struggles that I have been through I find it comforting to know that the truth and nothing but the truth came from my mouth.

East: My last point, but by no means the least important, is to stand up for myself and others. I live my life by the truth that if you want people to help you then you have to help them. I think this is the moral that the whole world relies on to continue functioning properly. If the majority of the world did not live by this rule then our humanity would be stained with the evilness of selfish desires. In standing up for others I pray that others will stand with me when I need them too.

            To me my compass is a guide for the everyday, and a manual to get me through points of crisis in my life. I have learned that when I do not follow it every day I find myself in more times of crisis that I care to be in. Though, I admit, there are some situations where my compass never falls into play.

A Definition of Morality.

Everyone has an idea of what a moral is; we all know the familiar moral to the story expression, but what will the morals of our life story be. Morality is your ability to decipher between the wrong choices and the right decisions in life. Most people refer to moral men and women as persons of good character with mainstream American and Christian values. To be a moral person you have to make the decision that society will agree with most. Even with the best intentions a choice can still be viewed as immoral. Is it morally safe to take one life to spare a thousand; society can't answer that question, only god and history can be the judge of that. For me choosing the right decision is always simple, but making the wrong choice involves a little more desire, there has to be a proper incentive and little risk. I have never been in the situation, but I can imagine that after having his morality questioned a man would interpret morality differently. He would see it as something that has to be steadfast, and automatic. If every moral man said he had never committed an immoral action then we would all be liars. A life spent never being immoral is a life wasted. Many immoral actions are minor nuisances at best; if every action was to be morally scrutinized then everyone would be guilty of making the wrong choice. Fortunately making immoral decisions is a part of everyone's life story. It grants us the experience we need to strengthen our morals for more powerful tests. I would be a liar if I said there wasn't a thrill that came from committing immoral deeds. Morality is usually preached as a universal path to a religiously healthy life, the Old Testament defines morality very well, “Many people hold to the idea that the conscience is a matter of our hearts, that concepts of right, wrong, and fairness are “programmed” in each of us. This is in keeping with the writings of Paul the Apostle, who points out that even those who do not believe in God frequently obey God's laws as given in the Ten Commandments: "for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them" (Romans 2:14-15 (NKJV).” Humanity’s sense of morality was not founded within the beginnings of any organized religion. It was embedded into us as instinct and influenced by our own experience and desire. Morality, to me, means knowing that I will make the right decision when it comes down to it.

"Morality." Philosophy - AllAboutPhilosophy.org. Web. 08 Sept. 2011.