Writing and writing

Writing exercise can be a chore, or they can be fun. Today I worked on setting practice, the workshop assignment asked me to recall a place where I once lived, and describe it in 2 or 3 pages. I chose Bedford Massachusetts, where I lived in the late 60's. I was in 6th and 7th grade then.

The exercise forced me to draw deeply from memory, and in order to avoid turning it into a dry recital of facts, I had to depict personal aspects of the setting. It ended up being 3 pages, and the exercise does encourage me to go back and polish it, something I'll do. For now, it's a rough draft type reading.

I'm supposed to give the setting enough feel that you can picture it in your mind. Use more than just sight, and don't just get sentimental. Did I write enough to bring you into my old town, what's missing.

Like I said, this is first draft. But go ahead and read it at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfmh4kks_2grt9mf . Please comment as well, this is me asking for critique. I'd prefer comments in the comment field below, but because of the nature of googledoc storage, you can add comments directly to the file (I can even go back and reject them, especially if you do something like use a red font!)

Clear skies,
Jim