My Autobiography as a Writer - Pamela

By Pamela den Ouden

When I was in Grade 10, I had an excellent English teacher name Mr. Verney. He gave us very interesting writing tasks and that experience was the start of my writing career. I wrote both poetry and stories.

Since then, I’ve written many essays for school assignment. This is not my favourite kind of writing, but there is a certain satisfaction of having a paper returned with favourable comments and a good mark. So even though it’s not my favourite kind of writing, I have learned a lot about academic writing from these kinds of assignments.

In addition to poetry, stories, and school essays, I have written thousands of letters over my life. At first, they were handwritten or typed. Then I move up to a computer and e-mail. Just because an e-mail is sent quickly doesn’t mean it is thoughtless or trivial. Writing letters to friends and family is an important part of keeping in touch. Just this morning, I mailed a thank-you letter to a friend and a postcard to my granddaughter.

I still write poetry and feel I can express myself well in this genre. I feel satisfied when just the right words fall into place. Last Saturday, I gave a poetry reading at the Sweetwater 905 festival (www.sweetwater905.ca), and three of my poems appear in the recently-released DiVerseCities II, an anthology of poetry and writing published locally.

Blogging is a new kind of venue for writing, and I’ve launched myself into it. I have a personal blog, and creative writing blog, and this class writing blog. Blogs can reach a wide audience, so I try to make each blog entry brief and to the point, though-provoking in a friendly way.

Writing of all sorts, including to-do lists and grocery lists, is an important part of my daily life. E-mail to friends and family, letters to thank or cheer, birthday cards and poems are all part of me going out to others.