"Morning" by Justin Turner

At six o'clock I wake up to the annoying beep of my five-minute fast alarm clock and groggily get up into the seemingly cold air only to hit the snooze button and tumble back a few steps into my safe, cozy, and warm bed. Just as I drift back to sleep however, "BEEP BEEP BEEP." Once again I stumble out of bed, but this time shut off the alarm completely. I turn on the lights to avoid falling back asleep, and get dressed, literally just throwing something on and then I head out into the hall. After a quick stop at the restroom I head to the kitchen where my mom is waiting and making my youngest sister's and her lunches. I greet her with a hug and an Italian "Good Morning" and set off to make breakfast. I pick out the Cheerios and get a bowl and pour the milk. After such a "filling" breakfast it's 6:20. Time to wake up my sister. Usually I go downstairs and physically shake her  to wake her, but I'm feeling extra lazy today so I just knock on the wall next to her room. No reply but I continue my schedule because technically, it's her responsibility to get up on her own.

I head back to my messy room and grab last night's homework off my desk and stuff it into a binder and into my bag. Then I mentally go through a list of what classes I have today and what I need including after school activities, and I pack accordingly. Today is a Black day, so I go through my schedule. After that I go to the kitchen and drink some Red Zinger tea with honey and pack a sandwich, a granola bar, and an apple for lunch. I then knock on the wall again and out comes my sister, all set to go. Apparently she had been up the entire time but just didn't return my knocks.

I grab a hoodie and we head outside towards the bus stop. The brisk, cold air hits us, and any hint of grogginess is wiped away. We begin our five minute trek to the bus stop talking and chatting as we pass sleeping houses and the dark forest next to us. Leaves and acorns are scattered all over the sidewalk and our feet make crunching sounds. I look at my watch: 6:41. We begin to sprint. Our backpacks sway in time behind us. At 6:43  the bus stop is just in sight and we slow to a walk so no one sees us running. Wouldn't want to embarrass ourselves now would we?

We arrive at the bus stop only to have thirty seconds of idle chit chat before the bus arrives. Still catching our breath we climb aboard and I think of how close that was. I find a seat and sit down. I then realize...that I left my lunch on the kitchen counter.

"Unveiling the Words" by Raul

"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.” -Vladimir Nabakov

                                                                                                                                                           

            Although I have always loved to write, it takes a long time and a lot of frustration for me to write what I mean to say. I have always found it difficult to get what’s in my head onto paper. I always wish that I could just write down my thoughts without thinking, but I am unable to do that because I am always worried about making my sentences perfect. I usually sit with my laptop or papers, ready to write my essay, but for some reason I can never get my words out. To get to the point of where my words come out into my writing freely, I go through a whole process of brainstorming and outlining. I then continue using my usual process of how I write an essay.  

            I begin my essay by planning out what I want to say in it. In order for me to gather all my ideas and organize them in a way that makes my essay flow, I create a list of what I want to say in each paragraph. I only write a short sentence for each bullet point, and then I move them around in an order that makes sense. Some people write detailed outlines with all of their commentary in it, but I like to keep it short and then expand on what I have. This way, I know what I want to say in each paragraph and then the words come out of my mind easily. If I tried any other way then I would be sitting in front of the computer deciding how to word each sentence, which would take me a very long time.

            After I have a list of what I want to include in my paper, I begin with my introduction. Some people write their introduction after they have completed their body paragraphs, but I find it easier to just have the introduction written so that I can write my essay as I go. For me, the introduction of an essay is the most difficult paragraph to write and it takes the longest time. Even though I always have my paragraphs planned out before I start writing my introduction, I never know what I want to say in it. I sit there for a long time in front of my computer, hoping that I will get an idea of what to say to start off my essay. I become very aggravated when I can’t think of what to say.

            When writing an essay, I tend to get distracted quite a bit. This is the biggest challenge for me during my writing process. Distractions add to the reasons why it takes me so long to begin writing words out. If my mind strays for just a moment, I find myself unintentionally picking up my cell phone. Once I get distracted, I am likely to stay on twitter or continue texting for hours. I always hear people say that music really helps them stay in focus, but for me it does the opposite. Even if the music is on low volume and is really relaxing and calm, I lose focus. Any little sound can distract me. For example, if my brother is jumping around in the room next to mine, I try to ignore it and continue writing, but I usually end up going over to him and yelling at him to stop. I need to be in complete concentration if I am to ever get any good sentences onto paper.

            Although I get distracted a lot while writing, once I do start to write and I know what I want to say, the words flow out of my mind and I start typing away. To me, the best feeling is not when I have completed an essay, but when I have a steady pace of writing down my ideas. Once I really get into my writing, I just keep writing whatever comes into my mind. Then, when my essay is finally done, I go back and edit it. I sometimes have to change whole paragraphs or even take out sentences here and there, but compared to writing the essay, the revising doesn’t take me too long.

            Once I have finished writing and revising my work, I think back to when I had just started to write that essay. It really amazes me that, although I didn’t know how to say what I wanted at first, I eventually got everything out of my mind and into my essay. It really is like the words are all there, just waiting for me to figure out how to make them visible.

"Leaving" by August Rain

Leaving. The word itself has so many different meanings depending on how you use it. You could be leaving home for the morning; for school. You could be leaving your home for good. You could be leaving your family.

In my mind, everyone leaves eventually, and though it's a bittersweet fact, the sooner one comes to terms with it, the easier it becomes along the road. It's an inevitable, therefore it's been a topic deemed as an 'unspeakable'. It's a sad subject that most people would rather avoid, since it's only human nature to build bonds with different things and people. The thought of leaving is one of the scarier truths of human life.

I, for one, like the idea of leaving.

I think it was back in April of this year when I first started really thinking about this subject. My grandfather had just passed away, and I had always been very close to him, so to see him leave right in front of my eyes, it got me thinking. If everyone leaves, if it's so natural, why don't people talk more about it? Why aren't there more books about it where it isn't portrayed as the worst part of someone's life? So that's what started my current piece.

In a story I'm currently writing, the main character deals with the idea of leaving all the time, at the end feeling it is the better decision. I guess it's the thought of freeing yourself from...anything and everything. Venturing outside your comfort zone, whether it's forced or not. Finding a new land, and society, starting fresh with a clean slate, it all sounds so perfect sometimes, no matter how hard it might be.

To me, 'leaving' and 'starting over' have become synonyms, though that's not the case with everyone. It's a scary thought, I know that. But when you're really scared of something, the best way to get over it is to go out and do it, or else, you'll live your life wondering why you were so scared of it. But it's so scary it's almost seductive, that you can't help but wonder about it, and get so close to actually leaving but you don't. You don't leave. You don't let go of what you've made, who you've met, who you've lost, everything you've worked for, gone in an instant. It's understandable why no one would want to leave that comfort of their life. But if there is any constant throughout life, it is change. Everything changes and so do you along with it.

So it's really 'change or be changed' or even 'leave or be left'. You can choose, but either way, everyone's going to leave, and so are you.

But once the initial terror subsides, you have something so pure, so untouched that proves to be a greater help than you think, because leaving isn't all that bad.

Once you get used to it, of course.

Write Here. Write Now.

Welcome to the home of the Herndon Writing Center!

Each week, we will post two pieces from student-writers in the Herndon Writing Center. We hope you appreciate and enjoy our work, and thanks for stopping by!

The Herndon Writing Center