Sample Cover Letter

Ilene Strait

10/9/09

Where I'm From

Dear Reader,

I chose my topic as part of the National Day of Writing work of Dollie Evans, "Where I'm From" poetry. I created an organized list of ideas by remembering memories of my life that have had an effect me to this day. I listened to music, Kenny Chesney's "Back Where I'm From" to jumpstart my ideas on my life based on some of his ideas.

With my ideas in front of me (highlighted and numbered for order), I wrote my draft. When done, I used the muscles in my ARMS to revise.  I added specific places like Hedahls  and Elks pool as well as specific people like Jeannie.  I removed lines that didn't add any real emotion or images (such as "wrapped in a towel"). I moved things around so the verses stayed in a pattern (short verses of "I'm from" at the beginning before longer verses). I substituted boring words or phrases with those that included images or alliteration/consonance.  An example is changing to "splashing and chlorine" for specific images and "diving for dimes" for alliteration.

I did well at keeping the flow going at the beginning with many strong verbs, nifty nouns, and consonance. I also like the ending about my mom; it brings the message back to who influenced me the most.  I need to improve on the flow in the middle -- it still needs specifics and consonance. 

I hope you like my poem so far.  I will be revising this again into another final draft.

Sincerely,

Ilene