Mini Memoir: Slice of Your Life Adapted from Leap Write In! Adventures in Creative Writing by Karen Benke

Read the mini memoir below twice: once as a reader and once as a writer. As a reader, you let yourself experience the moment. Enjoy it. Soak it all in and let it wash you away. How does it make you feel? What does it make you think? Of what does it remind you?

As a writer, examine the craft. What is the tone and mood of the piece, and how did the author construct it? What tools did the writer use to reach and affect his/her readers? What literary tools and devices are present? Was the writer effective? How are the sentences constructed (syntax)?

Dares and Peer Pressure Through the white sun, Dawnie and I climb the path behind the house near the river. Down on the boat dock we place our towels side by side over the splintered planks. We slather Bain de Soleil suntan oil on each other’s backs and shoulders and feel the heat soak into our skin, before rolling over into the bone-chilling water. No one is around to tell us what to do. Our parents are at work, my sister playing up the road with Jodie Olsen. School won’t start for two more weeks. Dawnie looks over at me with that glint she sometimes gets before suggesting we do something sneaky. “Let’s try it, just once. So we’ll know it’s not for us.” She has logic on her side. I know what she’s referring to. We’ve talked about this. But I want to make her say it. “Try what?” “A cigarette!” “What if we get addicted?” I’m practical in my rule breaking. “One puff. How can we?” A water-skier passes behind a jet boat. Waves rock the dock. “My dad keeps his with him,” I explain. “We can find butts from his ashtrays.” “Eew, gross!” We roll back into the water. Our hair hangs like seaweed when we surface. Dawnie keeps her eyes closed. I stare at her dark lashes. We pull ourselves out and watch steam rise from where the water touches the boards of the dock. We wrap our towels around us, making them into sleeveless dresses. Up he rocky path past the stone bench where I like to sit after my parents are asleep, we hike… past the deck where we’ll pose for our last holiday photo, we climb. We hang out on the back steps until our bathing suits dry, then disappear through the sliding glass door into the empty house.

Your Turn! Share a slice of your life. Feel free to take what you loved as a reader and writer from the mentor text, and make this one your very own! Ideas: • Share about a time you snuck something with a friend. Wait to mention what was snuck until the end of your writing. Build to that reveal. • What do you consider a mistake? How do you know when you are making one? (Don’t answer the questions. Tell a story to show!) • What’s something you’ve done that you’d like to undo? • Where did you swim as a child? Take me there through your writing. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thanks for sharing a slice of your life!