Hello Reader!

When I first wrote the two pieces featured in this portfolio, I was going through a
variety of personal issues and exploring feelings that came along with those. At the time
I was in a personal headspace that I can only describe as a mix between self reflection,
curiosity, fear and depression. These pieces are more than just those feelings though.
They are in a sense my creativity, or my brain dumped out for those who are curious to
see its contents. I revised my works to highlight the strengths of my piece while keeping
a sense of those feelings in mind. After all they are a part of my authentic self, and there
is no use in masking that away.

The first piece I revised is called ‘Dad’s Leather Vest’ which is actually inspired by
a book I am currently writing. The original follows Parker, a young woman who loses
her father in an accident. While cleaning his house she reminisces about him and
childhood memories she had about the man. The main focus is a picture frame that
reminds her of the leather vest her father had. While I like this concept, for my revision I
wanted to try exploring this scene from an entirely different perspective. I decided to
write it as her childhood self discovering the vest and living the memory. I thought it
would be a different way to explore the scene, and I wanted to try using a sentence from
the original as a starting off point as well. By doing this, I had to change the language I
used and how I described certain things in the character's point of view.

Parker’s the type of character to notice things, but kids aren’t hyper descriptive
and they don’t think the way adults do. As I was writing Parker, I wanted to show both
of those. I also had to change the length of the piece a few times as well. I originally
wrote something much longer, but that draft seemed to drag things on and sounded too
mature, so I scrapped it and went for something shorter. I personally enjoy the shorter
moments because they feel more kid-like and authentic to me. Most of the kids I know
(especially my nephews) tend to be quick minded thinkers so I didn’t want to dwell on
things too much.

My second piece in this portfolio, ‘What You Gonna Do’ is a poem that borrows a
few lines from one of my favorite lines to tell a story. I have always been a fan of music
because there are some songs that contain such deep emotion that people can connect
too. In both the original and revised version, I include lines from the song ‘What You
Gonna Do’ by Hunter Hayes ft. Ashley Monroe. For the revised version of my piece, I
wanted to tell a different story yet with a similar theme. The stanzas are shorter to
reflect a different point of view, but I made sure to have four of them as a nod to my
original. A lot of my changes are mainly in theme and language. I wanted to write this
piece in the point of view of someone who has done a lot of self-reflection and recognizes
truths they had never thought of before. It is similar to the themes of the original piece,
but what separates the two is the language used (and the strength in emotion behind it.)

While I am currently satisfied with ‘What You Gonna Do,’ I am still on the fence
about ‘Dad’s Leather Vest.’ I love the idea of the scene, the emotions behind it and the
ways I have explored the scene, I just feel like there still isn’t enough substance to it yet.
I hope to include this piece in the novel I am writing, which is a murder-mystery
involving bikers, so I might revise it a bit as I continue working on my first draft. I am
glad that I revisited these pieces because overall I enjoyed working on them again. It’s
always nice to try something new.

Have a Great One!

Aislyne Olsen