Win Free Entry into Amy Paturel’s Essay Writing E-Course
This contest is hosted by Amy Paturel, who teaches our e-course Essay Writing: How to Find the Story in You — And Sell It.
For me, spring is all about re-birth and transformation. It’s a time to clean out the clutter (in my house and in my head!) and make space for new life and opportunities to shine through. But since this is a contest, I’m not interested in what spring means to me. I want to know what the season means for you! So … I’m calling on YOU (and all of your loved ones, friends, colleagues and enemies whom you choose to send this message), to tell me what you love about the season — or what you hate. It doesn’t really matter! Just share a little piece of yourself through the written word. It might be one or two sentences or one or two paragraphs — but it shouldn’t be longer than that! The person whose words touch me the most will get a free essay writing class (premium version) when the class starts up on May 3, 2010.
NOTE: All entries must be received by April 14. Please e-mail entries to amy [at] amypaturel.com.
If you liked that post, you might also like:
Apr 7, 2010 Writing
I live in Beijing, China. They burn coal all winter, which means the air stinks and we’re all running around coughing and hacking and trying to avoid going outside at all costs. But Spring: they’ve stopped burning coal, and for the next few weeks, we can breathe! We can stop dusting the baseboards every two hours. We can leave the house without wondering what mysterious chemicals we’re inhaling. Still, spring is all too short here – and this spring is my last in Beijing. I’m already packing up and getting ready to move on to Jordan for three years. So while I’m happy to be outdoors at last, I’m also feeling sad that it’s already time to say goodbye to the friends I’ve been carefully cultivating over the past few years. It’s going to be a short, strange, bittersweet season for me.
You don’t really know about the north if you don’t live there. Isolation, drugs, booze and worse “the others”. “Hell is other people” said Jean-Paul Sartre. It is true when you can’t escape them. Layers and layers of snow fall on the road and for weeks, sometimes months, you’re trapped. You can’t escape their eyes, their judgement, the only thing left to do is to lock yourself in.
Northern parts of the world see their suicide rate go up in the winter. People lock themselves in their houses and drink themselves into a life of chaos and misery. But they keep smiling, because the neighbors are watching. So Northerners don’t like summer as much as they like spring. The smell is bad, the ground is covered in sludge, but the snow is gone. They are free.
Just wanted to thank you for making us aware of this contest. I have been harboring some ill will regarding this Spring and now have the necessary course of action to express it. I may not win but everyone wins when they put a pen to it.
[...] blog is where I learned of Amy Paturel’s essay contest, which I entered last month, and won free entry to the e-course: Essay Writing: How to Find the [...]