Final Exam Nanowrimo

Julia Amos

Period 8

6/18/15

English

Context and Reflection

For my final exam, I decided to revise a piece of my Nanowrimo story, which is from the point of view of a cat. I chose to use this piece because it had a lot of GUMS errors and had room for improvement (I kept messing up the point of view), and hopefully all of that is fixed now.

The Piece

The next morning Katlyn awoke to the heavy tapping of rain on the window. She looked at the clock. It was eight in the morning. She stretched out and hopped down the stairs to the kitchen. The lack of noise confused her, as normally Mrs.Constance-Marie would be running around, making food for herself.

    Right as she stepped off the last step, her stomach turned. Mrs.Constance-Marie was on the floor, her arms over her stomach. A bowl of sick was next to her and she groaned, leaning over it. Horrified, Katlyn ran into the kitchen and dragged a bowl of soup off the counter over to her.

    “Thank you, Katlyn. I’ll be fine. Now go outside and chase some birds or something,” the old woman whispered.

    Trusting her owner, Katlyn pushed open the door and walked out. The horrid smell was back, and with it the man in the giant truck. Not wanting to see him again, she walked the other way towards the park by the end of the road. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a squirrel. Distracting herself from the truck, she slowly turned toward it and hunched down. Every few seconds she would take a step closer to it, hoping that the gray fur ball would be hers for the taking. A second later, Katlyn saw the squirrel turn away from her and look at the tree, so she took her chance. She pounced reaching her long claws out to it and she felt fur under her as she landed. The creature squirmed but she dug her claws into it, making it squeak. After a few more frantic seconds, it stopped moving.

    She walked back to her front porch, triumphantly holding her prize between her teeth. This was the first catch she had made in about three weeks. Katlyn slowly got up and pushed the door open with her head. Her owner was still sitting in the same place, but now pointing to the television.

 About The Author
I am Julia Amos, a 7th grader on the Fire Ants team at Dewitt Middle School.  I have definitely improved my writing a lot since last year. In 6th grade I could only use basic vocabulary and had poor grammar, whereas this year I have learned a lot more vocabulary and I’m better at using figurative language. I have also improved on not switching between past and present tense or first and third person.