Titled "Stolen Moments of Peace"

This is a photo from April 7, 2016. I'm not entirely sure if it has already been featured on this blog. I can tell you that the similarities between this photo two years ago and now are frighteningly similar. I still eat almond butter and banana on toast. I still have that MacBook Pro. I'm typing on it right now. I still use that NYX brush with another bottle of that NARS foundation. I still have that plastic tumbler from Starbucks and it's still what I use to drink water. I still use that coffee mug. We still have that plate.

It is alarming to me because I am frightened. I finished school last Friday. I'm looking for an internship right now. I've had two phone interviews and two in-person interviews. I walk away from every single one not knowing how I did. I tell the boy I am seeing that I do not think I make great first impressions. I'm not that charming. I think I am mostly shy and awkward around new people - but not in a cute Zooey Deschanel way. Just an awkward maybe-Aubrey Plaza way.

I'm worried that after a year of school, I am still not going to find a job. I am tired and so eager for a change of pace. I am ready for a change in my life. I want to try new things. I want new challenges. I have felt very stagnant the past three years since I finished my undergraduate degree. I'm concerned that I never feel confident after my interviews. I think I'm a hard worker and I become a very caring, sweet, considerate and friendly person. I'm worried that isn't capable of being shown in the little time interviews offer.

I don't know what I'm going to do. I am hoping for the best. I know I have people who believe in me. I know I have good work. It's just hard to convince myself not to be so scared. I emailed my professor after the interview a little freaked out. She replied, "Hang in there" and "If it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be (for now)."

What will be, will be. 

(They are some differences. I no longer use that makeup bag. I don't use that Too Faced powder anymore. I killed that succulent. I don't know what happened to that plush. The snowglobe is put away somewhere. Same with the notepad. I have a different MetroPass.)

Convocation nearly three years ago, June 2015

DRAFT

Below is the first draft of a piece of long copy. I really liked the imagery and the voice of this piece. Being able to write stuff like this, is kind of the reason why I went into copywriting. I want to be able to tell stories - powerful, moving and beautiful stories.

Describe your last experience of falling in love.  

You met your husband at age 22. It was a Saturday night outside of the university pub. You bumped into him because you weren’t paying attention and had one too many. You looked at him to say sorry. He smiled and then you lost your words. You fell in love. It was the first time.  

You lost your first job at age 24. You drove an hour and a half to sit at the beach and cry. You sat right by the water. Waves licked your toes. Sand tickled your skin. You watched the sun set. It hugged you as it left. You fell in love.  

You had your daughter at age 30. She wrapped her little hand around your finger. You whispered hello. You fell in love.  

You started painting again at age 40. You fell in love.  

Through a lifetime of falling in love, stumble into it again.

 My final submission did not look like this or sound quite the same. But I wanted to keep the first draft.

Dear Reader, let me know what you think. This is my favourite part of writing. I love creating imagery and feeling. How did I do? Can I sell you not just a product, but a lifestyle? The near-perfect life? A dream?

Personal Essay

Last Monday, I had to write a personal essay for a school application. The question asked who I was, what my story was, and why did it bring me here to this program. The essay was to be graded based on comprehension of task and storytelling ability as well as basic spelling and grammar.

The essay was handwritten in about 30 minutes. It was to be a page and a half, single-spaced.

Here is roughly what I wrote about:

• My name is Annie Chen and I am applying to the Copywriting program. 
• For so much of my life, I have written. It is my personal and academic life. It is the stack of black Moleskine journals sitting on my shelf. It is the countless hours sitting in plain, uninspiring old gymnasiums writing 3-hour exams for my political studies degree. 
• Writing is describing everything since I was 16. It is my first degree, my first heartbreak, my first time having sex, my first time living on my own. It is all the moments of joy but also wrinkled with tears. Some of my Moleskine journals are bursting at the seams, filled with personal anecdotes and movie stubs. 
• Writing is my political studies degree that I cannot even call a science. It is countless hours of writing in exam rooms, and watching the sun rise as I try to finish my next paper that does not include much bias. Political studies is arguing for a point, but it is not to show too much bias. It is to convince someone, but to do so without too harsh of an opinion. 
• I have struggled for almost two years since I graduated in June of 2015. I have struggled trying to rediscover my bias, my opinions, my passion. My political studies degree has stripped me of my bias. It has stripped me of the indignation and fire of the 16-year-old. I want my bias back. 
• What better way is there than advertising, where bias and persuasion is set and undeniable?

This is some of the points of my personal essay. I compared my personal writing to my academic writing. I talked about the bias present in my own writing and the bias that is supposed to be hidden in my academic writing. I talked about bias as a sense of direction, and one that I have since lost after being told that it cannot be shown. I say that I enjoy writing, and I want to rediscover it. I want to go to the Copywriting program. 

On February 15th, I was emailed my offer. Starting September 2017, I will be going back to school.