THE 15 SENTENCE SELF-PORTRAIT Step 1: 15 Sentence Self Portrait This is an exercise to help you generate different types of ideas

when writing a paragraph. Step 2: This is a model of what the 15 sentence self-portrait should look like. Grey We had been father and son a long time ago. Then came the grey, sunny day that you left our home and moved in with another family. My heart was ripped from my chest that day, and part of it has never fully returned to me. I was as helpless as a goldfish on a frying pan and in as much invisible pain. I sat there as my mother told us that you were leaving, told us it had nothing to do with us, told us that it was a problem that Mommy and Daddy had between themselves and nothing at all to do with our childish quarrelling and bickering. But part of me didn't believe her. I wanted to cling to her and have her tell me it wasn't so, but I couldn't; I sat there, shivering in my school uniform, suddenly cold despite the heat of the afternoon, Florida sun coming in through the glass doors to the patio. I closed my eyes and wished for it to not be true--wished for this to be another adolescent nightmare that I would wake up from any moment--but knew it was not. Was this why we gave away our ailing dog recently, in preparation for a breakup that would rip apart all our lives? Hot tears trailed down my face to fall unheeded to my lap. I am not sure, to this very day, all the changes that happened to me then. You came home later, smelling of sweat and asking permission to shower before you left, left us all and the grey feeling of unreality continued on. I was as lost as a penguin in the Amazon. This wasn't fair. And in the grey blackness of the night, you left--our relationship forever changed. Step 3: Picture yourself in your mind. PREWRITING STEP 1 Step 4: For a title, choose an emotion or a color that represents you. You will not mention your name in the writing. Ex: Grey Step 5: For a first line starter, choose one of the following: You stand there... I think sometimes... No one is here... We had been... In this (memory, photograph, dream, or whatever) you are... The face is... After you choose a line starter, finish the sentence. EX: We had been father and son a long time ago. Step 6: Write a sentence with a color in it. EX: Then came the grey, sunny day that you left our home and moved in with another family. Step 7: Write a sentence with a part of the body in it. EX: My heart was ripped from my chest that day, and part of it has never fully returned to me. Step 8: Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as). EX: I was as helpless as a goldfish on a frying pan and in as much invisible pain. Step 9: Write a sentence of over twenty-five words. EX: I sat there as my mother told us that you were leaving, told us it had nothing to do with us, told us that it was a problem that Mommy and Daddy had between themselves and nothing at all to do with our childish quarrelling and bickering. Step 10: Write a sentence with less than eight words. EX: But part of me didn't believe her. Step 11: Write a sentence with a piece of clothing in it. EX: I wanted to cling to her and have her tell me it wasn't so, but I couldn't; I sat there, shivering in my school uniform, suddenly cold despite the heat of the afternoon, Florida sun coming in through the glass doors to the patio. Step 12: Write a sentence with a wish in it. EX: I closed my eyes and wished for it to not be true--wished for this to be another adolescent nightmare that I would wake up from any moment--but knew it was not. Step 13: Write a sentence with an animal in it. EX: Was this why we gave away our ailing dog recently, in preparation for a breakup that would rip apart all our lives? Step 14: Write a sentence in which 3 or more words alliterate; that is they begin with the same initial consonant: "She has been left lately with less and less time to think..." EX: Hot tears trailed down my face to fall unheeded to my lap. Step 15: Write a sentence with two commas in it. EX: I am not sure, to this very day, all the changes that happened to me then. Step 16: Write a sentence with a smell or a color in it. EX: You came home later, smelling of sweat and asking permission to shower before you left, left us all and the grey feeling of unreality continued on.

Step 17: Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as). EX: I was as lost as a penguin in the Amazon. Step 18: Write a sentence with a thought that could carry an exclamation point (but don't use the exclamation point). EX: This wasn't fair. Step 19: Write a sentence with a thought to end this portrait that uses the word or words you chose for a title. EX: And in the grey blackness of the night, you left--our relationship forever changed. Slide 20 Grey We had been father and son a long time ago. Then came the grey, sunny day that you left our home and moved in with another family. My heart was ripped from my chest that day, and part of it has never fully returned to me. I was as helpless as a goldfish on a frying pan and in as much invisible pain. I sat there as my mother told us that you were leaving, told us it had nothing to do with us, told us that it was a problem that Mommy and Daddy had between themselves and nothing at all to do with our childish quarrelling and bickering. But part of me didn't believe her. I wanted to cling to her and have her tell me it wasn't so, but I couldn't; I sat there, shivering in my school uniform, suddenly cold despite the heat of the afternoon, Florida sun coming in through the glass doors to the patio. I closed my eyes and wished for it to not be true--wished for this to be another adolescent nightmare that I would wake up from any moment--but knew it was not. Was this why we gave away our ailing dog recently, in preparation for a breakup that would rip apart all our lives? Hot tears trailed down my face to fall unheeded to my lap. I am not sure, to this very day, all the changes that happened to me then. You came home later, smelling of sweat and asking permission to shower before you left, left us all and the grey feeling of unreality continued on. I was as lost as a penguin in the Amazon. This wasn't fair. And in the grey blackness of the night, you left--our relationship forever changed.