How I have improved my skills
1. Explain one or two ways your writing has improved over the semester. Include a few examples from your posts over time, with analysis, to illustrate how the improvement(s) happened.
When I started blogging, I didn't really know how or what to write about. It wasn't till my 3rd blog post where I understood blogs. After my 3rd post I started to listen to music and it gave me ideas about what to write about. Music changed my mood, and it helped me write more and I was happy so my writing was better, in my view. I believe my skills were improving based on others opinions. Also, the other goal I made for my posts, and writing in general, is think about the reader. I needed to write about something more interesting and pick topics that would grab peoples attention, even in titles, no one is going to want to read a blog post titled BLOG. It sounds boring and does not grab attention. Because the readers are the people who are going to be commenting or grading, it makes more sense to think of some thing they would want to read. I still keep my own style but change little things after proofreading it.
I do get writers block, but what helps me a lot is music, because when I'm at home doing a blog post, I am listening to music, so I just change songs, which puts me in different moods. For example, Vampire Weekend, an alternative band which makes me feel good , it's really upbeat music; so are The Wombats, a British band, which my friends introduced me to. Both of those bands are good mood setters, so they are mainly the only bands I listen to while writing. I think it brings me to remember happy memories, so I write about that. I don't find it a distraction unless I am singing along or listening to it loud. I get a lot of my music from my two friends, Stephen Rhodes and Chris Maier, they both blog about music a lot. That is the first way I get unstuck, and if that doesn't work, which is not often. I go eat, go on facebook and watch television, and about half-an-hour later, I should have some fresh ideas because I had 30 minutes to think. And sometimes when I'll do something, and an idea will just pop in my head. This always works for me, and I've actually used it this year because I have run out of ideas.
When I started blogging, I didn't really know how or what to write about. It wasn't till my 3rd blog post where I understood blogs. After my 3rd post I started to listen to music and it gave me ideas about what to write about. Music changed my mood, and it helped me write more and I was happy so my writing was better, in my view. I believe my skills were improving based on others opinions. Also, the other goal I made for my posts, and writing in general, is think about the reader. I needed to write about something more interesting and pick topics that would grab peoples attention, even in titles, no one is going to want to read a blog post titled BLOG. It sounds boring and does not grab attention. Because the readers are the people who are going to be commenting or grading, it makes more sense to think of some thing they would want to read. I still keep my own style but change little things after proofreading it.
My past work wasn't that good compared to my present work, I've made many improvements in my writing. One major change is organizing. In my beginning post I put everything together and it wasn't very organized. But presently, I've been putting paragraphs in my writing. Another thing I was bad at was proofreading for errors. Here's an example; "well,i like taking vacations, and trips.I'm actually taking a trip to L.A. this weekend, so i have to write before i leave. i am going to a off road event, the orange county fairgrounds will be full of sand rails, and dirt bike, and trucks. i am interested in all of this. then i am going to Disney land for my sisters birthday, and i am really excited for California screaming, every time Ive been there, i was too little or scared but i came over my fear and now i love roller coasters,". I use to not proofread, and try to finish fast. As you can see, I made many mistakes and used comma's too many times. An example of my present work is this whole blog minus that old post piece. I've had my friends read my work, and they said they have even seen improvements in most areas. It really helps when I get my friends to help proofread because they are not afraid to say if it's really bad or it means more to me when my friend says I did good, because I know they are not lying.
7. What have you learned from your struggles with writer's block? Why do you tend to get stuck? How do you tend to get unstuck? Notice any patterns?
I do get writers block, but what helps me a lot is music, because when I'm at home doing a blog post, I am listening to music, so I just change songs, which puts me in different moods. For example, Vampire Weekend, an alternative band which makes me feel good , it's really upbeat music; so are The Wombats, a British band, which my friends introduced me to. Both of those bands are good mood setters, so they are mainly the only bands I listen to while writing. I think it brings me to remember happy memories, so I write about that. I don't find it a distraction unless I am singing along or listening to it loud. I get a lot of my music from my two friends, Stephen Rhodes and Chris Maier, they both blog about music a lot. That is the first way I get unstuck, and if that doesn't work, which is not often. I go eat, go on facebook and watch television, and about half-an-hour later, I should have some fresh ideas because I had 30 minutes to think. And sometimes when I'll do something, and an idea will just pop in my head. This always works for me, and I've actually used it this year because I have run out of ideas.
Writers blog is very popular among young writers especially in high school, I've heard many teenagers talking about how they get writers block. I don't really notice any patterns in this problem or my solutions, the only thing I can think of that would cause this is having to write about something with no topic or writing all you know about something, but blogs are cool in that sense because we can change subjects, and if we look online, there are millions of different topics to write about. I find that the when I do get writers block, it is frustrating because I want to finish so I try to hurry up and find or think of an idea, unless I'm doing the thirty minute break, because sometimes, I'm in a hurry or I have a time period to finish it. In school, when we are at the computer lab, I do have time, but not enough time to get writers block and take thirty minutes off so I need to be a little bit quick if I want to finish in school.
8. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?
Blogs have changed my style in writing by making me think more about what I'm writing. I'm still going off the top of my head unless I'm copying a Quickwrite, but I'll think about how to revise my thoughts before I write it down. I do like blogs for the most part; It makes me remember the good times. Also, one cool thing about blogs is I will have them forever. They are always on google documents and blogger, so as long as I can remember my account and password, I'll be able to access them. Also, I like being able to read and get to them from any computer, because of google documents, it is my favorite feature. It is nice to get comments on what I am writing on, its cool to see others peoples commentary, and it's good to hear criticism because it's a good way to improve on my writing. If everyone just said I did good, I wouldn't change my writing or know how to.
It hasn't really changed the way I think, besides making me write more informative for the reader, and looking for topics that some one would find interesting. I do think about blogs a little different since I have started, I take more time in them now, and it shows, or at least I think so. I also think about it for another reason, I'll have it forever, possibly, so I should try harder. In years from now if I look at these post, I don't want to think I could have tried harder, and I didn't put enough effort in blogging. I want to be proud and also, want to read them all, there is already 16, and I'm only going to write more, so it is almost like a small book. So far, this has been my biggest blog, and I've enjoyed writing about this because I can change subjects by answering another question. This is the end of my evaluational final.
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