Blog #10

When I first began this class I think my writing was very bland and un-descriptive. As I progressed through the class and completed the assignments, such as blog posts and commenting on blog posts, I became very aware of different places that my writing could be enhanced. I really liked the line, "Don't say it, show it." This greatly helped me in becoming more descriptive in my writing. Just looking back on my old assignments like the snapshot paper, I can tell a major difference and improvement in quality and description. My favorite assignment was the snapshot paper. I really enjoyed the fact that we were encouraged to think outside of the box and to be creative. It took a lot of stress out of the paper and allowed me to experiment with other writing styles. Then after the paper I was able to use the techniques that I learned in other assignments. I think the blog posts were very beneficial. I liked the fact that they were not all the same. I think the one in particular where we were assigned to create our own similes and metaphors was extremely helpful. A lot of times I found myself leaving out literary devices like similes and metaphors, but then after that assignment it encouraged me to go back and revise my other drafts and to add more style to them. The in class activity that I really got a lot out of was the one where we created 25 different titles. I enjoyed this activity because it allowed us to be creative but it also had a guide. I enjoy activities that encourage me to think outside of the box, but also has a guide so it wasn't like I was lost as to what to do. Then the feedback I was able to get back from fellow students was great. It allowed me to choose a more creative title and to not worry whether or not it was weird or awkward because I already had received feedback on it. I feel a lot better in regards to my writing in the future after taking this course. I think that my writing will be much more vivid and have more personality. I am a lot more confident in being creative and ensuring that I am being as descriptive as possible. I will also continue to use the idea of having multiple drafts. I think that the revision process was a great way to continue to improve on one assignment especially with having multiple people looking at the paper and giving feedback.

Blog #10

My writing style has definitely taken a turn for the better since I began this class. I used to look at writing as such a chore that I would put off until the last minute, but now when I think of writing a paper it is a little less painful. The feedback that I have received throughout the year has helped me tremendously in furthering my writing skills. Some of the most helpful exercises that we have discussed in class were the ones on brainstorming. I formed some of my best story lines for my papers when I sat down and came up with multiple ideas like we discussed in class. What I have learned from this class has given me more confidence to express myself through my words on paper. I have gained a lot of knowledge about grammar that I can now apply to my writing and make my paragraphs flow more smoothly. As I look back to how I viewed writing before I began this class, my perspectives have completely changed. Although I still couldn't see myself just sitting down and writing for the fun of it, I have matured in my writing abilities. I still have a lot more room for growth, but this class has definitely started my on my journey to becoming a better writer. 

Blog 10

My writing style has changed in a positive way over the course of the semester.  When I came into ENC1101 my writing skills were not necessarily the best writing skills a freshman in college could possess.  I was not the worst writer, but my writing lacked certain skills and characteristics that if I did have them my writing would be a lot stronger.  For example, what I mean by this is that I could show things rather than tell them.  I learned that using sensory details will add a lot of descriptive detail to your writing.  When using sensory details in your writing the reader will have an easier time drawing a picture of what is going on in their head.  It makes it a lot easier to understand and vision the writing as if it were real.  All of the workshops that we would do in class really made a difference in our writing.  The workshop allowed us to revise our peers papers in great detail.  We were really able to dissect the text in many different ways.  This class has been very beneficial to me as a writer.  I watched my writing gradually become better and better.  The things I learned this year in this class will help me for the rest of my writing career because I will take the things I learned this year and continue to utilize the techniques I have learned and I will also continue to use some of the workshop exercises we did.  My writing has become increasingly better after this semester.  I hope that I can continue to grow as a writer as I continue on with my college career.  

Blog #10

I definitely feel like my writing has changed significantly since I first started this class. I’ve seen my writing in a new light, or lights for that matter, from different perspectives because of my peers and constant analysis of others’ work. I think the fact that this class was so interactive between my peers and I, helped me expand my views on writing. Also, allowing me to see different writing styles of not only myself, but others as well, has helped me grow not only as a writer, but as a reader as well. I learned a lot about how to stay focused on one specific topic in a paper and how point of view effects a piece significantly. I think getting other people to edit and analyze my piece opened my eyes to new forms of writing and how even small things can alter a piece. The article assignment interests me greatly because I found a lot of information I was interested in and putting it all together was difficult but it truly tested my skills. For the short story assignment, I discovered writing fiction is probably my strong suite. Before this class, I thought I was a pretty strong writer but now, I feel like I still need a lot of work. In the future, I’ll always be sure to have someone else proof read and catch the mistakes I can’t see on my own. I feel like all the assignments for this class definitely made me look into myself for my inner creativeness and also my thoughts and interests and getting comfortable enough to share that with others.

Blog #10 - Oliver Hamlin

     I feel that my writing style has definitely changed since the beginning of the year. While writing has always been a strength of mine, the assignments from this class have helped me expand my horizons with how I write narratives and communicate ideas in a formal setting. Prior to this class, I primarily only wrote for academic purposes. The short story assignment of this class really made me discover my creative thought process for writing a story. I discovered that I enjoy writing about science fiction and drama the most because I feel they have the most potential of having gripping plot twists and climaxes when meshed together. I definitely think that this class has improved my confidence in writing, which in turn has allowed my writing to be less form-fitting to academic formats and more free to explore creative and less structured styles.
     While the feature article assignment was structured, I was able to do it with subject matter that interested me greatly: the history of DJing. I learned that using a subject I enjoy with an academic assignment can have my writing be more engaging and interesting to the reader. Overall, I can say I have discovered that my writing that comes out of enjoyment always turns out better than writing that is mandated on boring subject matter.

Blog 10

My writing style I think for the most part stayed the same. But what changed is how I approach certain tasks in writing. I feel like I write with better detail now because of the snapshot project. That really made me focus on extensive detail when writing about even the smallest things. Also approaching how to expand on certain situations, now I think about the five senses every time I want to describe a certain scene. Also a helpful learning experience was the revising aspect of the class. In high school the teacher would make you write 2 drafts max, most of the time we just wrote one. This class made me write 3 drafts, and do some revising of my own. This helped me understand that a first draft doesn't have to be good to write a great paper, it's how you expand and build off of your ideas that makes you write your best.

What I enjoyed most about the writing assignments in this class is the diversity. The Snapshot project involved extreme detail, the feature article showed what it would be like to write/design a magazine and the short story was more about being creative and evolution of your characters. Each assignment was very different and I enjoyed that, because it showed me where my strengths and weaknesses were and helped to fix them.

Blog 10

The most outstanding thing this course has taught me is to be more meticulous about what I am writing. In my highschool career, my papers where governed by my internal mantra, “You already wrote it. Just leave it alone.” Though the teaching of Ms Sarah Marshall, and unrelenting feedback from my peers, I can say with complete confidence that this course is the most I have learned about writing and communication since elementary school.

    In the Snapshots assignment, I found myself vomiting words all over the paper. Nothing was telling me that it needed to be changed. I simply typed what my brain told me to in whatever order it happened to appear in my mind, often times sloppy and unprofessional. This course has served as a motivator and a steroid to my writing.

“In that moment, I was exposed to a completely new sound that blew me away, that rude, macho, guitar, the tribal rhythm that sprung from the drums, the bass guitar that thundered with every pluck, and those voices that twisted, intertwined, and supported each other. If you talk to middle aged men about their favorite music, most of the names would sound like something a diviner would read out of her ancient spell book. That feeling when you encounter that first song that changes your life. No, I do not mean that song that you like for a month and a half and claim “changed your life” because you like the hook. I mean that song that if you had not have heard it, you would be a very different person. That song for me was “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream.”

That colossal mess was from the second draft of my Snapshots project. It seems to have a theme, but no particular structure. Looking at a more recent writing, the improvements in structure and meaning seem to lend themselves as evidence, such as this piece from my Short Story.

“I don’t care about this awful job, and I don’t care about you!” a woman screamed as she threw a plate against the drywall. “Honey, please. You know how important I am down at the Bureau. Isn’t that what you wanted? To marry a successful man?” Felix said pleadingly. “I wanted to marry a successful man, not a man who spend more time making love to his boss than me!” Another plate shattered. Felix spoke as he ducked. “Please, Christine, don’t do this. I can scale back my hours!” “Ohhhh, it’s too late for that. It’s been too late for that for two years!” Christine pulled a suitcase from under their bed and began filling it with clothes. “You can keep the house. You can keep the china. You can keep everything.” She screamed as she pulled a blue sundress from the dresser. “I am going to my mother’s.” The front door slammed. She was gone.

Although I would not consider it a professional work by any stretch of the word, it does seem to flow better, keep the reader involved as opposed to jumped randomly between ideas.