Blog 10

Blog 10

I have never been asked what my writing style is until this assignment. Throughout high school my writing was always very bland and contained the bare minimum to get the desired grade. My papers have always lacked vivid detail to make them enjoyable to read. The first time I realized I was actually able to create a work with vivid detail was when I wrote my first draft of the snapshots paper. I found this to be the most helpful assignment I did this semester. This exercise really helped me step out of my comfort zone with certain things. I never would have thought to write a paper about myself in anything but the first person and when I changed to the third person it turned an average story into a great one. I think this class will help me in the future because I will be more willing to try new things that will help me create the best possible paper. I am very pleased with the progress I have made in this semester alone with my writing. I look at this semester as a base for my future writing and I’m excited to use what I’ve learned in future classes.

blog #10

I think as I writer I have many different styles. Throughout the course of the semester this class has helped me improve my writing in many ways. I don't believe my style's of writing have changed at all however I do believe I have improved from the beginning of the course. Some of the most helpful exercises in the class in my opinion were the workshops that we would do after every rough draft was due. These were very helpful in many ways because they would point out flaws in my writing as well as positives in it. Another thing that I believe were very beneficial were the short assignments. These helped as well because they work on the little things and all help out for the big picture (main assignment). Looking back at my first blog I believe I have worked on my biggest issue a lot and although it may slightly be a problem still I feel I have definitely improved on it a lot and it is no longer as big of an issue.

Blog #10

Before this class, I never gave any serious thought to what my writing style was. I realized as the course went on, that my style was a very simple and direct one. Unfortunately, this often led me to some very dry assignments. I can plan out the entire story in my head, but forget to include the small details that make the story worth reading. This has definitely been my greatest improvement throughout this course. I've learned to not only stick with and develop a good idea, but how to relate it to a certain writing category or situation.

I think these blogs have been one of the most helpful tools that we have used during the semester. They allow us to write a smaller, more concise version of what we have in our heads. We have much more freedom of expression in these blogs than we do in many larger literary works. They have allowed me to test certain writing styles that I otherwise would not have tried because of the type of work that is being asked for.  

At the beginning of the class, my biggest concern was whether or not I would have enough material to fill in the assignments that I had to do. My next concern was if I had enough meaningful material to fill in my works. I could write pages of nonsense, loosely tied together, with no real meaning or purpose, but that would defeat everything that I have tried to work for in this class. That has been one of my greatest improvements. Although I still have a lot of work left, I have noticed an improvement in the depth of my writing and the detail that I am able to incorporate into it.

Blog #10

In this class, I learned many techniques and tools that I never learned in high school.  One significant tool I learned that genuinely makes me appreciate writing more, instead of dreading the idea of it, is not writing just to receive that A.  In other words, this class has taught me to write in a manner that makes me care about the quality of my work instead of the quantity.  Each sentence matters in any writing because you do not want to distract the reader from the main argument or central theme.  In high school, I used to write for my teacher and what I believed he or she would like so I would receive a good grade.  Instead of doing this, I essentially focus on making sure my ideas are being understood and comprehended by the reader.  The workshops for our drafts really helped me develop this implement in my writings.  Hearing what other students had to say about my works helped me understand exactly what people were comprehending from my writings.  The different ways we analyzed and commented on others' writings was a major tool in helping my writing become better.    

blog#10

I feel like this class taught me a lot and really helped me understand that there is more than one form of writing when it comes down to writing papers. I kind of felt like it was hard in the beginning but I eventually picked up my paste and took in more from what the lessons was trying to teach. I actually enjoyed writing different papers because in some of them I got a chance to be myself and actually tell someone else about my life experiences.

blog 10

I found the executive summaries to be really helpful for me.  Each time I wrote a draft, the summaries helped me realize what worked for the writing and what didnt.  It helped me acknowledge what I needed to do differently or what I needed to add to my writing.  It was a good way to move forward with my paper and have goals to accomplish with my writing.
I found the second major assignment,  writing an article, to be challenging because I had to really consider my audience and what they knew/didn't know.  I was more conscious of the tone and facts I gave than I have ever been before. Although wasn't my favorite assignment,  it was definitely helpful with finding a voice that is good for the audience.

Blog #10

      I feel like this class has definitely helped define me as a writer. What I've found throughout all of my papers this semester, is that I have a very casual and conversational tone to my writing. I tend to make my writing seem as though I'm talking directly to the reader, which I guess has worked for me. I know that my common struggle throughout this class has been the concept of "showing, not telling." I have worked very hard in trying to overcome this problem. I often times still struggle with it, but the fact that I know how to correct it, and recognize when I'm doing it, shows that I have learned a lot throughout this course. Another concept that I've tried to overcome throughout this class is the idea of cliches. Throughout high school, my teachers never really talked about cliches, so the fact that I now know that I should steer away from them is a good thing. Every single time I've written a paper for this class, I feel as though I've improved. Each time, I think about the things that we've been taught not to do, and the things that we've been taught to do, and it's definitely helped me in the long run. I think that as a writer, I like to write things about my personal life, or at least base them off of my life. For instance, with my snap shots I obvious based it off my life, but for the article and short story, I took personal experiences, or second hand experiences that my friends have gone through, and put them into words. This class has definitely been an awesome experience, and I feel as though I've improved a lot.

Blog 10

My writing has changed a lot since I've started writing for this class.  I've learned to use a lot more detail in my writing and I am now able to show instead of tell.  The workshops help a lot for me when we are working on our drafts because it allows me to have a different perspective on my own writing.  A lot of the times when I write I tend to just stick with my first draft because I get attached, but with the workshops it allows me to get feedback on what I have written and expand and change my writing for the better.  The writing I have done in this class will help me in my future writings a lot, causing me to express my views differently.  I still have trouble starting my papers, but now it is easier because once I have my topic I just dig into the information instead of beating around the bush as I used to.

Blog #10

There are many things that define me as a writer. This class has helped me determine exactly what my strengths and weaknesses as a writer are. I think that some of the exercises that have improved my writing the most from this class are the smaller assignments. Whether we were doing an exercise in class to practice making good titles or developing a good setting, or a mini assignment to help with the construction of our papers I think they helped me the most. These assignments allowed me to fully focus on the concept at hand and improve my skills in one area. After I have learned how to use these concepts to my full potential, I would then be able to apply these skills in my big papers. I definitely have different aspects on certain writing techniques that I did not before. Being my first college writing course, this class challenged me to new levels not previously attained in high school but also wasn't too overwhelming to fathom.

Blog #10

I think my writing has evolved a lot during this semester. First of all, when I was in high school in Switzerland, we didn’t do that much writing. My classes were in French, so most of the writing I did was in French and I only wrote essays either on a given sentence or on a book. The rest of the writing was in German and English but again, everything I wrote in English was only some essays of three to four pages focused on books we read during the year.

That explains why I wrote in my first blog that “writing is still not a pleasure, I do it because I have to do it for class. I think I do not enjoy it yet because I struggle to find good ideas and put them in a convincing manner on the paper. Even though I sometimes impress myself with some sentences and feel very satisfied once the work is finished I feel more constrained than free. I write too much for the person that is going to read me and worry too much about the comments”.

I enjoyed a lot the writing we did this semester because even though we had some guidelines on what to write, I felt that I was still very free to write about anything that interested me. The nice thing about writing about what interests me is that ideas come much more quickly and they are a lot better, I feel much more inspired that I was in high school. That is one of the main reasons that made me enjoy writing a lot more that I did before.

The most important thing that I am going to take for the future is detail. I remember a text that we read which said that a good text is saying something in the shortest length possible but still including a lot of details. That means that all the unnecessary sentences shouldn’t be in the text. It happened that I had some unnecessary sentences and not enough descriptions in my text. Now I realize how important this is. I pay much more attention to adding a lot of details and make the scene feel real for the reader.

Blog- #10

I feel like this class has really helped me with writing and understanding writing a whole lot, well sometimes I may say different iguess that's when I wasn't feeling the class and I never gave it a chance. I actually learned many things that are going to be more useful for future my projects, classes,I think this class really helped me learn how to get along with other people, this class really helped me come out of my shell when I'm writing and to start expressing myself a lot more, then again that took a lot of stress off of me because I can write my problems in someone can actually read it and some may be able to relate. I feel like I really came along way because of this class we wrote about our life story till now and after that story I feel I just vented out everything I needed to. Even though I do feel like I am the same type of writer as I was before I took this class, I am certain that I am now a much different reader, gaining more focus for styles. But I really use to hate reading Overall, I enjoyed this class very much, not only from what I learned but because of the fact that it lightened the me and my focus and brightened my future, even though my schedule is busy but this gives me much room to something a little more fun.

Blog X- Hewitt

I feel like this class has not been a waste of time, as most might say. I actually feel like I learned many things that are going to be more or less useful for future projects, classes, or potential work. I think this class really helped me learn how to get along with other people, given the fact that we are in such small, intimate groups. We learned how to give each other positive and constructive feedback with peer-response, and really learn how to utilise this information to improve our own/others' work. I feel like just the size of classroom was the "exercise" that was most helpful, as we were given the opportunity to work with each other more or less one on one to really understand what the other was trying to tell us. Although I do feel like I am more or less the same type of writer as I was before I took this class, I am fairly certain that I am now a much different reader, gaining more focus for styles, devices, and techniques. Overall, I enjoyed this class very much, not only from what I learned and experienced, but because of the fact that it lightened the concrete-subject-heaviness of my schedule to something a little more fun.

Blog 10

This class has shown me that writing is not all about getting the facts on paper, but setting the stage for said facts and allowing the reader to be within the writing. Through reading narratives and articles, I understand the importance of detail and how every sentence should be used to further get the point across, and not just as filler. My writing has changed from writing down as much as I can to fulfill requirements, and now writing down what is important, to make for better writing overall. I can tell my writing has changed from my very first blog post not only from the world that has come to live around me, but from the examples that I have seen in this class. The opportunity to be able to read writings that contain explicit detail help me as a writer to have my writings resemble these details. This can help me in the future because I’ll be able to use the detail techniques from this semester combined with my experiences of later semesters to write fulfilling pieces, and not just length fulfilling. 

blog 9

Since my short story is about a girl dreaming, I would like the ending to be of her waking up.  How she wakes up, however, is variable.  I originally have it that she feels at peace and closes her eyes to way up on her own, but I guess I could include other reasons why she wakes up.
1.  Her alarm clock goes off, and she is confused and groggy when she first wakes up.  I could describe the moments of her sitting up in bed and reflecting upon her dream and smiling or laughing or heavy breathing.  She writes down the events of her dream and then turns of her alarm. 
2.  Before waking up, her cousin standing next to her tells her that she is dreaming, although she already knows it.  She also learns about how much her family misses her, and they have a long deep discussion about family.  When the girl eventually wakes up she realizes that the dream had a purpose, and she now knows that she needs to make more of an effort to reach out to her family.
3. Or I could have the dream come to a sudden height, such as the shadow man coming back for her. 

She and her two cousins exit the car and stand at the lakeside.  It is now night time and the air is warm and humid.  There is no longer snow or pink flower petals anywhere to be seen.  Instead, the girl focuses her attention on the millions of stars littering the black night sky.  The lake at her feet is still like glass and catches the light of the stars on its surface.  A cool breeze blows and the only sound she hears is the light waves rolling onto the shore.  The girl is filled with a sublime warmth in her heart and she is happy.
Her happiness comes to a quick halt when someone grabs her shoulder from behind.  She looses her breath as she whips her head around to see who is grabbing her.  It is the shadow man, back for revenge.  Her first instinct is to try to flee and run away, but the shadow man only stares at her.
Being so close to her face, the girl is able to make out an impression of the shadow mans face.  Although she cannot see every detail, she can make out a soft round nose and rosy cheeks that are shadowed by the hood of his cloak.  Driven by curiosity, the girl slowly reaches her hand toward his face.  He takes a step back just as her finger tips touch his cold clammy skin. 
"Don't be afraid," he tells her "I am only here to give you a message."
The girl thinks about how afraid she is, despite his reassurance.  I mean...you did chase me around town so yeah you're scaring me...
The shadow man holds out his arm, draped in the black cloak he wears.  His hand outstretches from the fabric and his pale white veiny hand holds a pocket watch with a gold chain attached to it. 
"For you," he states "because you seem to have lost track of it."
The girl puts her palm under the mans hand and he slowly releases his grip on the pocket watch.  The body of the watch plumps into the girls palm and the gold chain slithers like a snake through the mans fingers into the bed of the girls hand.
"I don't understand..." she stutters
"You will." the shadow man whispers
Her eyes open and a white ceiling stares back at her.  She sits there for a moment, reflecting upon the awakening of reality.  She turns her head to the right and reads the red numbers on the digital clock: 3:27.  She still has hours left to sleep.  She sits upright, leaning her body onto her right elbow.  She grabs the pen and journal from her nightstand and opens the book to the newest blank page.
December 17, 2074
I dreamt I was a young lady.  I was in the beauty of my home town, with my good friends, and I even got to see my favorite family members.  Oh how I wish I didn't take those years for granted... where has the time gone?

Blog Post #9

Different Endings

1) The typical "fairy-tale" ending.
After a disagreement and time apart, the two characters realize that the two do mean something to each other. I would probably throw in something that was relevant throughout the story or a phrase that was used to bring the time back to when the two first met or happier times, reminding the two characters of good memories and times that the two had and will have in the future.

2) What does the audience think is best for the characters... Audience gets to create their own ending.
After everything that happened at the football game, which includes the yelling and fighting and constant drowning of emotion, I had to ask myself and him, where do we go from here?
*change in point of view to other character*
I never expected this weekend to go like it had. From being thrown into the biggest game of the season to seeing and questioning what exactly I wanted with Lena. We fought, we yelled, we didn't know what to do. I don't know what she was thinking now or before or ever basically but she was there when I needed her the first time and when I needed her the last time. I can't stop thinking about how this has been the best and/or worst weekend thus far. Where are we gonna go from here?

3) The two characters decide to go separate ways. Contradictory to typical "love story" endings.
Rather than going along with the normal and routine ending of the "love story," the two characters realize that what they had, might not be enough at that time or point of their lives. This type of ending could lead to another short story of where the two characters realize they made the biggest mistake of their lives but that sounds too much like Nicholas Sparks' "The Best of Me" ...

Blog 9

#1

Connor's obsessive ways are beginning to get worse as he is essentially stalking Kellie around the house to the point she is becoming nervous. She knows what he is doing and tries to stay with someone at all times scared of what he may do if he gets to be with her alone. I turn to Dylan and Will noticing what is going on and we begin to think of a way to stop it. He is one of our best friends but what he is thinking about doing won't go well for anyone. It will cause serious issues between all of us. "Yo, we have to figure out a way to get him away from her, he's drunk and gonna do something bad. I know it." "I'll go find him and say something to him, it'll only cause problems if you go up to him Dylan, he knows you are into her and all that will happen is he'll snap on you maybe even try to fight you." I quickly responded to Dylan. After I leave the conversation to find Connor, we all quickly hear a scream, it was Kellie. We ran over to the kitchen where no one was besides the two of them, Connor tried forcing her into going upstairs to a room with him as well as tried making out with her. Dylan was the first one there and pulled Connor off of her. Quickly realizing who was grabbing him Connor swung at Dylan. For the second time of the night they were about to begin fighting, except this was worse. They were both angrier and neither would stop. It took several of us to grab the two off of each other. We all decided to bring the two into a separate room. No one was about to let this ruin our time and forcing them to make up and forget about Kellie. She was the source of all these issues and we had to stop it.

#2

Connor's obsessive ways are beginning to get worse as he is essentially stalking Kellie around the house to the point she is becoming nervous. She knows what he is doing and tries to stay with someone at all times scared of what he may do if he gets to be with her alone. I turn to Dylan and Will noticing what is going on and we begin to think of a way to stop it. Before we can even say a word Dylan walks away. "I got this" He said. His feelings for Kellie have grown stronger now that they finally hooked up and he seems like he is interested in going back for more with her. They just fought over this and agreed they would both leave her be and put the issue to rest. Neither of them went through with their promise and are both after her again. Dylan finds Kellie alone before Connor notices her and take her back to the room. Connor looking out for Kellie realizes she is gone. He storms upstairs to find them walking into a room. Barging through the door Connor looks at Dylan in disbelief that he would do this to him again.

#3

Connor and Dylan are men of their words. They patch things up and let the night continue with no issues. Neither of them would even look at Kellie to keep themselves from wanting to go to her. This is how the house should have been. Yeah they fought but maybe it was something needed to wake them both up and realize they were wrong and not being good friends to each other.

Blog #9

#1
Oliver and I were very worried. We had been sitting on the counter watching things fly in the trash or in the beast's mouth every 5 seconds. Who knew when it would be our turn. Almost right as I thought that, I was scooped up and dropped down. It felt like I was falling for a century when finally I smacked the hardwood. The beast cautiously approached me when something took both of us by surprise. Oliver had been thrown down to the floor with me and had just landed. His shape allowed him to roll on the hardwood and the beast saw him as a bigger threat than me. Quickly, the beast pranced away from me and grasped Oliver in his paws. Oliver let out a squeal. I was worried for my friend, but I am afraid he is no longer functioning. Just like the pizza said the beast ripped him every which way until he was done with him. Approaching slowly, the beast came back to examine me again. By the time he made it back to where I was laying, he was preoccupied with something else that fell on the floor. The hands realized this and picked me up and took me to plan B: the trash. Quietly, I sat as I was smashed in the bottom of the bag alone with no one to talk to. That was just until my cheese stick friends joined me of course.

#2
We smacked the countertop as the hands put us down. Anxiously, we waited until the hands would make a decision of what they would like to do. Foods all around us were being thrown to the beast and thrown in the trash. At this point anything but the beast option seemed reasonable to us. Until we determined our fate. We were placed on a wooden board next to many other chopped up veggies: peppers, carrots, tomatoes, they were all there. None of them said anything due to the fact that they had just been previously chopped into hundreds of little pieces. I thought to myself, "This doesn't look good." I couldn't find the words to say anything to Oliver before we both went. We were both so in shock that we didn't know how to react. Before I knew it, Oliver was in a chamber repetitively slicing up and down until the only thing left was many different slices of onion on the board. I was next, this was the end. I closed my eyes and waited for everything to go black.

#3
Food was being thrown left and right. It looked like a middle school food fight in the kitchen. We were waiting for our fate to be determined on the counter. The hands came by and scooped both, Oliver and I up from our resting positions. To our surprise, they did not take us to the trash or back to the fridge. The hands placed us in the sink and turned the water on. It was a very refreshing feeling, having water run through all of my leaves. There were other foods in there as well, all fresh foods. We were washed and then placed in a secluded area of the counter away from all of the madness. From this vantage point, we watched everything go down. All of the rumors told by the pizza slice were confirmed in a matter of seconds. The beast was tearing everything in its way up. The hands threw foods in every which direction. When the hands settled down and started putting things away, we were left on the counter. I remember thinking that we made it past judgement day, but we didn't make it past judgement day dinner. However, after a couple hours, the hands returned and noticed us. Ready for wherever the hands would take us, we were brought bake to home. Finally, those big doors that let in so much light were delivering us back into the refrigerator. We had survived. But now Oliver and I had to deal with all the new foods and knowing we would be one of the first two to go.

Blog #9

Blog #9: Overcast tried different endings for his story “Brambles” before he decided on the right one; Ernest Hemingway wrote thirty-nine endings before finding the one he decided was best. For your story, write three different endings, each one showing, in some way, how your main character has been changed by the action in the story. Think about what is resolved and what is left unresolved with each ending. Then ask yourself what really needs to happen, emotionally, to your character by the end. In each ending, have the main character’s emotional needs truly ben addressed, or have you simply tied up some loose ends the reader doesn’t care about? Just consider these ideas, but all you need to write in your post is the three different endings.

Ending #1: “Hey, you,” he said in his sweet voice as he brought his hand up to cup my cheek, his thumb running along the curve of my cheekbone. I nestled closer into his strong hand, never wanting to leave this moment of relief and love. Josh leaned in, lips parting, and kissed my forehead. He pulled away and grabbed my hand and whispered, “lets get out of here,” and right then I knew this moment was better than any fortune teller could have predicted.

Ending #2: "Hey, you," he said in his sweet voice that I had come to love in just these few short weeks. I felt his thumb run along the curve of my cheekbone and into the my hair as he pulled my head closer. I nestled into his strong chest, never wanting to leave this moment of relief and love. Josh leaned in, lips parting, and kissed my forehead. He pulled away and grabbed my hand and whispered, "Im sorry Anna. I have figured it out. I have figured out how to be happy. With myself and life. And I can't do that knowing I destroyed your marriage." He stepped away, looked deep into my ocean blue eyes and turned without saying another word.

Ending #3: "Hey, you," he said in his sweet voice as he brought his hand up to cup my cheek, his thumb running along the curve of my cheekbone. Although every inch of my body wanted to nestle closer into his strong embrace, I knew deep down that if i truly loved Josh what I had to do, and putting him through a lifetime of running and hiding from Harrison was not that. I pulled away and whispered, "I'm sorry, John." Confusion spread across his ocean blue eyes so I continued, "It was wrong to leave Harrison and I realize that now. I've figured out now who I love and it's not you." I turned away before the sight of Josh's hurt face would make me tell him the truth. A life of running by myself was better than putting the man I love in danger.