Blogging this semester allowed me to practice writing in a more personal style that I haven’t really gotten to use in an academic setting before, except in my college essay and some supplementals. It was an interesting journey of discovering my voice as a writer and how I can use my voice to create an effective piece of writing.
The blog I enjoyed writing most was “Where’d All the Time Go?”. Interestingly enough, this was also the most difficult blog for me to write. I had all of the ideas in my head, but it was difficult to put them onto paper (or computer, in this case). I kept writing sentences, changing them, moving them around to find the right spot, and eventually deleting them altogether when a better idea came to mind. In the end, though, I really felt like my words reflected my thinking about how quickly it feels like time has passed. This blog was a really introspective look into
my relationship with time, a nostalgic, bittersweet feeling that life was passing by, and I hadn’t even realized it. It was fun (and a bit sad!) to scroll through my camera roll to find photos from earlier high school years to use as a photo comparison to now, reflecting on my time in high school and how much I have enjoyed it.
As I mentioned earlier, writing these blogs have been particularly helpful in developing my voice as a writer. Finding a good combination of tone, vocabulary, and syntax to build my personal style really helped make writing these blogs an enjoyable experience because my words better express my thoughts. Reading other students’ blogs helped with finding my voice, as well, because I was exposed to a wider range of styles that gave me new ideas for my own writing. I also found that finding different forms of multimedia to include in my blogs, whether it was pictures from my own camera roll or images online, really helped convey my ideas. I think that scrolling through the blog website and seeing all the pictures other people have
included helps catch the reader’s eye and make them more interested in the blog, so the multimedia component of blogging is also really essential.
Reading and interacting with other blogs also allowed me to learn about new artists, entertainment, food, and restaurants. For example, reading blogs about new artists on Spotify, drinks at Starbucks, TV shows, and more helped me discover new types of things that I already consume. I also learned about topics I probably wouldn’t focus on normally, like football, philosophical topics, and technology. It was an opportunity to learn about the interests of people I don’t normally talk to often, or even at all.
Writing blogs has allowed me to discover a new type of writing, a more relaxed, personal version that I actually really enjoy. Academic writing, like analytical essays and timed writings, definitely isn’t my favorite, but I also feel like I’m not great at creative, fictional writing either. One thing I did struggle with a bit towards the end of the semester was coming up with new ideas for blogs. I didn’t want to repeat the same topics that other students have written about, like college applications or lists of the best TV shows, restaurants, artists, etcetera, but at the same time, I was running out of other options. However, this forced me to be more creative by really thinking about my interests and finding a way to form those into an interesting blog. Blogging has been a fun opportunity to write about topics in which I’m interested, in a style in which I feel more comfortable.
Alyssa, I definitely had similar feelings in terms of the changes blogging brought to my writing style. Like you said, this writing experience was very different from previous writing we have done in academic settings. Although it took some getting used to at first, I think it has had a positive impact on my attitude towards writing, and similar to your experience I also felt a shift in my writing as it began to take on a more personalized style and tone. I like your perspective on how the multimedia components grew the level of engagement while reading blogs. I didn’t really think about it before, but reflecting on it now I did spend a lot more time reading posts with many pictures, simply because it was interesting to go through those in addition to the text. Overall, I would also agree with how much blogging allowed me to learn, and many of your thoughts on blogging I definitely can relate to.
I absolutely loved your blog Alyssa! I completely agree that these blogs have allowed us to explore our voices creatively, and I am so glad to have been able to read your incredibly insightful posts throughout this semester. Unfortunately, I also agree that some of these posts were incredibly difficult to write for me, as creativity is something I have definitely lost since coming to high school. But just as you have, I think myself and the rest of the class have all grown immensely from our first posts. More specifically though, I remember reading our “Where’d All the Time Go?” blog, and I recall relating to your sentiment about life passing by. I am sure we could all agree that high school has been a whirlwind, being slow and fast at times, but always something new and challenging. Your take on the idea was truly inspiring for me, as were the rest of your blogs, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say in the future!
Hi Alyssa! I really enjoyed reading your reflection on your writing, because while it’s specific to your posts, it truly encompasses the experiences many of us underwent while writing these. Writing blog posts reminds me a little of journaling—talking, discussing, and reflecting, but in a public way. I think that last part was one of the greatest hurdles in writing these posts; we were all sharing our opinions and perspectives while also being cognizant that other people might think or feel differently. I really enjoyed reading your reflection on your journey to finding your voice! The nature of blog posts really challenges us to be authentic, and having read several of your blog posts this year, I think you did an excellent job!
I enjoyed reading your reflection on writing these blogs and how it has affected your relationship with writing this semester. I especially agree with your statement about the importance of multimedia in blogs. Finding pictures from my camera roll was one of the most enjoyable parts of the blog-writing experience for me, and also a great way for me to find inspiration for future blogs. This made the blogs more enjoyable as both a reader and a writer, especially when the images came from the perspective of the author at the time of the event they were describing in their post. Additionally, I agree with your comment on the blogs being a way to connect with people and topics that you don’t typically interact with, as that was one of my favorite parts of the blogs as well. Lastly, I agree that while academic writing has come fairly naturally to me, it is not particularly enjoyable, and I find creative fictional writing to be very difficult so these blogs were a personal and enjoyable way for me to find an interest in writing.
Alyssa–
I enjoyed that you talked about how multimedia can enhance the quality of a blog. Although the “multimedia” is mostly pictures, the pictures provide a visual representation of someone’s ideas. The writer makes a conscious effort to choose photos that represent their thoughts that may be difficult for someone who has no previous knowledge of that topic so that really anyone can understand. I also believe that multimedia is essential to these blogs because it provides more information than just words. As you mentioned, I also found myself struggling a bit with topics towards the end of the semester. Ultimately we were all able to choose blog topics, but the process of choosing and developing a topic is actually much worse than just putting your foot down and writing the blog. I totally agree with your last statement that the blogs have been a fun way to discover your writing style, but also to write topics you are interested in.
Hi Alyssa, I can definitely resonate with you on how much our writing has changed throughout the year. Being placed in college application season where my future lies on some words, we all definitely went through some shift where our writing improved. I agree with your perspective on the blogs and how our voice is easily unveiled by the blogs compared to traditional timed writings and essays. In some sense, would you agree that given the leniency and freedom of the blogs, that our writing gets better because of the calmness or because its more personal? I always wondered too why academic writing always seems to be subpar in terms of effectiveness in writing but always prioritized in our curriculum. With an ending note, reading blogs has definitely opened me up to new perspectives as well. With high-schoolers often sharing the same hobbies and activities, I strongly agree with you on how we are able to experience a new side in every blog.
Hi Alyssa, it was interesting to read how blogging affected your semester in this class. One thing we had in common regarding the blogs themselves was the brainstorming. You mentioned how near the end of the semester it was a struggle to come up with ideas and I couldn’t agree more. Like you, I didn’t want to resort to redundant ideas or even a ranking. This in turn also forced me to really think and come up with creative ideas. I also agree when you say blogging is a fun break from writing analytically and although I’m not great at writing creatively either, it was a good opportunity to get better at it. You also mentioned how the blogs helped learn about topics you normally wouldn’t look into. This was something I hadn’t thought of but I realize how true it is. From people in 6th period or maybe even people earlier in the day, it was enjoyable reading their blogs and learning about their favorite topics and even them as a person.