Reflecting...

Either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing. ( Benjamin Franklin)

"I learned that you should feel when writing...like child stringing beads in kindergarten, - happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another." (Brenda Ueland) This describes blogs very well because when you are blogging you are constantly adding to your long string of other ideas. Sometimes you don't enjoy writing and you do a horrible job because your not "absorbed" into the writing. Reading my past blog posts, I realized that I could really tell when I had fun writing my thoughts down when it was about certain topics I liked. Those were the better blogs. Most of the posts that weren't very good I knew was because I wasn't into the writing, whether it be because I just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible or that I didn't like the topic. That's why I love this quote. It just sums up my blog and probably others' so well.

First of all, it was really fun looking back at my recent blogs. This is what I found.

Sometimes I enjoyed posting, sometimes I didn't. It mostly just felt like something to do, and I have stayed up many a night to finish it. However, looking back at my postings, I found that I have, in fact, become a better writer partly from blogging. Not only that, but I enjoy being myself and sharing my thoughts with others, and it was fun discovering other peoples' opinions and analyzing them, wholeheartedly agreeing at times and completely disagreeing at other times. I'll often get ideas from reading other people's blogs. I'll somtimes think, that's a really interesting idea! Now what can I do to build off of it?

My favorite post was probably the one where I had to write about something from my weekend using formal or informal diction. It was fun being myself and getting creative. As Ernest Hemingway once said, "In order to write about life, first you must live it! I also enjoyed topics about The Importance of Being Ernest. I enjoyed that book and I think it helps a lot to like a piece of work when you have to write about it. Otherwise, its not very enjoyable. But on the flip side, forcing myself to write about something I originally didn't like actually made me learn more and like the piece of work a little bit better. Expressing my feelings and opinions definitely has made me a better writer in some ways. It sometimes helped me to understand more and dig in deeper into books. I find that as I'm writing I realize things I normally don't think wouldn't think of because my work is in right front of me in writing, and not just part of a mass of ideas floating around in my head. The environment in which you are can really affect your moods, especially in writing. Right now I'm sitting outside and its awesome! I can't believe I wasted so much time sitting at the table, thinking of stuff to write and not outside in the nice weather! What I also can't believe is how I expected myself to write a good poem sitting at a desk in front of the computer. Oops. I got a little distracted there. Sorry.

"To be a well-flavored man is the gift of fortune, but to write or read comes by nature." (William Shakespeare)

fun assignment...

I really enjoyed writing a paragraph for The Importance of Being Ernest. I really enjoyed working with Kahli and Amaya. We each chose one of the three topics from our rubric to write about. My topic was Cecily Cardew and her diary. Writing my part of the essay late one night, (as usual) when I was writing the essay, I thought of some great ideas and actually enjoyed writing. I realized how deep the character Cecily Cardew really was.

I actually didn't think my paragraph was very good until I read it to the class and people said they thought it was interesting. I'm not trying to brag, but I was so surprised! I don't remember what grade my group and I got, but I guess we did pretty good.

before and after

In elementary school I was always indifferent about poetry. Unlike most people, I never really had a bunch of memorable experiences with poetry worth remembering. Whenever my teacher made us write poems at school it wasn't torture, but as soon as I got it over with I quit thinking about it.

Then, in fourth grade my class went to the library and since I guess we were studying poetry at the time there were tons of books on the tables. Every single one of them contained poems of all kinds. Funny ones, serious ones, long ones and short ones. We all chose to tables to sit at, and after a few minutes of looking at the books everyone took turns reading to the class a poem they liked. I remember discovering a funny poem from the perspective of a kid who was sick. All the words made the reader sound like they had bad congestion. Of course, I tried to read this to the class but read with so little expression that the librarian stopped me and read it herself.

Back then, poetry had just been one of those things you don't love but don't hate (but now I enjoy it more, mainly after Poetry Out Loud). Back then poetry was just another subject. Now however, when I hear the word "poetry", it sparks a warm feeling of excitement. Since I've taken honors English I've been appreciating it a lot more. I really enjoy annotating poems and literary works. What used to be a same old, same old subject is now fun and interesting.