The Conclusion

In looking over my 28 total blog posts from across the year, I noticed that from past to present, I've really opened up in my writing and in expressing my thoughts. I had not really had blogging experience of any kind before this class, and so at first I didn't quite know what type of writing fit blogs well. I remember spending ages, and much too long, on my initial entries, determined to make every sentence perfectly right. As a result, at the beginning, many of them seemed quite forced and unlike how I usually write. Commonly, I would use complex terminology that did not fit the prompt and the rest of my language, in an effort to make the post more essay-like, such when I used the phrase "accumulated considerable admiration" in my third blog on To Kill A Mockingbird. Due to such things, the blog assignments felt stressful and time-consuming at the start of the year. Now, I feel considerably more free in my writing, and do not have to stop and think hard every few words, but instead write continually, which is much more enjoyable. It helps me to be able to express my style of writing and my thoughts much more easily, and while I still often strive to use more complex words, they are much more natural, and are used to help the point that I am conveying, rather than to just make the diction more formal. As said by writer Somerset Maugham, "a good style should show no signs of effort: what is written should seem a happy accident."

Another thing that I noticed upon viewing my past posts was that there were a great spectrum of different topics that I wrote about from the many different kinds of prompts that were assigned. The variety of the prompts had not occurred to me at the time when I was writing them, as I was concentrating on the writing itself. They ranged from interpreting theme statements, connecting to characters, and interpreting passages to relating to modern culture, making New Year's resolutions, and writing poetry. It was quite interesting to see what kind of ideas and notions were on my mind back then for the topics that I was writing about, and to consider how I would have written each kind of entry differently if I were to do it now. I find that as a blog writer, the types of prompts that ask me to reflect on past experiences or discuss things that I've done, rather than to make connections or identify themes, are much more relaxing to write, and thus are more enjoyable. A pretty good example of that is the blog post that I'm writing right now.

Up to this point, I had also forgotten many of the in-class activities that we did as a group in English over the course of the year. Going over my past posts really helped me to remember a great number of them, as some of the blog assignments involved discussing those activities. For instance, the unit that we had on reading and analyzing writing, such as the "Lobsters" poem and "The Knife," had slipped out of my mind. Reading my post from November on the Lobsters discussion that we'd had in class brought back a lot of memories on the subject. It caused me to remember the 5 part paragraph that I'd written on "The Knife" at around the same time, and then my experience learning about tone, diction, connotation, denotation, and many other things during the unit. I was astounded by the number of recollections that came flooding back to me just from reading one blog entry, and even more astounded by the detail in which I could remember those experiences when I put my mind to it. Looking back on the posts not only helped me to reminisce on what we did in class, but to give memories on how it felt back then, and how much everything has changed since. It allowed me to watch my journey through the year from the progression of my writing and what I wrote about. In my opinion, my blog is, if not a fully complete representation, still quite an excellent one of my year in English, and a great reminder of how much fun it was to learn, meet new people, and enjoy myself. I am thankful for that.