English Final

What have you learned from your struggle with writer's block? Why do you tend to get stuck? How do you tend to get unstuck? Notice any patterns?

Through my struggle with writer's block, I have learned that it is something that can be conquered to an extent. I feel as though I am getting unstuck less now due to all the practice that I have been having these past months with the blog postings. When I first started blogging, I thought it was a drag because I felt like I had to think really hard to meet the three hundred word criteria and I was annoyed when I had only two hundred something words. In my recent posts, I have been surpassing the four hundred word maximum criteria and had to delete some of my writing. In one of my recent posts, the posting about my winter break, I remember clearly of seeing the four hundred something word count. While I was looking through my blog, I noticed that in my posting about Thanksgiving break, I was able to write four organized paragraphs. Even as I am doing this final right now, I am feeling like I am not thinking so hard. I tend to get stuck when writing because I simply cannot think of anything else to say related to my topic. Sometimes, even when I get an idea, I do not write it down because I think it sounds stupid, might not make sense to others, or that it is not long enough to make a full paragraph. I try to get unstuck by thinking of ideas that are somewhat related to what I am writing about. Sometimes, when I am clueless on what to write next, I just erase everything and start again on a new topic. I have noticed that the postings that I had an easier time finishing were the ones about things that I did. The ones that I had a harder time were summaries about anime/books/movies. I had a hard time deciding which points were important enough to include. Even though writer's block is affecting me less now, I know that getting rid of it is impossible. There will always be subjects in which I will not have enough knowledge to produce enough information.

How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?

I have really enjoyed having a blog. I find it more convenient than turning in work on paper since it is faster and easier to edit. Since blogger organizes my posts, I can easily look back at old posts whenever I want to. Also, I really like being able to add pictures because when I look back at my postings, they look more lively and I can get a visual of what I wrote about. My writing has changed since now I am writing more compound sentences: "Ino is part of Team Ten with Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. Their master is Asuma Sarutobi. Shikamaru uses shadows to paralyze his enemies. He is lazy and thinks everything is a drag. The ironic thing is that he has an IQ of over two hundred."( InoShikaCho)..."Other things that I did over the break were stay at home and use the computer all day,go to Sacramento, and walk around the UC Davis campus. Since I was idle most of the time, I passed the time by watching anime or going on AIM. I walked around old Scaramento which looked really old fashioned because the floors were made of wood. Inside an old schoolhouse, I saw a list of the the punishments and rules for teacher and students in the 1800s."(Winter Break). The first sentences of the quote were from my first blog post after my statement of purpose. InoShikaCho was full of simple sentences, so it made the post uninteresting and having too many sentences in a paragraph. The other sentences were from one of my recent posts in which I found many compound sentences. This gave me a sense of accomplishment that is similar to the way someone feels when you have persevered through a struggle. My way of thinking is now more reflective; by having to think of subjects to write about, I became more aware of the things that I do in my daily life instead of just passing by me. Also, my thought about writing has changed drastically over the course of this school year; I now view it as an outlet to express my feelings and as sort of a way to reflect on the way that I spend my time on and my values. I now have a positive view on writing; I used to hate writing so much because whenever I wrote, it was usually an essay about literature. I like how when I blog, I can write about anything that I want to. I think that the quickwrites in class have especially changed the way I write. By having to write continuously, I start to let my mind wander and yet somewhat stay on the topic at the same time. This has made my writing more creative and I was able to come up with ideas that surprised me.

Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write?

I get my ideas for blog post topics from the things that I like, activities that I do in my daily life, knowledge that I want to share with others, or events that I think that I will remember for the rest of my life. Sometimes I have to think really hard for a topic to write about and sometimes they just pop out of my head all of a sudden. Out of all my postings, the ones that were summaries such as Bleach, Orphan, and InoShikaCho were written because they reflect how I spend my time and the media that I expose myself to. There are many things that inspire me to write. My favorite kinds of postings were the ones in which I talked about the way I spend breaks because as I am writing I am able reflect on many of the happy memories that I had: "The resort was decorated with huge figures like a music list, bowling pins, etc. Beyond the check-in counter there was the food court which sold a variety of food like pasta, ice cream, salad, desserts..."(Disneyworld) This description takes me back to the days that I spent in Orlando, Florida this past summer that I will never forget. Thinking about the past also has me wondering about all the happy memories that await me in the future: "I hope that my future will be a happy one and that I will live a long, fulfilling life" (Dreams of the Future). These flashbacks give me an irreplaceable sense of joy that gives me a purpose for writing. Some other things that inspire me to write are great books and stories when I actually read them. I am awed at how authors can produce such amazing pieces of literature that are praised and enjoyed by many people. Apart from nostalgia, I also experience freedom when I write. Even though this has never happened to me while I was blogging, it has happened to me when I was writing in my notebook while I was at home. When I was angry, writing helped me to release my anger and feel free from the bad emotions that were engulfing me. By answering these questions, I have become aware of the progress I have made and other aspects of my writing and blogging that have never crossed my mind.