The holiday season is here, my work load is drastically increasing, finals are right around the corner, and my meal plan is lower than ever– all signs that the semester we know is coming to a swift close. With this knowledge, I would like to reflect on my English 203 class, and focus on all that it has taught me. It is undeniable that I have learned a lot in the class in general, but I would like to specifically discuss how helpful this blogging assignment was for me. I remember one of the first days of class, we were reading through the syllabus, and I heard Dr. McCoy say “Anybody have any questions about the blogging assignment?”. Oh, I had more questions than my brain could take at that given moment, but I tried to play it off as if I wasn’t confused at all. But, Open deadlines AND open ended prompts? Ten entirely DIFFERENT blogs? This alone sent my mind into a frenzy. How was I supposed to blog in timely manner with my prevalent disease of procrastination? To help ease all this stress I immediately began to set my own dates for each blog in my planner. I decided to set my own deadline that consisted of posting one blog every two weeks. This, as we now know , was unrealistic for me. It was just one of the many things I would learn from this unique assignment.
I figured out that a lot of the stress I was feeling was because of the amount freedom granted to me. I could write what ever I wanted as long as it related to class content, something so unfamiliar. I was intimidated by that because I was used to I having a strict prompt. I began to realize the difficulty with this later in the blogging process. I would try to follow the dates for I set for blogging , but I quickly found that it was not that easy. I could sit down to write a blog on that day, yes, but I noticed that I could not begin to write if I had no ideas. This was a frequent problem for me, one I should’ve known I would encounter. After recognizing this, my deadlines became less about following the biweekly limit, and more about writing when I felt inspired. This became the best work ethic for me, and it showed in every new grade. If I had a solid idea I would keep writing about it until I could publish the blog post, whereas in the past it would take days to publish something I was not proud of. I was so motivated by these thoughts that my fingers would type faster than ever, and once I was finished I was pleased with my accomplishment. It is evident to me that I have grown as a writer, even my grades began to reflect that! But I have made a lot of progress as a learner. I discovered that my brain works best if it ignores the pressures of deadlines and instead waits for the opportunity, something I once never knew.
I can honestly say I never expected to love blogging, but now I think I might even miss the whole process. Dr. Beth McCoy did challenge me with this assignment, but I needed this to develop as a writer and a learner. It took a while for me to get the system down, but the improvement produced is so empowering to see. I can confidently say that this was way better than writing any paper- I learned how to write casually with voice, which is not often encouraged in analytical papers. The whole format of blogging was also much better for me visually. Blogs to me are three dimensional- the writer is granted the freedom to go any route. This was something that once scared me, but now I know, I can conquer it.