Project Proposal
I wanted to create a personal blog, Raaaaaah, where I would discuss class, homework, jobs, hobbies, random observations, and other aspects of daily life. At the end of the semester, I planned to post some entries that evaluated my growth as a person this semester, which seemed appropriate given my impending graduation. More about this can be read here. I'll be honest; I settled on a personal blog for two reasons:
- I borrowed the idea from a former Weblogs & Wikis student ("You can do a personal blog?? Nice! How come no one told me?")
- I couldn't come up with any other focused ideas that I wouldn't grow bored with
A Change?
In my midterm reflection (and also touched on a bit in this entry), I noted that I had been writing a lot more about knitting than anything else, and was considering changing my focus to more of a knitting blog. I was considering the change for two reasons: 1) at the time, I was dealing with personal issues that I didn't really feel like writing about in a public setting, and I didn't know how long I would be dealing with said issues, and 2) I just really liked knitting. But I soon saw said issues turning themselves around, and I also realized that I couldn't give up a personal blog. Maybe someday I'll have a knitting blog, but I'll still need to have a space where I can rant about my job, the idiots using public transit, and so on.More reasons for the non-change:
- Not enough time to devote to knitting (or any hobby)
- Not enough money to spend on supplies
- Lack of appropriate audience (I already assumed this, but it was also pointed out in the studio tours that not everyone understands the knitting jargon)
How'd it Turn Out?
I wanted to have at least 40 posts completed. The number of posts I actually made since my proposal date (Feb. 23) was 35. So, I fell behind a bit. On one hand, I wish I would have pushed myself to write more often, but on the other hand, I was surprised, because I honestly felt like I had fallen behind even more so. This was especially because I couldn't write about certain things (see above) and there were times I lacked proper internet access (spring break, and a week-and-a-half-long stretch in April spent working with two activities).
I also proposed that I would create at least four posts about my growth in these past couple of weeks. So far, I've written two (that are substantial enough to qualify, anyway); I have ideas for at least a couple others kicking around, though. But aside from those, my writing has taken a more reflective tone as of late, so I like think that counts for something.
As for the individual posts, I proposed that I would write about 500 words at a time. I plugged most of my entries into Word and was happy to discover they were in the 400-800 word range. There were some entries that missed this mark, but in my eyes, a blog wouldn't be a blog without the occasional short entry. See below for more thoughts on entry length.
The blog itself started as a personal blog (the kind with more links than deep thought), then almost morphed into a knitting blog (the kind that still has a personal-blog touch) around midterms, and is currently a personal blog (the kind with more deep thought than links). I think I like how this blog has changed, because it was a learning experience. I grew as both a writer (see below) and a person (see here and here). Plus, blogs (and the internet in general) weren't necessarily meant to stay consistent, they were made to morph with time. I kind of wish my blog would have been more consistent, but at the same time, I like the way it's shifted while still being obvious that it's written by the same person.
What Worked Well
The personal blog format I chose allowed me to write about pretty much whatever I wanted while still being considered a "focused topic." I could write a movie review one day, rant about work the next day, and show off my knitting progress the day after that. My interests tend to shift a lot, so knowing my luck, if I proposed to create a knitting blog from Day 1 I would have hated knitting by midterms.
On a similar note, I didn't stick to a rigid posting format. I didn't try to write in a specific order or way, and I didn't try to convince myself of anything along the lines of "I'm going to blog every Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday and 5 p.m." I posted when I felt the need to write, and I let my writing flow naturally. Perhaps a schedule would have kept me from falling behind, but at the same time, I hate the thought of forcing myself to sit down and blog about something just because it's the scheduled time, even if I felt I had nothing to write about. It's not natural. (Note: I'm not trying to say anything bad about this formula. It could have worked if I had done a more research-oriented blog.)
Having a personal blog also allowed me to write as informally as I wished. I did try to hold back on some swearing and the use of words like "wanna," but I didn't have to. I wasn't being graded on my grammar and spelling, and I wasn't trying to create a blog with a more professional topic. It was refreshing to be able to write in such a way, especially for a class.
Because of these things, I didn't get bored with the blog, and I usually didn't dread posting. The only times I had feelings resembling dread were when I realized I hadn't blogged in several days, and I felt I had nothing to talk about (or nothing that I wanted to talk about).
Another thing that worked out well was the entry length. I thought that writing 500-word entries all the time would be hard, but I was pleased to discover I was easily averaging longer entries than that. Setting that goal helped my writing improve a bit, too, by encouraging me to elaborate on my thoughts. Being a writing tutor, one of my favorite questions is "why" - as in, "why are you being so vague?" - and I almost didn't even realize I was being vague in my own blog writing. In the past, my favorite blogging format was The List: I would quickly list off what I'd been up to in the past couple days, or what I needed to get done by the end of the week, or reasons why I hated my job. Requiring myself to write longer entries pulled me away from The List. I'll still pull The List out on occasion (and now I actually remember how to make a bulleted list in HTML code), and it does have merit when you only have time to post a quick "hi, I'm still alive" post. But I'm now much more inclined to write my lists out and explain myself more. A side rant is a good example of where I learned that I could use both The List and elaboration, Less than three! shows what my idea of a "short entry" is now, and Just so you know is an example of a true short entry.
What Worked Not-So-Well
Like many others in the class, I had problems convincing people to leave comments. The majority of the comments came from a couple friends who already had Blogger accounts, and a couple other friends said they were reading it (and I even changed my settings to allow anonymous comments). It was a little frustrating. Comments would have let me see that people actually are reading, and whether or not they like what they see.
However, I wish I would have devoted more time to reading personal blogs (or any blog with a topic that interested me) that aren't written by my friends; this might have helped raise readership and the number of comments left. It would have also encouraged me to check out writing styles unlike my own, which may have improved my own writing. One of the main problems I have with my writing is that I'm not sure I've found my style. I'm tipped off by the fact that, although I don't necessarily think I'm a bad writer, I find myself becoming jealous of others' writing styles. Perhaps more exposure to other styles would be the perfect inspiration to figure out my own style.
The other problem I have with my writing is my occasional difficulty in choosing topics. When I wrote the proposal, I envisioned myself writing long, insightful entries like, "I saw a girl skipping rope while talking on her cellphone today; she irritated me because [insert reason here], but it got me to thinking about [insert stuff and things here]..." I haven't really gone in that direction at all. I'm stuck more in the "I did this today" style, and I'm interested in changing that. I'd like to broaden my horizons. (I ended up not having as much to say on the topic as I thought, and it kind of went in a different direction, but this entry explains a bit more.)
On a similar note, I had proposed to keep my entries focused to one topic - while still abiding by the 500-word minimum. That definitely didn't work out as well as planned. I still feel like I improved at elaboration, but my entries typically bounced between two or three topics. Whenever possible, though, I tried to tie everything together and make one topic relate/flow to the next; I think I accomplished that relatively well in this entry.
I also wish I had a camera of my own. If I did, I would be posting pictures like crazy. I like the use of pictures to help illustrate what I'm trying to say, and right now I feel lost without one; I'm resorting to borrowing Chris' camera or doodling in Paint.
Would I Do it Again?
Yes. I'm planning on keeping this blog running after this class is over, and it'll still be a personal blog. I hope to do a better job of looking for other blogs to read, since I'd like to have more people reading my blog in return.
If I were to do this project again, I'm not sure I would do anything differently (or propose to do so) - perhaps just try to do a better job of sticking to the proposal.
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