Statistics: If you
check out your blog's "Stats" page to follow your readership, what
information do you learn about your audience? What posts have gotten the
most/least views—and what does that suggest to you?
Writer's block:
What have you learned from your struggles with writer's block? Why do you tend
to get stuck? How do you tend to get unstuck? Notice any patterns?
Feedback you gave: In what ways do
writing response posts to classmates' blogs help you become a better writer,
reader, or thinker? Are there other ways in which your classmates' blogs help
you learn?
Change,
let alone improvement, is a very hard thing to notice while still in the
motions. Stepping away from yourself to reflect is an out of body experience. Posting
blogs is a way for me to express who I am to anyone who is interested, but at
the root it’s really for myself. Who I am is constantly changing, evolving,
learning. At times it can be hard to keep up with myself. My journey through
senior year English thus far has brought me a new feature to gawk at, face to
face with an old enemy, writers block, and the complicated obligation to
socialize over an internet medium.
Blogger’s new, at least to me,
stats page has definitely made me more aware of the kind of material I would
submit to the world. Back in the day, I was only aware of the people
immediately around me so I would ramble on about everything and nothing.
However, being aware of my newly found audience I try to keep an open mind to
the vast amount of cultures that are out there. According to my stats my Unwind post
has received the most views at 69(All time). The post turned out to be
interesting because I was genuinely in love with the book. That showed itself
in the quality of the post and naturally gained views. My other popular posts
(40-17views) have been mainly about events outside the US. When people go
online they are taking a break(usually) from their real world issues, which unfortunately
a lot of people blame on the US. I know I probably wouldn’t actively search out
US related posts when I would hear the exact same thing on the news in a bit.
Perhaps people look at my blog, or any of ours really, to try to see things
through our shoes, and to see what the youth of the US are interested in. Then
again I have no idea what the “bounce” rate of views are, which would relay the
“juiciness” of our posts. The
Netherlands and Germany are my most frequented foreign visitors with 80 and 53
views respectively. Seeing this has made me really think about the grade of
writer I am. I’ve always felt comfortable expressing my opinions, but when
people from other countries are genuinely(assumed) interested in your posts it
becomes extremely flattering. Which we all could use.
Ah my old nemesis, Writer’s Block. We’ve
been in this perpetual dance since my academic life began to bloom. We have a
rather confusing relationship with one another. At times Writer’s Block can be
so distant, not paying me any mind, but other times Writer’s Block can really
get in your face. It is peculiar how Writer’s Block comes in extremes, and
never(for me) in the betweens of not around and stalking. Something that helped
me shoo it away was simply looking at it. Writer’s Block. I own that Block, it
is under my command. I either allow it to funk up my writing, or I can plow
right on until it’s far far away, harassing some other poor student, no doubt. Taking
a quick scan of my blog it became easy to determine whether or not I was
suffering from Writer’s Block. Posts that were the bare minimum, had more
grammar/spelling errors then usual, or had suddenly jumped back and forth
between tops are clear indicators of my struggles with
Writer’s Block. If I accidently stray into a topic I’m not too familiar
with(such as foreign countries and what they’ re up to) I will start trying to
make any sort of connection between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Writer’s
Block is usually warded off by choosing topics in which you have genuine
interest in, as it tends to flow better.
In reflection, I tend to get the block when I was in a foul mood before
the writing ever happened. The big picture I have gotten from dealing with
Writer’s Block, and advice I give to other people, is that a majority of it comes
from your own mindset. If you tell yourself writing will be tedious, then that
clever mind of yours will make the work tedious.
Being
forced to comment on someone’s blog unnerved me the first few weeks it was
instituted. I could not bring myself to comment on any random post, it had to
be of an interesting
nature. Which made me read more
people’s posts, and at the same time made me think about their subject in more
depth than I would have under any other circumstance. Taking comments very
seriously definitely had an impact on the way I wrote my blog posts. It was a
challenge for myself to get some good comments to start an informal discussion
over blogger. I wanted to write about interesting things to spark some sort of
back and forth. While some conversations did spark, their flame lasted only
until the next blog was due. Then the chase began anew. The comment system made
me more of a critical reader, rather than an indifferent one. Without fully
comprehending my peer’s posts I would make a fool of myself if I were to try to
chime in with my own two cents. Comments made me get the facts before I would
be willing to put myself out there. That is something I deem valuable, research
has always been a bit of a hurdle for me.
