Blogging Progress

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.