iThoughts

I know in a lot of my previous blog posts I stated that I feel like I am not a good writer and I don't like to write. Well, I actually do spend a lot of my time writing or typing in my notes app on my iPhone. For some reason I tend to always have something weighing on my mind, whether it's school related, personal, or the weather; something is always on my mind and I think about it all day long and even before I fall asleep. Ever since high school I felt that I should write down what's going through my mind or what's going on in my life at the moment. If it came to me I wrote it down in my notebook, if I didn't have my notebook on me then I'd save it to my notes app. One reason why I started doing this and love it is because I like to look back and read what I wrote yesterday, 2 weeks ago, or even last year. I like to read it and reminisce on what happened that day. Another reason why I do this is because I feel like if I don't then I will have to many thoughts going through my mind at once and I just crash, sorta speak. All in all, I just like to write. If the topic is something I can relate to then I will enjoy writing about it, and will actually write with a purpose and not just to complete the assignment. Am I a bad writer? NO. Am I a great writer? NO. But I am a GOOD WRITER. And I will continue to write, whether it's for my knowledge and memories or for an assignment.

Improvement throughout the Years

I can honestly say my writing skills have improved so much throughout the years. My mom also thinks so too. I talked to my mom yesterday on the phone for about an hour and we started talking about how my classes are going, and how I'm feeling about them. She stopped me while I was talking and said my communication skills have improved and I told her my English class has helped me a lot with that. Basically what I'm trying to say is that, if my mom can see my progress than obviously I really have improved. She mentioned that she's never been a  "great" writer, but her writing has improved as shes aged. Once she said that it hit me that maybe I will take after her. I know my writing isn't perfect and could still use a lot of work, but I know I am not a terrible writer. It has improved over the years and will more than likely improve as I get older. I told my mom that some days I will open the notepad app on my iPhone and just write how I'm feeling and what's going on in my life at the time. She was very surprised and told me doing that will help better my writing as well.

Long story short, this course has really helped me with my writing I believe. Working with different sites, like Wikipedia, has helped me write more properly and with etiquette. The work we do stimulates my mind to work even harder and that helps me write even better. I'm curious to see how far I can test myself to become an amazing writer one day.

Staying Focused

Most of the time when I'm writing I cannot stay focused for some reason. The smallest thing can catch my attention and cause me to get off track with my writing. I like to listen to music when I'm writing because I think it'll help me stay focused a little bit, but I tend to start getting more into the music then my writing. I've tried writing in a closed and quiet place with no distractions around me but then I get bored and can't write. If I'm writing a paper on my laptop I'll start to open up other tabs with YouTube, Twitter, or shopping sites. So I ask myself, how can I work on staying focused? . It takes entirely to long for me to write when I'm not focused.
Because of my lack of focus I feel like it affects my grade because I can't put my all into my writing. I know when your given a topic you can relate to then it's easier for you to stay focused and just write away, but what about the topics that mean nothing to you? How do I focus then? Also when I'm writing and I feel like I can't write anymore because I'm out of stuff to say I'll just get distracted and get up and do something else. I need help with staying focused! :(

Blogs vs. Term Papers

I'm kind of 50/50 with this topic. I like blogs because it gives you a chance to better your writing. I like term papers because once you turn it in and get it back from the teacher you'll get a chance to see what you need to work on and what your strong points are. Once you know your strong and low points with your writing then you can use your blog to help. Writing a nicely detailed term paper takes time and practice, you can use your blog to write about what you'll be writing about in your paper. Using your blog like a brainstorming tool can be very helpful. Typing out all of your ideas and research can help you stay organized. Plus using a blog instead of a notebook to keep your brainstorming ideas is a lot easier to keep up with.

Blogs should be used to be creative and communicate with classmates, etc. Being creative will help a lot to have an open mind when given a term paper assignment. The term paper should reflect the amount of time and effort you put it in. A lot of effort can come from using your blog in a positive way. So in my opinion, I'm not against blogs nor term papers. They can only help you in the long run for future references. I know in my last blog post it seemed like I was totally against blogging and only wanted to write papers like a regular English class, but I've took into consideration how this blog can help me out a lot... and even this Hybrid class. :)