Retrospective

Reading through my blog posts I have noticed that I have improved in my writing by being more creative and original with my posts. I really made an effort this year to have more personality in my writing, and to let go and enjoy the process more. I thought I made some progress, and learned some very valuable skills for the future. 

Looking back on my first few blog posts, I noticed my sentences were choppier and not very assertive. My work was very boring to read, and I feel that was due to the fact that I don’t like making my writing very personal because it is less scary to have someone grade it. For example, my week 3 newswriting assignment was supposed to be about why legalizing marijuana goes against my morals, and instead of stating my own opinions and explanations, I relied on other’s opinions and facts I agreed with. I also get in my own head about having to be very formal in order to meet all the guidelines of the assignment which makes my writing very unoriginal. Towards the end of the semester, I started writing more for myself and less for the people who may be reading it. This also made the assignments more enjoyable, and helped me find what kind of voice I want to have in my writing. 

One of the qualities of this course that I learned to enjoy was being able to write more opinion pieces and less research, fact based pieces. I think I lose myself when I focus on the facts that need to be said or the requirements that need to be met. I also know that I worry about having perfect grammar, and having the opportunity to work on more creative types of writing made me realize I can be more fun with my grammar and writing. 

I believe the most difficult part of this course for myself was learning how to write press releases, news articles, etc. It is a style of writing that I had never experienced or learned of so I was definitely not as comfortable as I was with the other styles we practiced. I was definitely worried I wasn’t using the correct style of format and other technical rules. Although this writing style made me a bit nervous, I do think it was one of the most valuable skills we learned this semester. I can definitely see myself having to write press releases or other blog posts in my future career. That being said, I do feel I need to become more familiar and work on that style of writing more. 

            I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to improving my writing. My sentences could flow together better, and I need to be more confident with my writing. I found that I still sound pretty passive, and am nervous about being too assertive. Slowly I am beginning to find my style of writing and becoming more confident in that style.