The final blog post.

Throughout this course, I have learned many things. Most of them involved strengthening my views or improving my existing writing or reading style. One thing, however, truly originated from this class. The second section of blog posts required reading the news as well as keeping up with two additional blogs. At very first, I assumed this would be a pain and thought that I would only learn a few things here and there that I wouldn’t otherwise hear. The progression of events has proven otherwise. Though I still do not read the news every day ads I likely should, I do read it a few times a week. I have found myself to be more ‘up on the times’ and I have also noticed that I am often times the one sharing the news, whereas before I was the one being informed of it. My assumption that I would learn of very few other topics that I don’t hear about was incredibly incorrect. Literally every time I read the news I discover an interesting headline. I have found that even if I don’t read the story in its entirety, that the headlines and previews are often times enough to stay up to date. I guess that makes me a product of the internet age.

My view has not much changed on reading and writing. I find it rather difficult to write on topics or read about them if I am not interested. Granted, sometimes my lack of interest comes from my lack of knowledge. This means that as I read or write on a topic, my interest sometimes grows. Writing long papers on a single topic remains, in my opinion, a pain. I don’t know if it’s writers block, but no matter then length of a paper, I always come up just short of the minimum. This forces me to reexamine my writing and expand, which I have learned to be a good thing.

Along with my ability to keep up to date with current events, my reading and writing habits have been vastly improved. The most major change extends from my reading habits. When I am assigned a piece, especially one that is fairly brief, I actually read it fully. I highlight it, underline it, and write notes on the margins or on another sheet of paper. I concentrate on every word and its meaning. No longer do I just blankly stare at the words and hope to attain the meaning of them by focusing on the occasional paragraph.

Extending from my ability to shorten the works I read to their basic meanings, is my newfound ability to draft. I learned that my first draft does not have to make sense to anyone, except me. As long as I am able to cohesively review and edit my drafts, I can write in whatever manner I need to. There does not have to be any flow, or at least not initially. The final thing that has changed in my writing is the realization that a rough draft is completely necessary. No matter how good of a writer I become, my first draft will always be my rough draft, even if I turn it in as my final draft.