Week 8 Progress

I am quite happy with most of my progress this semester! I haven't had much experience writing for fun since I came to OU, as most of my writing has had to be for academic papers and research, so I have greatly enjoyed this creative outlet! There have been a few stories I felt that I had a large amount of difficulty writing and conveying well, but they are the minority and I feel like the ones which were done well make up for those in my evaluation of my work. Undoubtedly, I am most proud of a couple of my weekly stories, The Woodcutter's Axe & Mice Tales, because I feel like they highlight my creative and linguistic skills the best. In addition, many people acted as if they enjoyed these tales, which was very gratifying. 

While I have not done many of the extra credit options thus far in the semester, I do still plan on doing them in the later half of the class. The primary reason I have not is mostly scheduling, as I have had a difficult time melding the workload of this class with my schedule (silly excuse because the class is so flexible, but I think that is why I have so much trouble with it). 

I am quite happy with my blog website, aside from a few formatting issues which I have had trouble resolving and am very proud of my website. I have spent several hours tweaking every aspect of my storybook website so that it is as impeccable as I can manage each week. I am proud of the work I am doing there and want that to show when my readers come to see what the page is about. 

(Image Source: Flickr)

One change I intend to implement in the second half of the semester is simply better scheduling. I have had to wait until Sunday night several weeks to turn in my assignments, largely because of poor planning at earlier points in the week. As such, I am reevaluating my schedule to (hopefully) allow more time earlier in the week for assignments. In addition, I would like to try and experiment more with different perspectives in my writing. Up until this point, all my stories have been in third person, either omniscient or limited, and would like to branch out into first person some in the later half of the semester. Part of this would asl require me to better understand character motivations and emotions, something which I have largely left out of and neglecting in my stories. 

Finally, there are still some minor tweaks I would like to make to my blog specifically. I have noticed that pictures often will go out of the boundaries I had set for them and bleed over into other areas of my page. This is very unappealing visually and is representative of laziness which I do not want associated with my work. Other than a few technical issues like that, there is not much would change about my blog page. 

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

(Image Source: PixaHive)

1.) The feedback I have received this semester has been really quite good! In past classes, I have had little luck with constructive feedback from my classmates, but this group is very different. Almost all of the feedback I have received has helped me make my stories better and more cohesive and my writing clearer and more concise. I'm not sure if this is because of the focus on good feedback strategies in this class (though that is what I suspect), but it has been very helpful and I am grateful for the good feedback each week!

2.) I feel like the feedback which I give is pretty good also, as much of what I have used to synthesize my feedback strategies has come form the same sources as my classmates and from copying that which I have found successful coming from my classmates in my own writing. I wouldn't say any one strategy has been particularly helpful, they all seem to perform at about the same level for me.

3.)  I do feel like I am starting to get to know several people better through their blogs and because I am becoming more familiar with their writing style. I have bookmarked several students and am excited to have had the opportunity to read their stories each week! In contrast, I am not very satisfied with my initial introduction post, as I feel I did not do a good job of writing an introduction which would allow people to know me more. My introduction was fairly one-dimensional, because I wore around very specific theme, and would make it much broader if I were to redo it.

4.) I truthfully feel that the feedback I am currently receiving and giving is at a very good place where people are both giving and receiving very workable commentary. I believe my Comment Wall is fairly well situated, as there is not much to the page, but I am definitely reconsidering some amendments to my introduction to make it more personable for future readers.

5.) I chose this image because I feel a very important part of feedback is understanding what the author of either a comment or a written story meant to convey through their writing. Understand, putting yourself in their shoes, helps garner insight so that you can better provide commentary which will be applicable and helpful to them.

(Image Source: Cheezburger)

Tech Tip: Blog Profile

 I just finished up tweaking some aspects of my Blogger page and profile and was astounded by the number of things which could be modified about the page I had not noticed before! When I initially set up the page, my goal was for simple functionality and I did not spend hardly any time reviewing the options for personalization which were available. Now that I have had a chance to rework some of the finer points I missed before, I feel like many blanks in the page are now filled. My profile has been more fleshed out, though I am still unable to add an image to the profile for technical reasons which are beyond my understanding or experience. I redid some of the widgets on my home page and reorganized the sidebar so that it is more user-friendly, now that I know what makes these websites more navigable. I have been taking note of other blogs this semester and I definitely stole some ideas for organization from them! 

As far as my online identity up until this point, it has never been a thought which has crossed my mind. I am not a user of social media and typically do not spend much tome on the internet at all. However, I recognize that the world is growing to rely on both of these in larger degrees tag previously, so I intend to take advantage of the situations this class has put me in to better familiarize myself with some aspects of online work and identity so that I may be better prepared for a future career and be more marketable as a candidate in applications/interviews. The aspect of my online identity I would most like to grow is being known as a clear and likable writer. I have always enjoyed writing, both for pleasure and academic writing, and would want my reputation as a good writer to be the greatest defining characteristic of my online profiles.