Blog Reflection

When I first found out in the beginning of the year that we were starting our own blogs, I was extremely eager to begin to write my opinions/conclusions on the books I was to read throughout the year. It was something that I was surprised I hadn’t thought of doing for myself beforehand, and so when I learned we were to make one, I thought it was such a cool idea. Personally, I really enjoyed blogging this year, and the entire experience was generally positive for me.

One of the benefits that came along with creating a blog was that, in my opinion, it’s different than writing in a notebook. I feel that it’s different because when you write in a notebook, there are some limitations in terms of the way the writing looks. For example, in many of my blog posts there are sentences where I put italics on some words, to emphasize that word more than the rest. But in a notebook, if someone were to just read it normally, you would have no way of knowing which words are supposed to have more emphasis than others. I believe this is an important thing, because it can not only change the entire way the sentence is read, but it can also portray a specific personality or style of the writer. Another thing is that when writing in a notebook, I tend to constantly reread what I'm writing and change the tiniest details. Whereas when writing a blog post, I tend to either feel more comfortable with the very first thing I write, or I'll think more about what I'm going to write next before doing it.

I learned that I tend to pay attention to some very similar things when writing a blog post about a book. For example, I really seem to be interested in character relationships, as I have written about them both in one of my posts about the book "Perfect" by Ellen Hopkins, and in my post about "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell. Another thing I tend to take note of while reading, and then later write about, is author's craft. In another post about the book "Perfect", and a post about the book "Burned", also by Ellen Hopkins, I mention different things she does within both books that in fact make it more interesting. Another separate thing I learned about myself while keeping up a blog was that the part of each post I either do best in or have the most to say in is towards the end, when I get to state my opinion. This is usually because I have a lot to say either to strongly agree with or strongly oppose what the author of a book or article is saying. I have also found that this part of my posts, from my perspective, is the most powerful and thought-provoking.

I don’t imagine myself keeping up with this blog specifically, only because it is entirely devoted to posts about books and articles. However, I could definitely see myself creating another blog, and keeping up with that. This is because, for organization preferences, I’d like to keep this blog for my schoolwork, and possibly make another for something else. I would make my second blog about something such as a personal blog, in which I just write about things I’ve done or things I find interesting, or I would create a blog devoted to product reviews. In fact, I have already made a blog for the second one, alongside Chloe in 804. We have been writing about different products we like and dislike, and why. My opinion on blogs in general is overall quite favorable. This is because, for the most part, I find that blogs are a way for people to express themselves and their opinions, whether it’s about books, products, or anything in between. It doesn’t matter if you use a pseudonym, or even if you portray yourself in a more fake way, because you’re still getting to share your thoughts and feelings to the world.

In conclusion, I truly loved having the ability to have my very own blog this year, and I feel that it was a great experience for more possible online writing in the future.