Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking back: Overall, the reading and writing assignments are working well for me. I was overwhelmed at first but once I got into a routine, I realized that this class can be really fun if I don't allow myself to stress out (and if I finish assignments early). Taking notes helps a lot, and I love that we can write them however we want to. That gives me freedom to learn about how I best analyze and research for writing projects. I've realized my best bet for note-taking is writing out the basics of the story, and then after every few sentences I write why I like/dislike them. This helps me a lot when looking back because it gives me specific examples of aspects of a story I like.

I am fairly satisfied with how my writing is going for my project and story posts, although it could use improvement. Also, the creative writing bits are definitely the parts of the class I procrastinate on the most. This is mostly because I want them to be perfect, but I'm finally starting to let perfectionism go since we've had to write so much at this point that I feel a lot less scared to just run with whatever idea pops into my head. This is my biggest accomplishment in the class thus far, I think. I've never felt so free to write before. Being forced to write really does help, and it's reminded me of how much I love to write!

I've been adjusting my blog and project website layouts throughout the semester, so I think where they are now is where I am most happy with them. I'll keep tinkering with them just because it's fun, though! I have started adding a banner image to each page on my storybook website, which I think enhances the stories a lot.

Image: My favorite image from my blog so far is this one that I used recently:

(Bay of Kiau Chau from Wikipedia)

It's from my Week 7 story, but I originally saw it in a story from the Chinese Fairy Tales unit. I thought it was such a beautiful image and I adore the art style, so I had to use it. It has a very calming effect on me, which I definitely need halfway through the semester. 

Looking forward: I don't think there is anything I want or need to do in order to get more out of the reading and writing experiences in this class. I really feel like it is such a perfect course for me and the pacing is so helpful--it's not too slow or fast, and it gives us time to breathe but also work hard. I'm really excited about the second half of the course, and I'm excited to see if any of my current note taking or story writing strategies will change with all of the suggestions we're given.