Blogging. Is. Done.

Reflecting on this year's blog posts make me laugh! Although I absolutely hated blogging, and half the time I completely forgot about blogging, it's really easy for me to remember the exact way I felt while writing each post. One important thing I learned this year is that there's always going to be someone to impress when it comes to your writing style. Obviously, Mrs. Gilman would be the one to please in this situation. Throughout elementary school, the standard writing style followed the "first, next, in conclusion" format, something that I brought with me to my sixth grade year in Block. This boring, beginners format is acceptable in a environment like 6th grade, but as you get older, your writing style has to change. As middle school continued, I realized that I had to change my writing style to please the teacher of the class. When I was in Mr. Haefer's 7th grade block class, I learned that he liked a lot of voice in writing, and by throwing in a few "ummm"'s and "well, anyways"'s, I was quickly a favorite. For 8th grade, my bloc teacher was a bit more strict. My exaggerated voice was no longer acceptable, and her class was all about structure. Moving into freshman year, (and, reading some of my earlier blog posts) I thought that in order to be a "high-school writer" my7 writing had to be completely dry and life-less. Thus, resulting in a C on my To Kill A Mockingbird essay. At this point, I was devastated. I knew that writing things like "the advice that my my mother gave me that one afternoon" (From my November 6th blog) was not me. So, I tried the other style I knew how to use: JUST voice, and no structure. Of course, this immature writing style was unacceptable. But, by February, I'd finally nailed it. I figured out what Mrs Gilman likes to read, and ever since then I've been scoring very high A's on my essays. The only problem is, the school year's almost over, and I'll have to start the process all over again until I find a writing style that is both me and my future teacher finds impressive. I think that through this year I have really developed into a better writer, and although it's important to impress the person grading your work, it's also very important to be proud of your work, and to know that the writing that you're presenting as your own is really in fact your own, not something you're just writing to get the grade. Through my blogs, it's very easy for me to see the writing roller coaster that I have been traveling on this year. As for my quote, I thought that this one was suiting for my blog...

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!"
- Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1