Week 8 Progress

I would have to say that I am moderately happy with my progress with the class so far. I'm a little bit behind of where I need to be, but not so far that I can't catch up. My weekly routine is pretty good and it's mostly working out. The schedule itself is good, the problem is the days that I just don't feel motivated, or I'm just tired and don't feel like doing what I need to do. I have to just keep telling myself to suck it up, buttercup! The only way to get to the end is to just keep going.

I am enjoying the reading assignments the most out of everything in the class. They are things that I would read for pleasure even if it wasn't a requirement. I haven't used any of the extra credit options yet, but I am going to need to start doing so soon.

Going forward I just need to buckle down and do the work! Procrastinating isn't going to help anything.

(Flickr)

This is the image, or the words, that I use to motivate myself. While I wouldn't describe this class as hell by any stretch of the imagination, it reminds me that even when I don't feel like it, I need to keep going! Anything can be endured when it's temporary. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. The finish line will be reached eventually!

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I have gotten some excellent feedback comments from some of the other students in the class. Many of them have been extremely helpful. The comments that I'm finding particular useful are formatting comments and those highlighting areas within my story that might need more detail. The formatting comments have helped me to refine the appearance of my project page. It might not be extremely sophisticated, but I think it's looking rather attractive. I got some very good advice in that area. The comments about expanding certain details within my stories have also been very helpful when I do my editing. Having another pair of eyes (or many other pairs in this case) have helped to find the areas of my story that need to be expanded to either enhance the story or clear up confusion.

However, I'm not feeling overwhelmingly confident about the quality of my own feedback. I tend to read stories as 'this is what the writer wants me to know, therefore this is the story.' That's good from the perspective of enjoying and being entertained by stories, but not particularly helpful when critiquing them. I just don't really have any questions that I want to ask, so it's difficult for me to find constructive ways to help other people with what to add or include. The main points that I notice tend to be spelling, grammar, and word choice. But if all of my comments are exclusively about those things it makes me feel just nitpicky and anal. Also, regarding word choice, who am I to decide why and how the story would sound better? It's their story, not mine! I'm having far more difficulty providing feedback that any other part of this class.

I feel that I have a pretty good handle on some of my classmates based on their blog posts and their introductions. Some are a bit less of an open book, but that tells me something on its own. I'm mostly comfortable with my own introduction and posts. I don't want to lay all the parts of myself out for everyone to see, but I've laid out enough.

Going forward, I want to find a way to provide more useful feedback to my fellow students. I just don't feel that I'm being helpful right now, although I am trying! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do to get better, but I'll keep trying until I figure it out.

(Cheezburger)

This feedback cut sums up how I try to look at the feedback that is given to me and what I provide. The feedback that has been most helpful to me is the stuff that has been said by several different people. If it's something that stands out to more than one person, then it's something that I definitely need to look at.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

So far, I have really enjoyed both the reading and the writing aspects of this class. Having never really written before, outside of research papers, I hadn't been particularly confident in my ability to write a story. However, now that I have done several, I feel much better about it. I'm even enjoying it, and I don't think me writing is terrible!

I've liked all of the reading that I've done for the class. The Arabian Nights section was particularly enjoyable. However, there haven't been any that I didn't like. I just enjoy folklore and fairy tales in general.

Doing the reading notes has definitely been helpful. Each one has been a little different, depending on what struck me about the story, but they have all been helpful when it came down to the actual writing. Normally, I'll get the inkling of an idea about a possible story while I'm doing the reading. The notes have helped me to not forget what it was that struck me and the direction that I wanted to go.

I'm really happy about how my storybook project is coming along. It's actually turning out much better than I expected. Each time I sit down to write and addition to it, I'm convinced that I won't be able to come up with anything, and that even if I do it will be terrible. That hasn't happened yet. Of course, I'm only two stories in, so writer's block could hit at any time. Fingers crossed. But I have to say that right now I'm very proud of what I've done and the story that I'm telling.

Maiden and Unicorn fresco c. 1602 (Wikipedia)

I really like this image of the girl and the unicorn. I included it in one of the sections of my storybook. For one, I think it's pretty. However, the main reason that I like it is that it so perfectly encapsulated the story that I was telling at the time. It just fit so perfectly. I was lucky to find it.

I don't think there's anything more that I need to help me with the reading and the writing in this class, except for time. I have all the tools, but more time is always helpful. There's just such a shortage of it!