This writing course, Representing Thought, challenged me to explore the various ways and techniques of turning thoughts into words. After learning and being exposed to a variety of examples, I have a new understanding and knowledge of the role writing plays within our minds, for our thoughts, and expressing them. I decided to make several sections in my blog to better organize the purpose of my blog posts and to present the things I’ve learned from this writing course. These sections include About The Author, Gallery, Why Write?, Prose v. Poetry, Sharing Experience, and Vagueness. While each of these sections includes and presents something different that I’ve learned, they all come to down to a common conclusion that I’ve made after experiencing this writing course: the verb and noun of writing serve a significant role in every person’s life which is to organize our thoughts, push us to think and reflect more, to connect with others, and to express ourselves.
I decided to add an about the author page on my blog because I felt that it was important to know where these words are coming from. A lot of what I learned from this course was the importance of the connection between the source of the words to the person that indulges them. In order to really understand why these words exist on the blog, it is significant to know the creator and reason for them. I figured a page where the reader could learn more about me, my goals, and my purpose would allow a better understanding of my writing and blog as a whole. Throughout this course, I’ve also learned that writing is not just about the words. Writing is about the image you portray, the way you present the information, the ways in which you organize and communicate the message, and the whole picture. Especially through the format of a blog, it is important to consider every aspect from the color to the placement of text.
In addition to the about the author page, I added a page on my blog that includes pictures. While thinking about what to add to my blog, I thought about the different ways of expression and the various things to include to make my blog aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable. I immediately thought of including images because while I don’t want my blog to look messy, I wanted to add some color and a different form of expression than writing. As I previously mentioned, a platform such as a blog is not solely about the words but is about the big picture. My version of “the big picture” includes actual pictures that might make my blog experience more enjoyable. An article by Harsh Agrawal says, “Blogging is just not about plain text written on a page; a good article is the combination of text, images, and other various multi-media elements like videos, charts, slides, etc” (Agrawal). I very much agree with Agrawal that a blog is not just only about the words on the screen; it is about the whole image the audience is seeing. Adding elements other than text, allows the reader to be more captivated in the blog and information. Agrawal also states, “More over, it’s this kind of eye-catching content which makes your blog posts look more visually appealing (Agrawal)”. I completely agree and that is exactly what I wanted to accomplish. Only having words on a screen seems very boring and personally, I wouldn’t be too excited to read anything on a screen if it only had words on it and nothing else. However, when there are colors, images, and other elements on the page as well, I am more likely to explore the blog to see what else there is to offer.
“The big picture” is important, but that doesn’t mean the actual words and the writing of those words aren’t just as important. This writing course made me reflect on the purpose of writing and why writing is beneficial and enjoyable to us. The action of writing, to me, allows me to process and organize my thoughts better, to express my thoughts, and to share my thoughts. An article by Kellie McGann talks about why we write; McGann says, “And while we so often tell ourselves to find our audience and imagine our reader, there will always be times we need to write for ourselves” (McGann). Writing for one assignment after another for my academic writing classes tends to make me forget why people write for their own enjoyment. On the other hand, writing assignments for this writing course gave me the opportunity to realize that just the act of writing down what I am thinking helps me better understand myself including the ways I think, the ways I express myself, and what I want to share with others. Though the texts on my blog were written for the purpose of turning an assignment in, I enjoyed and learned from the process of writing them. McGann is saying that a lot of times we write for others whether that is our professors as students or our readers as authors, however, at the end of the day, the purpose of writing is for ourselves whether you realize it or not. This is something that I learned throughout this course as well. Yes, we write in hopes of getting a good grade, but why are these assignments assigned to us? While writing assignments for this course, I was able to reflect on what role writing serves to me. McGann also says something that spoke to me: “You will write because it is who you are” (McGann). I may not be a professional writer or author and I may just be a college student writing for her assignments, but, every word that I integrate on the page is a part of who I am. What I write includes all of my own thoughts, opinions, and perspectives.
When asked who I am in general or who I am as a writer, I am often at a blank, unsure of how to respond and unsure of the answer myself. There are so many things that I could say in so many ways. This is similar to writing in the sense that there are so many words that you could write in so many ways. Two particular ways, in particular, are prose and poetry. Exploring poetry in this course required me to get out of my comfort zone to try something different: poetry. I never really appreciated poetry for the beauty that it is, mainly because I thought it was difficult and didn’t fully understand it. However, I have a newfound appreciation for poetry because of its uniqueness. As mentioned in my section description, poetry has both discipline and freedom. There is a discipline in its various expected structures but there is a freedom of what message and theme you would like to portray. From creating my first ever Shakespearean sonnet, I learned how to maneuver this discipline and how to take advantage of this freedom. I had to choose the most meaningful and most descriptive words because of the structure requirements and word limits. Thus drove me to recognize the real importance of word choice. An article written for Writer’s Digest says, “writing and reading poetry makes on understand the significance of every single word and their placement… Writing poetry forces the person to consider, and reconsider, each piece and length of their verses” (Barkley). Barkley is speaking on the importance of every single word and how they are joined together to produce the whole work. I’ve always had trouble narrowing down my writing to a certain limit, whether with prose or poetry, and while that is something I am still working to improve on, poetry taught me the importance of it along with word choice. Poetry might be more out of my comfort zone than prose, however, it is a form of writing and expression that I consider to be unique and beneficial to both expressing myself and forming that connection with others.
Connecting with others is a vital part of human life which means it is just as vital when it comes to writing as well. Authors need to reach their audience in some way and somehow connecting with their readers is one of them. Like various other things, there are many ways for a connection to happen. One of these ways is sharing experience. When the writer shares their experience with their audience, the writer is reaching out and choosing to communicate something they or their character went through. From a reader’s perspective, they are getting a glimpse into the writer’s life and mind. The reader might relate to an aspect of the written experience, empathize with the experience, learn for the experience, or more. This also makes the writer and their words seem more authentic and true. I’ve always heard that we should learn from our elders because of their immense experience and I agree with that statement. I think the sharing of experience between people is crucial and powerful because it establishes trust and connection between the sharer and the receiver. This trust and connection allow a further understanding of whatever is said. The same concept applies to the relationship between a writer and their reader. In order for the reader to fully comprehend and intake the words as the writer meant, there needs to be trust and connection, which can be achieved with sharing experience. Talking more about that connection in-depth, sharing experience can also let the writer or character become more personable, relatable, and authentic to the reader in addition to feeling as though you are in the author’s shoes. An article by Bryan Ye talks about his experience with reading a girl’s blog while in high school. He says, “I was her fan. I have no idea why… Maybe because I could empathise with the bullying she experienced. Regardless, I enjoyed the way she expressed her feelings so genuinely… I got to see the thoughts that were running through her mind as she was going through hell” (Ye). Ironically, I am learning about sharing experience from someone sharing their experience, but Ye puts it perfectly. He was able to empathize and feel those feelings along with the writer because by sharing her own experience, he was able to connect with her in a way that is almost unknown and indescribable. Ye also goes on to say, “It had an impact on me in a way I couldn’t describe… it was a whole other experience to watch the journey through her perspective… I aspire to have the same impact on my readers… I want my readers to know me” (Ye). That impact is so powerful because of the girl sharing her experience and story. It allowed Bryan to see things from her perspective and made him reflect which in turn led him to want to do the same. The blog posts that are included in this section have the same purpose. They speak on examples of authors sharing experience and what that does for the reader.
Contrary to sharing experience when the writing requires descriptive detail to retell the story, writing can also sometimes lack detail and be vague for a reason. Vagueness is a technique that I didn’t think much of existing until exploring Primo Levi’s work during this writing course. By the author being vague in their writing, it actually forces the reader to think on their own. I learned that readers can actually benefit from not getting the details certain times because when every single tiny thing is handed to the reader, they aren’t given the chance to reflect and wonder. This section of my blog was made in an attempt to showcase how vagueness is sometimes beneficial. I learned from this writing course that while a reader might be more likely to be confused when the text is vague, they are also more likely to wonder about and reflect on what it all might mean. And isn’t that the purpose of writing and reading? To think and reflect more? An article from Changing Minds says, “Vagueness happens when what is said can be interpreted in different ways” (Changing Minds). Sometimes the meaning of the text is up to the reader’s interpretation. After exploring this technique, I realized that being vague provides the reader with freedom. It gives the reader the freedom to explore their own minds to come up with a possibility of what the author might really mean. This freedom is similar to the freedom that comes with poetry that I spoke about earlier.
My concluding thoughts are that this writing course gave me the opportunity to finally reflect and appreciate writing, both as the verb and the noun. From all the different texts that we explored, analyzed, and discussed throughout this course, I learned a few of the various ways that one can use to express themselves and their thoughts. Most importantly, I was given the chance to finally understand why the act of writing is so crucial to our lives. We may think with our brains, but our minds play an equal, if not more important role in understanding and connecting with others. Everyone who writes has different reasons and purposes for why and what they write. However, from pictures to poetry to sharing experiences, we all write to express our thoughts, personalities, opinions, and more. I learned that underneath all of those “above the surface” reasons, we really write for ourselves. The famous author, Edgar Allen Poe, once said, “I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind” (Poe). This quote reminds me of one of the reasons why I write for myself. I write to organize and reflect on my own thoughts, to express my thoughts to others, and to connect with people. The various writing techniques, structures, and formats that I discovered from this writing course allowed me to come to the conclusion of what writing means to me.
Work Cited
Agrawal, Harsh. “5 Powerful Reasons To Add Images To Your Blog Posts.” ShoutMeLoud, 15 Nov. 2018,
www.shoutmeloud.com/4-ways-how-images-enhance-your-blog.html.
Barkley, KM. “8 Reasons Why Poetry Is Good for the Soul.” Writer’s Digest, Active Interest Media, 16
June 2016, www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/8-reasons-why-poetry-is-good-for-the-soul.
McGann, Kellie. “Why Do We Write?” The Write Practice, DISQUS, 31 Aug. 2016,
thewritepractice.com/why-i-write/.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “Quote by Edgar Allan Poe.” Goodreads, Goodreads Inc., 2020,
www.goodreads.com/quotes/742753-i-remained-too-much-inside-my-head-and-ended-up.
“Vagueness.” Changing Minds, Changing Works, 2002,
changingminds.org/techniques/language/modifying_meaning/vagueness.htm.
Ye, Bryan. “Why You Need To Write About Your Own Experiences.” The Writing Cooperative, Medium,
25 Mar. 2018, writingcooperative.com/why-you-need-to-write-about-your-own-experiences-dd07890907bd.