When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young. ~ Maya Angelou ~
How do the things you read influence what and how you write? For me, reading gives me something to write about. Like for instance, the blog I wrote about on January 7th, was from a book I was reading. It was originally a quickwrite in class, but as I was writing it, I found that I liked doing something like that. I like adding my own ideas into a book and posting it onto my blog. Quickwrite: "She Touched The Box in Her Pocket and Smiled..." is the name of the blog that was based from the books, Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce.
Halloween is another previous blog I did on October 30th that was influenced by The Immortals Quartet, also by Tamora Pierce. It got me into the idea about writing a Halloween themed blog. There are a few ideas from the books, but there are others like, Casper the Friendly Ghost, who is not in the book. I made the story up myself instead of taking it from a book. It was fun, but it's not as easy as weaving your own ideas into a book you read. It's also not as good as an author's book, but I was proud that I was able to do this. I was amazed at myself. Practicing this type of writing, will influence how I write by allowing me to steal the writing styles of authors and making them into my own. In these ways, I can improve my writing by reading more.
Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write? This question is different for everybody. Some people get their topics from friends and families. They also get it from the things the watch, but I get it from the things I read and the events that are happening all around me. I read so many books since the beginning of high school that it's so hard to choose a topic to write about. I usually write about important things that happened to me, like my blog post, Winter Break. This was a post right before winter break started. I was telling everyone what I planned on doing over the break, like volunteering at Asian Health Services in Chinatown.
A series of blog posts I did was about my Alaskan Cruise during the summer. It was a series of posts of what I did every day during the trip. Since I couldn't post them up during the break, because school didn't start yet and I didn't know anything about a blog, I decided to post them up at the beginning of the school year. I went to all sorts of places in Alaska, like Juneau, Skagway, and other places too. I had a lot of fun. I met new friends and saw new places. I hope to go back there again. I might even write a story about it if I ever do. Since I plan on writing a story in the future, I might as well practice by posting up a story or a summary of the book I will be reading during the next semester. What I plan on doing is including myself into the book. That will also help my writing become better. It also gives me a chance to read more books without my mom bugging me about studying.
In what way have you surprised yourself this semester on your blog? For me it would be writing about topics I didn't think I'd write about. I wasn't surprised that I was writing about a book I was reading, I was surprised that I added something into a story already published. I was planning on writing about books I read, like summaries or reviews, but not like the post for, Quickwrite: "She Touched The Box in Her Pocket and Smiled...". I was completely surprised by that. I also planned on writing my own stories, but didn't expect to grab bits and pieces from other sources and combine them into one for the post, Halloween. I think this is a sign of improvement in my writing because my mind and body are finding new ways to write without my knowledge. It's kind of like my writing reflexes. It just comes out of nowhere on it's own. It's like if you train yourself to dodge in self-defense, then when the real thing happens, your body moves on it's own based on memory and instincts. It feels natural. That's what I feel about my writing. It comes out naturally.
What I hope for in this blog is to surprise myself by writing about something new like comedy or my fantasy life. My fantasy life would be an interesting topic because I have no idea how I'm going to write, so I'm just going to let myself loose and have my "writing reflex" do their thing. I will continue to write even when the school year is over because I feel this will greatly improve my writing. This will also help me to find my own writing style rather than taking the styles of others. I hope this will also help me to control my "writing instincts" instead of waiting for it to happen on it's own. That would improve my writing skills more because I would be able to use that skill whenever I want. It would also be very useful in college and if I get a job which requires a lot of writing.
The future is so mysterious. It can change at any moment depending on what you do. Maybe I'll write about what I want my future to be like. I hope you guys will still be reading my blog in the future. Please come back next week to see what I will be writing about. Until then, see ya!
Halloween is another previous blog I did on October 30th that was influenced by The Immortals Quartet, also by Tamora Pierce. It got me into the idea about writing a Halloween themed blog. There are a few ideas from the books, but there are others like, Casper the Friendly Ghost, who is not in the book. I made the story up myself instead of taking it from a book. It was fun, but it's not as easy as weaving your own ideas into a book you read. It's also not as good as an author's book, but I was proud that I was able to do this. I was amazed at myself. Practicing this type of writing, will influence how I write by allowing me to steal the writing styles of authors and making them into my own. In these ways, I can improve my writing by reading more.
Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write? This question is different for everybody. Some people get their topics from friends and families. They also get it from the things the watch, but I get it from the things I read and the events that are happening all around me. I read so many books since the beginning of high school that it's so hard to choose a topic to write about. I usually write about important things that happened to me, like my blog post, Winter Break. This was a post right before winter break started. I was telling everyone what I planned on doing over the break, like volunteering at Asian Health Services in Chinatown.
A series of blog posts I did was about my Alaskan Cruise during the summer. It was a series of posts of what I did every day during the trip. Since I couldn't post them up during the break, because school didn't start yet and I didn't know anything about a blog, I decided to post them up at the beginning of the school year. I went to all sorts of places in Alaska, like Juneau, Skagway, and other places too. I had a lot of fun. I met new friends and saw new places. I hope to go back there again. I might even write a story about it if I ever do. Since I plan on writing a story in the future, I might as well practice by posting up a story or a summary of the book I will be reading during the next semester. What I plan on doing is including myself into the book. That will also help my writing become better. It also gives me a chance to read more books without my mom bugging me about studying.
In what way have you surprised yourself this semester on your blog? For me it would be writing about topics I didn't think I'd write about. I wasn't surprised that I was writing about a book I was reading, I was surprised that I added something into a story already published. I was planning on writing about books I read, like summaries or reviews, but not like the post for, Quickwrite: "She Touched The Box in Her Pocket and Smiled...". I was completely surprised by that. I also planned on writing my own stories, but didn't expect to grab bits and pieces from other sources and combine them into one for the post, Halloween. I think this is a sign of improvement in my writing because my mind and body are finding new ways to write without my knowledge. It's kind of like my writing reflexes. It just comes out of nowhere on it's own. It's like if you train yourself to dodge in self-defense, then when the real thing happens, your body moves on it's own based on memory and instincts. It feels natural. That's what I feel about my writing. It comes out naturally.
What I hope for in this blog is to surprise myself by writing about something new like comedy or my fantasy life. My fantasy life would be an interesting topic because I have no idea how I'm going to write, so I'm just going to let myself loose and have my "writing reflex" do their thing. I will continue to write even when the school year is over because I feel this will greatly improve my writing. This will also help me to find my own writing style rather than taking the styles of others. I hope this will also help me to control my "writing instincts" instead of waiting for it to happen on it's own. That would improve my writing skills more because I would be able to use that skill whenever I want. It would also be very useful in college and if I get a job which requires a lot of writing.
The future is so mysterious. It can change at any moment depending on what you do. Maybe I'll write about what I want my future to be like. I hope you guys will still be reading my blog in the future. Please come back next week to see what I will be writing about. Until then, see ya!
