Week 8 Progess

I'm pretty happy with my progress so far. My weekly routine is okay for the most part, but I tend to put off doing my project/comment/feedback until the last minute instead of doing them at the time I planned when I made my schedule. I also haven't done any of the extra credit assignments. Moving forward, I'm going to try to get back on my planned schedule and find time to do the extra credit.

                                     
                                                         (Inspirational balloon)

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

1. For the most part I've found the feedback and comments I've received to be very helpful. I sometimes struggle with knowing how much explanation I need to include in my writing, so comments that ask questions or point out something that was confusing are a good opportunity for me to see how I can improve in that respect.

2. I think my feedback to other students has been pretty good, although they would be better able to answer that than I am. I usually try to start my comments with saying what I liked about a person's story or project, then move to any points I think could be improved.

3. I feel like I've sort of gotten to know a bit about some people whose blogs I've been assigned several times by the randomizer and some people who have commented on multiple stories on my blog just by seeing the types of stories they write and what they like or dislike in my stories. I haven't really had any ongoing conversations with anyone through the comment section. I think my introduction and blog tells people as much about me as I would reveal in any other class.

4. I want to work on leaving more questions over things I didn't understand in the story in my feedback, since those types of comments have been helpful to me.

                                
                                                                   (Feedback Cat)

5. I chose this picture partly because I think the cat's cute, and partly because I've noticed a pattern in the feedback I've received of people being confused by things that I thought were clear, which has lead me to realize that I often don't provide enough background or explanation in my stories.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Overall, I think my reading and writing assignments are working out for me pretty well so far. There have been a few stories that I think I could have done a better job on, but for the most part I like the way they've turned out. My favorite reading so far has been the Japanese mythology unit. I didn't know much of anything about Japanese myths going into the unit, so it was fun to read so many unfamiliar stories and learn about a new mythology system. I'm happy with the way my project is progressing so far as well, although I'm never quite sure if any project is going to turn out well until I'm finished.


This is my favorite picture that I've used in a story so far. It's from my Persephone story, and I like the way it captures the dualistic nature of Persephone as both a goddess of spring and growth and the queen of the Underworld, with the different colors on her dress and the bright sunshine on the right contrasting with the gloom on the left.

Moving forward I think I need to start working on my storytelling posts earlier than I have been. I'm a procrastinator by nature, and I think that making myself move past this and leaving myself more time to work on my stories will make me happier with the results and less stressed while writing every week.

Image: Persephone, Queen of the Underworld