My Final Reflection!

 By Linda Patton ~ July 19, 2015

I have mixed emotions of joy and sadness as I write this final Blog. Joy, because I have almost made it through my first semester of college. Sadness, because this reflection blog will be the last required blog.

In the beginning of this class, I established the goal of learning to blog. After 7 weeks of continual blogging, I have reached that goal. I fully plan on continuing a blog of some sort. My friends are patiently waiting. Speaking of friends, let me start out with the challenges that I have faced during this blogging experience. When we moved to the country, I began telling a select group of friends all about my new life. There were plenty of fun things to learn, and hard things to deal with. My friends enjoyed hearing about them all. I wrote to someone nearly every day. I thought only a few very close friends read my emails. That thought turned to mortification when I found out they printed them off and passed them around the school where they teach. Gulp! I am a rather private person, and my self-confidence in writing mostly stayed at the non-existent level.

My mortification turned out to be a positive change in me. My audience grew and went so far as to call me if they did not get the latest story, or if I fell behind in writing them. Everywhere I go, people refer to me as the chicken lady. I tried to get my car into the shop yesterday, and they couldn’t find the warranty on our car until I told them I was the chicken lady. Being assigned to write every day, along with the two other classes I carried, meant I didn’t have enough time to keep up with my stories. My friends are all very encouraging and support my decision to return to school. They assure me they will wait, and express hopes of an upcoming blog.

Another challenge I face still had to do with the time factor. Some days, I barely had time to sit down and get it written. I missed a couple of days all together and had to catch up the next day. I did not spend as much time as on some blogs as I needed to. At times, I noticed errors when I reread them the next day, and simply did not have time to go back and correct these errors that had already been posted for the world to see. And honestly once or twice I did not think another sentence could cross my mind, much less my fingers.

Enough of the challenges, now onto the good stuff. I loved the Fluency Blog Assignment! It accomplished more in me than I ever dreamed possible in such a short period of time. While I usually succumb to severe perfectionism, I learned for the sake of the next task, that I must let it go when I found already published mistakes. The ability to do this came from practicing the things I have learned. I am practicing how to make better paragraphs, better descriptions, less “wimpy” verbs, and by all means, to be more decisive and write with some confidence. Practice! Practice! Practice! Not only have I noticed a difference in my writing, but my speech has improved tremendously.

I appreciate the extra credit opportunity of the blog logs. It served to teach me far more than earning a few points. Reading classmates’ blogs gave me a chance to get to know my peers, which prepared me to start seated classes this fall. It also exposed that I enjoy being surprised by comments other students posted in response to a blog. When I see the comment alert, my heart leaps with excitement, alongside of a healthy dose of fear, humility and satisfaction. Reading classmates’ blogs provided a powerful source of encouragement, as well as critique. I attempted to read and reply to at least one of each classmates’ posts.   All of this practice helps the decision making come faster. I know longer sit at the computer for hours trying to find the right word. I allow only a few moments to think, then I pick one and move on. Later I will go back and review. Nine times out of ten, a more suitable word, phrase, sentence, or even total change will be waiting in my mind before I can get it highlighted. Also, I have learned to write amidst more distractions. I don’t have time to let anything interfere.

And for the grand finally – the greatest thing I noticed during the fluency blog practice. Whenever the workload or complexity of other classes overwhelmed me with worry or frustrated my every thought, I would fall into English. The opportunity to do something I love waited to save me from the jaws of defeat. As I opened my mind and turned on my fingers to let my thoughts come gushing out, the world around me faded into the background, taking away the power it possessed to haunt me with fear of failure. The ability to put my thoughts into words, and examine my life left me with a glimmer of hope and a sliver of fulfillment, imparting the fight and determination I needed to press on, to finish what I started. To achieve the one thing I long for – success! The same success that Lucas asked us to define in the very beginning of this class.

The next semester already waits, not so patiently, around the corner. I will face this semester more knowledgeable thanks to this experience. I also look forward to the rewards that await as I continue to blog my journey.