Writing 101, Day Nineteen

It’s day nineteen of my Writing 101 challenge and today’s homework assignment is to write 400 words on whatever comes to mind, without thinking about it too much or worrying about whether anyone will like it or if it’s any good.

For some reason, this has turned out to be my hardest assignment. Turns out I need a more specific prompt and I find it hard to just go free-styling. So I thought that I would use this opportunity to write a little bit about this Writing 101 challenge and what I’ve learned from it.

(Hey only about 300 more words to go!)

First of all I should give some editing credit and thanks to my wonderful husband, the English major. He’s been incredibly helpful; reviewing my posts when asked, always providing useful feedback and ideas. And he’s always anxious to see what I come up with. He’s my biggest supporter and his words of encouragement and praise mean a lot to me.

This past month of writing assignments has led me to explore different styles of writing that I never considered before. For example, I’m most proud of the fictional posts I’ve composed these last few weeks. Maybe this is a field or style I should explore further. Most of my posts in the past have been very personal and while there’s still a place for those, maybe I’m ready to move on from all that. We’ll see.

I’m learning to spot the use of passive voice and I’m trying to avoid it whenever I can. It’s not easy. I’ve been using a thesaurus more often; trying to come up with better words to tell my story, more descriptive verbs.

I’m still trying to find “my voice” and it will probably take a lot more practice before I have identified it. I’ll keep working on it.

I know I have gained some new followers in the last month and I hope you stick around a while. Your likes, feedback, and comments are always welcome. Please don’t be a stranger. Stop by often and let me know how I’m doing.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s assignment; probably the last one of the challenge. I’m wondering what my grade would be if this was a real class? Anyway, hopefully there will be a Writing 201 in the near future and we can keep working at this thing we call blogging.

Til next time!