The Final

10. Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write?

Every week during the football season, I have been writing about local football teams and their success or suckness. I don't read newspapers or even other people's sports blogs to inspire me, I just think that, no matter how corny it sounds, sports is the only inspiration someone needs for writing a blog on sports. When people talk about sports and all the stats, there are millions of people who can do that kind of thing, but when it comes to giving an opinion on sports stuff, whether controversial or not, I will always put my opinion out there. Not that my opinion isn't always the most popular one, I feel if I can open the eyes for other people on things that I write about, then I have done my "job".

Another thing that inspires me, is people giving praise and compliments. When I see that someone likes my blog posts or likes about my opinion on something, I think it's awesome. Whether it be someone saying "Oh I really liked what you wrote about and how you wrote it" or "I think you can actually use this for something", it all inspires me.

Now back to the original question, what inspires me to write. I truly feel that whenever I see something cool in sports or in the news or wherever, I want to write about something that makes me feel better. After I finish a post, I look back and see if I feel better after than I did before. For the most part, this was true for all my blog posts. The blog was kind of like a journal and I was able to express my feelings on sports subjects and it felt good.

1. Explain one or two ways your writing has improved over the semester. Include a few examples from your posts over time, with analysis, to illustrate how the improvement(s) happened.

The biggest thing about writing is knowing who your audience is. I used to hate writing for teachers especially when they only like a certain type of writing and it has to be done that way, or they just flat out don't like you or your writing. Writing the blog has improved not only my writing, but also my outlook on teachers and that, yes their opinion should count, but they should also find a balance between their likes and the writer's likes. Like I said earlier, my writing has improved drastically over the semester. I think typing is easier for me, and when I look back and read my first post, I was typing like I write. And if you have ever read anything I have written, you will know it's not my best. There is just something about sitting at the keyboard that makes the ideas flow for me.

"I'm sure many people disagree with this statement, but the of the matter is, Kobe is greater than Lebron. Last year, an incredible amount of people were hopping on the "Cavalier Bandwagon". It seems they jumped off just as fast as they got on which is bound to happen with any bandwagon. To those certain people, I had one simple question to ask them when the topic of who is better got brought up. That question was "Who's sitting at home, and who is out there winning his 4th title?" The silence after that only proved my point more. Lucky for them the Lakers won the title after school ended so they didn't have to try to defend their earlier statements about who is better."

That is a direct example from my first blog post. I feel if I wrote a blog about the same exact subject next week, you would notice a drastic change in the type of writing. The last sentence especially stands out in my mind as the one that doesn't belong. Whether it is just getting back into writing, or if it really has something to do with writing to the audience, I am just glad that the improvement is visible. At least to me it is.

Mark it down Mr. Sutherland, next week I vow to do a blog post about Kobe Bryant still being better than any player in the NBA including Lebron. Not only that, but the Lakers are the best team in the NBA and will win another NBA title. Sorry for going off topic like that, but it's a point that should be noted and hopefully will not be seen as cockiness or over confidence, but rather having a strong opinion on something and sticking to it.

8. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?

I love having a blog. Not only has it changed the way I write, but also the way I think about stories I hear. If I have a strong opinion on something I hear, then I think to myself "I have to definitely blog about that later". Almost every day I come home from school, get some food, and watch Sportscenter. If there are any interesting stories on that day, I store them for later and wait for Friday for all the stories of that week. If I really can't decide, then I just make what I call a hybrid post. While only one of my blogs is actually called that, I have done it numerous times especially when both the 49ers AND the Raiders won over the course of the week. While this was a rarity, I feel my writing was the best when I was happy (of course because they both won).

I like writing, or typing, much better now because it has become so much easier for me to do. Ever since starting a blog, my typing has gotten faster and my ability to organize my thoughts quickly is at it's finest. Sorry if that sounded over confident. I am now able to do a normal blog post in about 15 minutes when the first blog post I did took over half an hour. My ability to get past writer's block has also improved and I am now almost never stuck unless I am writing about something I have no idea what I am writing about (see the quickwrite about liberals and conservatives).

Well that about wraps up all my ideas, and I feel especially good after getting so many ideas off of my chest. Now it is back to the regular old blog posts where I hope to improve my writing even more than I have in the first semester.