They Say, I Say, but I say what?

After reading They Say I Say, I felt some parts were very redundant and familiar to many things I learned in high school. However, I did notice (as they point out in an example) that I tend to summarize and only talk about what "They Say." Another problem I would like to change is my paragraphs running on and saying "He says this" "He believes" He feels" right after the other. The text really brought some of my writing flaws to light, and I have a better idea of how I will be forming my essay.

My Presentation.

I think my presentation went well, I was a little nervous, but I included all the information that I had intended to. However, It was a little less formal than others, and since I had many pictures and attempted and humerus approach, I'm not sure I included enough information. I know my blogger is a nerd and he is proud to be one, but I have to admit, I feel a little funny calling him a "nerd." It seems derogatory and a little mean, even though I consider myself an undercover nerd and it's easy to relate, I still don't know how to make it sound positive and unoffensive. Any suggestions?

Connections: the book and the blog,

Now that I'm actually following a blog, I'm finding many connections between the posts and the book Blogging by Jill Walker Rettberg. In chapter two, Rettberg talks about how not everyone can be a famous movie producer or radio broad caster, but the blog I'm following shows how one simple college man became successful because of the internet. He runs two podcasts, three websites and uses over three social networking sites. Because of his Harry Potter Podcast and website, he gets press passes to the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathlty Hallows part one in London. He will be right behind CNN ready to report the news to excited fans everywhere. In my essay I will discuss how his internet life has shaped him, and influenced his identity through his blog. Without the internet, Andrew Sims would just be an everyday college nerd, and he would not be the person who he is today.

Less rerview, more detail.

When I first started writing the essay, it was more of a summary rather than an in depth essay on my blogger's identity. I need to pick out little things, mainly quotes, from the posts and turn them into concrete detail about Andrew's identity as a nerd. Now that I've finally decided on his true blog identity, I think it will be easier to make my paper more detailed and concise.

My Researching

Things are going well for the most part. I've noticed however that the blog isn't about Harry Potter as much as I thought it would be. It's actually more about Andrew as a person, his interests in technology and his other sites. It's all interesting but very diverse, so it's hard to pick which blogs to write about because they are all so different. I love learning about him and I cannot wait to finish reading the blogs!

Do we really know what we're doing?

In the book Blogging by Jill Walker Rettberg, (2008), there are many topics brought up that make the reader think. One that particularly stuck out to me was at the end of chapter 3 while talking about Facebook and other social networking, "When a piece of software... presents such traces of your life in chronological order, those traces become an extended narrative, an autobiography created on the fly..." This really made me think back; middle school posts on my Myspace, my old Xanga where I posted grammatically incorrect nonsense about some petty pointless problem happening that minute. I think I've matured and I really watch what I post on my Facebook these days... I mean I have to since I'm friends with my mom and dad (they have a shared Facebook page), my aunt, older cousins, and both of my managers from work. Since the internet is so advanced and complex and anyone can find information about anyone, I like to present myself in a somewhat respectable manner. There can be potential employers digging up dirt on me and I want to make sure the present part of my records are clean. Not that I'm a bad person, but I would like to look more mature that other Facebook users who post inappropriate things every day five times a day, can anyone else relate?

Andrew Sims

The blog I've finally decided to follow this quarter is posted by Andrew Sims, one of the members of the podcast "Muggelcast" which is a podcast about Harry Potter. Since I am a giant fan of Harry Potter, I am extremley excited about following this blog because I already follow the podcast! This will be very exciting I think and I can't wait to get started!

Who am I as a writer?

I would consider myself a creative writer; I enjoy rhyming, writing poems, jingles and any other structured  creative compositions. My writing is still improving, and there is an infinite amount of growth ahead of me. I am skilled with weaving and adding in my own commentary, and since I'm strongly opinionated, it works out well!  I do not enjoy writing about history at all, but I can still be analytical. I can write about facts and details as long as I enjoy the topic I'm writing about. I can crank out essay's pretty easily but I can become quite indecisive and make many changes when I'm through. Writing is never finished but always a work in progress.