Blog Essay
When I first began my Blog I was very unsure of what I wanted to write about and had no idea where the blog would take me. I was a bit slow in getting started due to some personal issues, in addition to just plain old procrastinating! After much thought, I chose my topic to be on animals, a surprise only to people who don’t know me.
My animals are very important to me and advocating for those who can’t advocate for themselves is equally important to me. I found that once I chose my topic, especially one that I was passionate about, my blog was easier to get started.
I did check my other classmates’ blogs to see what had already been done (and not done, in some cases). I was truly inspired by some of them, especially Brianna’s blog. When I first saw her blog, I thought “Darn, I wish I had thought of that!” I thought that because it appeared to be interesting and fun, something I would know about and could write easily. So, that’s when I racked my brain searching for something that I knew about, because I find animals interesting and I think so do a lot of other people. I felt my topic of animals was something that I could identify with and hopefully my readers would find interesting and could connect with.
Over the years I’ve experienced a lot with my animals and have had unique experiences with them and with other forms of wildlife. I’ve also had the opportunity to be a volunteer for animal welfare groups and have learned a tremendous amount. My passion for animal advocacy has grown out of learning about the astronomical numbers of unwanted animals here in the United States
As I began my blog I chose to write about how big a part of my life my animals are and the things I do for them and other animals, such as volunteering for my local shelter. I really didn’t know which direction I would take with my blog because I’ve had so many different encounter/experiences with animals that it could go in many different directions. Now that the assignment is complete, and when I finish all of my coursework in a few weeks, I hope to continue my blog not only to write more about animals and ways people can help them, but to keep up with my writing skills.
I think the greatest thing about this blog assignment has been the fact that I could do it in short snippets of approximately 250 words. When you write about a topic that you enjoy it doesn’t seem as laborious as writing a multi-page term paper. I found that this is also an excellent assignment for someone like me, who has ADHD and a very short-attention span.
When I contemplated what to write on, as far as the animals go, I thoroughly enjoyed sharing some of the situations I found myself in such as with JoJo and his eye. I am an information person and love to share things that other people may also find valuable when it comes to taking care of their own animals. Blogging was another way for me to share the information I’ve gained over the years about animal care, animal rescue, animal welfare and how to support local animal organizations. In a way, blogging has become another outlet for me to educate the public about animals. I hadn’t thought of blogging in that way before, but of course I had no idea what blogging was really about or how vast it has become. Blogging about animals has given me an internet voice on a topic close to my heart. My husband would say that it is another way for me to tell people what to do because I act like such an authority figure when it comes to the animals, well other things too.
The most important thing I’ve learned about myself in terms of blogging and this assignment is that I really like to writing on a lengthy basis on what I’m truly passionate about. I like to write in general, but being put on the spot to write about something specific or even something that doesn’t interest me can be very tedious at times. By choosing what to write about, when to write it, being able to be creative about it by adding photographs and adding links to websites made the process all that more enjoyable.
Learning about hypertext in Landow and applying it in our blogs also helped everything come together for me. I had no idea what this course was about when I signed up for it. I told Dr. Kareithi that I really needed to work on my writing more for what I want to do when I get a real job. He told me to find what courses you, Dr. Kearney, were teaching and any of them would be great. Honestly, I thought this course looked like a skater course. I should have known coming from Dr. Kareithi’s recommendation that it would be anything but. I knew what I needed and he knew what I needed and it wasn’t a skater course. However, that being said, and after looking at the syllabus and thinking what have I gotten myself into, breaking the course down into smaller parts such as the website into three sections, the wiki, and the blog, each was very doable with the blog being the most fun and free.
The freedom of a blog was what made it most appealing in the end. Not only was I addressing an issue close to my heart, but I also felt as though I was doing a little community service by informing the reader about things with animals they may not otherwise know. Having the freedom to write about anything I wanted, within reason, gave me more incentive to stick with the blog, make it my own, and expand upon it. Adding the photographs of my own animals, the links to other photographs and the video were really the highlights of the experience because they gave a window into what I was writing about and expanded upon the passion I felt for what I was writing about. The visuals just helped to create a backdrop for my writing.
My blog writing has also helped me tremendously in putting my thoughts into text regarding what I was doing as far as looking for employment after graduation. Just putting into writing and reading it on the internet was a good way for me to evaluate what I want to do. Sometimes I tend to think about things a lot, but may not act on them, but seeing it in writing or print gives substance to those thoughts, gives them validity and gives me the go-ahead to embrace those thoughts. My blog about “HSHA needs you and HSUS needs me” was a great way for me to sort out those thoughts and “see” how I felt about them by thinking them through and reading them on a computer screen. They seemed more real, as if seeing the print gave the words more credibility.
Blogging has made me feel as though I have a license to be an author. I would never have thought that otherwise. Sure, we write for school and maybe for our jobs, but I always thought to be an “author” meant a paid professional. Of course, I am not getting paid, but the fact that it is “published” gives me a great sense of accomplishment and not just as a student.
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