A Final Goodbye

Here we go.  My last blog post.  And how fitting it is that my concluding post on this literacy adventure is about…well…blogs.  I have sincerely enjoyed working on this blog a couple of times a week, far more than I like writing academic papers.  What I think blog writing really helped with was developing my voice.  When I write an academic paper, I feel I am writing more what the teacher wants to read than what I truly want to write.  On the blog posts, like right now, I really feel as if I am really speaking through my words; they are my true thoughts on whatever I am writing about.

This was especially useful to me when we started to write our creative projects.  Because I had been using my own voice on the blog posts, I felt comfortable enough to write one of the main characters in first person.  I don’t think I would have been able to do this without the blog.  When reading different authors, there is always that unique thing deep down that singularly comes from the author.  This is voice.  The difference between blog writing and academic writing is that blogs initiate creativity, while research papers show knowledge.  A great fiction writer may not write a great history paper and the writer of the best college thesis of all time probably couldn’t write a successful novel.  Both have uses and both are valid.  For developing a writer’s creativity and voice though, blogging is certainly the way to go.

Now, as my blogging journey comes to an end, I have several people/things I wold like to thank.  First off, congratulations to myself, as I was somehow able to be disciplined enough to turn in all 25 posts on time.  Good job Jeff.  Next, I would like to thank my computer, which didn’t crash even once during our blogging time.  Well done.  Last, I want to thank all of my devoted readers, who sometimes would get interested enough to maybe read a part of one of my posts.  Thanks everyone.  With that in mind, I would like to declare The Book of Slade officially closed.