Reflective Essay

        I've been learning a lot from writers block, and also from the balance on my blog between open-ended and formal academic writing styles. This blog has helped me realize a lot of things about me and the way I write. It has also help me see the big differences between open-ended and formal academic writing.
            Having a blog is fun for me when I can write about what I want. Formal academic writing, or assigned writing, is harder for me because I have to think of what to say and plan it out. I have discovered that I procrastinate a lot and I am very lazy when it comes to the assigned writing. When I procrastinate I don't start to post things on my blog until 11:00 or 11:30, and I don't get done with it until around 12:15. When I’m feeling lazy I don’t plan out what I want to write about or how I will write it until I start typing. To me, this is a VERY bad habit to get into because its a hard habit to get rid of and its not productive towards my grades. When I don’t plan things out, my writing gets messy, unfocused, and hard to understand. If I wasn’t so lathargic and I actually planned things out my writing would be a lot stronger. To me, having this blog is fun yet troublesome at the same time.
       Open-ended writing is very easy for me to do because I pick topics that are a lot easier for me to write about and they flow a lot smoother. Formal academic writing differs depending on the subject I’m writing about. We specifically have to respond to any one's post that we feel the need to. Usually I would pick a topic where I have a lot to say about the subject, but once I put it into words, my post is too short. Since I procrastinate too much I don’t have time to think of more to say. I have a similar, yet different issue with open-ended writing. With open-ended writing I can write about anything I want, but I don’t want to have the same issue as my formal writing, or response posts. These are the reasons I have very little assignments posted on my blog, they are displays of procrastination and laziness.
      There have been times when I do a response post that is fun for me and I have a lot to say about it. For example, I responded to a post Ebone wrote about a conversation Aleah and her had in p.e. about the “N-word” with two other students. For this post I had a lot to say because I had a lot of experience with discrimination  and these types of incedents. For this piece I didn’t really have to any planning because of my experiences with these things. For other response posts, they require planning and organization, but if I’m doing them late at night I don’t have time to plan out anything, so my work is a mess and unorganized.
         My writers block has been caused by, again, not planning and organizing my work. Since I’ve come up short and haven’t been able to produce well written, long enough work, I need to work on when I get stuck. I noticed that the more i get stuck the longer it takes to write and since I’m doing things late at night then I have no time to waste at all. To over come my writers block I sit myself down in a quiet place and think about the subject. My writers block mainly happens when I write a response post. When I’m writing a response post and I run out of things to say, that’s when my writers block kicks in. I have an opinion when I do a response post and my opinions are very straight foward, which moves my writing towards a more straight foward approach. When I’m writing a more open-ended piece its a lot easier for me because I have can incorperoate more creativity.
          My goals for next semester are not to procrastinate, plan out my work before I type it, try to type them during the day or as soon as I get home from school, and write as much as I can but don’t strain myself. I believe these step by step goals will help me reach my main goal of making my writing stronger. I believe I can complete these goals step by step and carefully produce well written work. My response posts will also develope a lot more. My open ended writing won’t develope as much because I have more of a problem with responses.