Assignment 0

So I guess I will just run through all of the questions for our first blog, that seems to be the best way to go about it. I am studying English and French at St. Lawrence. French sort of came about by accident, I was planning on taking French every semester, just because I have been taking French since I was 10, so I figured I would continue along with it. Once I studied abroad in France my perception of France changed, as did my love for the language. I figured at that point that French was something that I wanted to continue and pursue. And, surprisingly, speaking French has actually helped my English. I have always loved to read, and writing(and editing) have always been things that I have throughly enjoyed, so all of my areas seemed to be natural choices for me along my four year journey.

I am from Norwich, VT(there is a girl in our class from Lebanon, NH which is actually ten minutes from me, so that was cool to find out!). I went to public high school in New Hampshire, I live right on the border of VT and NH-always a confusing thing to explain to people. Norwich is a small, quaint, quintessential Vermont town, with a general store and not too much else. It is a beautiful area, but really lacking in any type of diversity, unfortunately. I loved growing up there, I was born and raised there and would not have it any other way. Hopefully I will move back there to raise my family, that is one of my dreams at the moment.

My interests and hobbies are all over the board: I love to play tennis, I love to hang out with my friends, I have an obsession with music and learning about new artists, new sounds, new songs, old songs and just discovering cool things out there. I also love speaking French, baking, running, shopping, reading, and having a great conversation. I am finding that as I get older, I like going to cocktail parties and such with an older crowd, because now that sort of socializing is interesting and not painful to me-a true sign that I am actually growing up, which is a bit weird.

My influences are all over the place. I really respect my advisor/professor Bob Cowser, and his writing style and advice. I have learned a great deal as a writer from him. I love the simplistic nature of Hemingway, I have really been into him lately and his style is something that I strive to emulate. I also love David Sedaris and Dave Barry, for their tongue and cheek, hysterical writing. I would love to write some really funny pieces this year, because I am very sarcastic when I talk, so I would love to carry that over into my writing. I think writing something that is that funny is a very challenging thing to do, so that is something I would really like to challenge myself with.

Good writing to me is simple. It captures a lot without trying too hard. Good writing is such a science. Sometimes it just cliques and sometimes it doesn't. But, good writing is different for everyone. With good writing you forget about everything else, and you are in that moment with those characters. That is what I believe good writing is. And, it means something to you, it evokes some emotion in you, whether it makes you reflect on your life or you are affected by the characters or the narrators, you are moved in some way.

In this class I hope to learn how to me more creative, and to create a piece that readers can really jump in to and get interested in. I do not want to write anything cheesy, dull or stereotypical. I really want to try and get out of the box in this class, and like I said before, I really want to try to write some comedic work. I think my life is pretty funny, and I laugh at just about everything, so I would love to put my sense of humor into my writing. And, I think that that will really challenge me. I also want to write about darker things to, that often seems to be things that I shy away from, but I really want to write about things that aren't as happy too, and things that might make people uncomfortable. I have been pretty comfortable so far with the writing I have done, so I really want to push the envelope more and jump out of the mold that I have established. I also want to learn how to make my writing flow better-my trains of thought tend to jump around a lot, so I want to learn how to organize my writing in a more clear and concise fashion. I am really excited for this class, it seems like a great group and what we did in class today makes me excited for what is to come. I think everyone is going to bring a lot of energy and ideas to the class, so I think I am going to learn a lot. I think it is going to be a great semester.