Week 8 Reflections

Reading:

One of the prompts given for this assignment is "Have you been making good choices with the reading?" which to me, begs the question, can you make a bad choice?  In my experience so far, every story read gives me something new to think about, and sometimes even gives me a new idea for a story, or even a new reflection about life.  I've enjoyed nearly all of the readings in this class; it's hard to imagine even picking a favorite.  I think each week brings me something new, and I look forward to that.  

It's hard to not be objective when you're always working with one of these. Heh. OpenClipArt

Writing:

I'm fairly happy with the stories I've written so far in this course.  As I look back on my stories, I notice that I'm not bad with describing details and adding more elements to the story, as well as focusing in on one aspect, but I'm not so great at coming up with original ideas derived from the stories.  When I'm reading the stories, I usually don't connect it to something else, or something completely different.  I'm a microbiology major, so I take a lot of science courses, which I believe has impacted the way I read and interpret information.  I've been trying to open up a creative door in my mind with this class, but it's hit or miss most of the time.  
As far as using my reading notes to create stories, I think I do an adequate job.  I usually try to focus in on what interested me the most about a story, and also write down any ideas I may have at the time.  I usually go back through my reading notes right before I begin to write.  

Connecting:

When I read other students' stories, I admire their creativity the most.  I'm always impressed by what they pulled out of their original source, how they made connections with either other stories or even things they've experienced in their own lives.  I try to give decent feedback, but I also try to keep in mind that someone else's creative process and vision is probably a lot different than my own, and that just because someone wrote a story differently than I would have, that doesn't mean it's not great!  I try to be careful not to be overly critical, but point out things I think could be improved as well.  I think I've got a pretty good system with giving constructive criticism, but I'm always looking at what others tell me in their feedback, and looking for techniques I can use there.  

Overall this class has been enjoyable so far.  It's fascinating getting to read and learn about stories from so many different time periods and cultures, especially those I would've never thought to have looked into myself.  I've also been enjoying my "daily" happiness challenge!  Sometimes it's really easy to come up with something that made me happy throughout a day, but sometimes I have really bad days, and it's harder to find joy in it.  I think trying to notice the small things that I enjoyed is helping me realize how great of a life I really do have.  I look forward to the second half of this course!