A few months back, I raved about my urge to start blogging again. Today, I stumbled upon something called National Blogging Project Month (NaBloPoMo), which challenges bloggers to write daily. It is, of course, the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) blogging equivalent. I have also always wanted to write a novel! Maybe I’ll try that one day when I’m not busy, like when I retire!
Doing November’s NaBloPoMo is a perfect excuse to blog like there’s no tomorrow. Did I also mention that I have a my work report due near the end of the month as well? Yeah, I like to make things unnecessarily complicated. Perhaps daily blogging will get me into the right writing mood needed to tackle the dreadful task that is a work report. It’s not a difficult assignment or anything, but having a co-op term does makes you feel like you’ve been freed from the burden of school for 4 months or so. Having a series of great internships before you graduate is too good to be true if there isn’t school work that has to be involved with it! Long story short, UW co-op students have to take a series of “professional development” courses where they do short, weekly assignments that are designed to “prepare” them for the work place. At the end of each work term, students are expected to completed a ~16 page report on whatever topic they deem appropriate having to do with their experience. If the report isn’t completed to a satisfactory level, you fail your work term and future employers will just judge you.
As of right now, I’ve only completed the introductory sections of my work report. I have already done the research required for my topic, i.e. “Co-op as a Model of Learning for a User Interface Developer”, but I haven’t gained the motivation to actually sit own and start writing. I was hoping to get the entire first draft done this weekend. I still have time! I did finish this week’s assignments though š
Anyways, I had originally decided to write this post to discuss the importance of blogging. Instead, I went off on a tangent about school!
Commence opinions on why blogging is important.
- Blogging encourages us to write more. People simply do not write for fun anymore, they write because they have to. Whether it’s for a school assignment or a work-related project, very few people actually write for the sake of writing. As the egotistical people we are, blogging is perfect because we can just write about ourselves! Blogging, of course, doesn’t have to be too personal. You blog about anything you deem worthy, and it’s free to do so (like any form of writing). If your blog has something unique and tasteful to offer, you could start earning money too.
- Blogging can provoke discussion. Whether they are troll/hater comments or well-articulated political debate, blogging is a great way to engage in conversation. With our busy schedules, how many of us actually have time to sit own at a coffee shop and discuss the economic crisis? Although talking to someone face-to-face is ideal, we should also make use of the “social media” we have online.
- Blogging gets us thinking. Even if you are blogging about cheesy celebrity gossip, you are still thinking. Well, to a lesser extent than someone blogging about mathematical theory. It is important that we engage in our interests. Not only can it force you to become more open-minded, it really helps to structure the mind. Many people blog because it is theraputic. To many, a blog is a modern diary. Whether the subject matter is personal or not, blogging makes us more self-reflective (in whatever topic we choose to be critical of).
Below is a list of some of my favourite blogs I follow:
A List Apart
Futility Closet
Abtruse Goose
The Female Perspective of Computer Science
Tiger Sophia
What are some of yours?
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Post-grad bucket list
More self-care please
Some personal things on self-harm