Literary Blog

Our Class Literary Blogs

http://blankblog05.blogspot.com
http://hogansheroines.blogspot.com
http://nosynonymsforwomen.blogspot.com
http://testrogen.blogspot.com
http://unsp3akabl3.blogspot.com

Introduction to Blog Writing

"Since I was 12 or 13, I have kept a journal, for almost 40 years. During those years, I have had many homes, and only one, the work of my writing. I practice in my journal every day, and the exercise is:
How do I talk to myself without lying? How do I tell myself more than one truth?
Now I write on a computer, not in notebooks, but I still print out every page. The pages laid end to end would be a long walk through the world."

- Minnie Bruce Pratt, "A Long Walk through the World" in Leaving Home, Becoming Home

Your group literary blog is a place for you to develop and reflect on your long walk through our readings and discussions. This is a place to begin thinking about paper topics, putting together pieces of class discussion and texts from week to week, and making observations about things you notice in the texts that stand out to you (quirky things, odd things, fascinating things, upsetting things, confusing things). These detailed notices will help you to develop your short and longer papers and will help you to take active part in classroom discussion.

What Is a Blog?

Blogs are web diaries usually generated by individuals. Bloggers post commentary on a range of subjects, and visitors to the blog may post responses. Blogs can be focused on a particular issue or can explore one blogger's ideas in general.

Our blogs will be literary blogs, that is, they will chart your experience reading the literature of our class.

For examples of literary blogs already online, check out
Moorish Girl  http://www.moorishgirl.com/
Maud Newton http://maudnewton.com/blog/
Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind http://www.sarahweinman.com/
Cupcake Series (now closed, but archives online at) http://cupcakeseries.blogspot.com/

How do I do this?

We'll get together in groups of four during class and start a blog on a free blog host called Blogger. You'll get to choose the appearance of the blog, name and describe your blog briefly,   learn how to make an entry on the blog, and learn how to post a comment to other bloggers' entries.

You'll post six blog entries throughout the semester, though you're welcome to post more if it helps your writing and reading processes! During six class periods over the course of the semester I'll give you time to check in with your blog, post a comment to someone else's entry, respond to a comment that's been posted on one of your entries, and begin a new entry. You'll finish your entry at home.

These entries will be informal but detailed observations, descriptions, and well-developed questions about the texts and informed by class discussion. Each blog entry should be at least 200 words long (about half a double-spaced page).