"Merry Christmas, Alex Cross" is really exciting. I started off very confused but I got it after awhile and it is really interesting me. It takes place on Christmas Eve, late at night, and a man is holding his family hostage inside his home. He is a psychopath, and detective Alex Cross is trying to get him to stop.” (Michael)
As you can probably tell, my first blog post was not very impressive. It is just a very vague description of what was happening in the book. It sounded really monotone, and by reading it you couldn’t really get a grasp of who I was as a writer/blogger. You couldn’t hear my voice, I just sounded like a boring kid who was just writing a short little summary because he had to for his English class. As you will see in my next post, I have changed my ways since then.
"Call it something in my DNA, I don't know. But I couldn't watch a man get shot down on Christmas morning. I launched myself at him, wrapped him up, gun and all, and drove him to the floor. A rifle shot. Glass broke in a kitchen window. The picture of Fowler's family shattered as a bullet passed through it and into the wall," (Patterson, 131-132).
I believe this line is extremely important to my book. Alex Cross is inside Fowler, the crazed meth-addicts, house, and the plan is to get him shot so that he could save Fowlers family who is being held hostage. However, Cross sees an opportunity to save many other lives through fixing all of the lawsuits that Fowler had rigged throughout his career as lawyer, so Alex risks his life in order to save many others', by throwing himself onto Fowler as the bullet is fired. He hits the shotgun out of Fowlers hand and arrests him. This action shows that Cross is very selfless, and wants good for many people. He values the lives of others before his, even if he doesn't know them. His actions were very bold and courageous, not to mention very risky, but they could pay off massively if he is able to save the lives of others. The only way for me to find out is if I keep reading.” (Michael)
Clearly, I have improved my skills as a blogger. This quote is from my fourth post; Prompt 4: Best Line. The first, most obvious difference is the length. My first post was only a mere 59 words in length. My fourth post, on the other hand, in total was 230 words long! That is a huge difference. Another major difference was that in my second post, I used textual evidence. Textual evidence really helps a lot and makes a big difference in the quality of the post. It really helps the reader understand the point that you are trying to convey to them. With textual evidence, you as a writer become a much more credible source. It is no longer just your opinion or standpoint on something, it is backed by solid evidence from the text itself, which improves your credibility massively.
Another thing that improved my blogging skills was using elevated diction, or the use of more complicated words. In my first post, I sounded really boring and dry, with mainly small words that a third grader would probably be able to understand. In my fourth post, however, I used words like “courageous”, “rigged”, and “massively”. Finally, one last thing that I improved upon from my first post to my fourth was portraying my true voice within my writing. In my first post I sounded extremely boring, but in my second post, I am much more exciting. Phrases like “the crazed meth-addict” do a tremendous job of pulling the reader in and making them want to read more. The job of people reading the blog from our school suddenly changes from having to read the post for a grade in English class to reading an interesting blog post about a book that could potentially interest them.
As you can probably tell, my first blog post was not very impressive. It is just a very vague description of what was happening in the book. It sounded really monotone, and by reading it you couldn’t really get a grasp of who I was as a writer/blogger. You couldn’t hear my voice, I just sounded like a boring kid who was just writing a short little summary because he had to for his English class. As you will see in my next post, I have changed my ways since then.
"Call it something in my DNA, I don't know. But I couldn't watch a man get shot down on Christmas morning. I launched myself at him, wrapped him up, gun and all, and drove him to the floor. A rifle shot. Glass broke in a kitchen window. The picture of Fowler's family shattered as a bullet passed through it and into the wall," (Patterson, 131-132).
I believe this line is extremely important to my book. Alex Cross is inside Fowler, the crazed meth-addicts, house, and the plan is to get him shot so that he could save Fowlers family who is being held hostage. However, Cross sees an opportunity to save many other lives through fixing all of the lawsuits that Fowler had rigged throughout his career as lawyer, so Alex risks his life in order to save many others', by throwing himself onto Fowler as the bullet is fired. He hits the shotgun out of Fowlers hand and arrests him. This action shows that Cross is very selfless, and wants good for many people. He values the lives of others before his, even if he doesn't know them. His actions were very bold and courageous, not to mention very risky, but they could pay off massively if he is able to save the lives of others. The only way for me to find out is if I keep reading.” (Michael)
Clearly, I have improved my skills as a blogger. This quote is from my fourth post; Prompt 4: Best Line. The first, most obvious difference is the length. My first post was only a mere 59 words in length. My fourth post, on the other hand, in total was 230 words long! That is a huge difference. Another major difference was that in my second post, I used textual evidence. Textual evidence really helps a lot and makes a big difference in the quality of the post. It really helps the reader understand the point that you are trying to convey to them. With textual evidence, you as a writer become a much more credible source. It is no longer just your opinion or standpoint on something, it is backed by solid evidence from the text itself, which improves your credibility massively.
Another thing that improved my blogging skills was using elevated diction, or the use of more complicated words. In my first post, I sounded really boring and dry, with mainly small words that a third grader would probably be able to understand. In my fourth post, however, I used words like “courageous”, “rigged”, and “massively”. Finally, one last thing that I improved upon from my first post to my fourth was portraying my true voice within my writing. In my first post I sounded extremely boring, but in my second post, I am much more exciting. Phrases like “the crazed meth-addict” do a tremendous job of pulling the reader in and making them want to read more. The job of people reading the blog from our school suddenly changes from having to read the post for a grade in English class to reading an interesting blog post about a book that could potentially interest them.
