My first week of grad school was an adjustment. Many assignments are due, and readings need to be completed. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t an adjustment, although I’ve only been out of undergrad for almost a year. I know the work will pay off in the end, so I will keep it moving.

While it is still school, graduate school is a different beast. So far, I have quickly learned the importance of pacing myself, ensuring that I am not only reading and writing to say I did so, but also understanding and using the information provided to improve my writing.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser has given me insight into how I should approach writing. Throughout the two chapters I read, I seemed to agree with everything he wrote. He drops gems such as “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other” (p.13). As writers, we try to sound a little too important by using too many words. I definitely think the message is conveyed better when the sentences are clear and to the point. This way, we don’t lose our readers in a word soup.

I have written blog posts before, and I have consumed from many blogs in my free time. Blog writers have a special task: keep their writing concise without sacrificing the information they are trying to present. For example, when you are looking at a recipe from a creator’s blog site, you will notice there is almost always a ‘Jump to recipe’ button that takes you directly to the meat and potatoes of the post. In 16 Rules of Blog Writing, I found this information to be very useful as well.

In my writing assignments this week, I tried not to put too much pressure on myself to create this amazing body of work. I simply wanted to produce something that would help my professor and classmates get to know me better.

Although I have my own website portfolio, I want this blog site to serve as a secondary outlet for professional work. As we move through this course, I hope to improve my writing and see how this class and the writings evolve my professional goals and future plans. I can proudly say I am a grad girl now.