Summary:
Blogging is a relatively new practice for writers looking to share their works of literature to online groups. Blogging gives writers more freedom than just writing on paper since the writer can customize the page almost any way they want. Some composition classes are now using blogging as part of the course to allow for autonomy within the writing. Writing can be difficult for some people, since finding a topic can be difficult and one may run out of ideas quickly. A way to get over this and to get into a habit of writing is to try to write one or two blog posts a week for a whole month then writing will become a habit and provide a strong foundation for writing in the future. As stated at the beginning of the article, it takes 10,000 hours for one to reach mastery but even a student in a writing intensive degree would likely not spend more than 1000 hours for a degree. Regularly writing blog posts, however, can help someone work towards their 10,000 hours and help someone achieve mastery.

Commentary:
When stated at the beginning of the article that ten thousand hours of work is required to achieve mastery, I was a little skeptical on how accurate this was. When I looked online, I found a bunch of websites claiming that a “New study” has disproven the 10,000-hour rule, although I couldn’t find any other evidence to support it, I still am a little disbelieving of it. However, I found all of Alex Reid’s (the author) points to be very helpful and useful. He explains how bloggers get motivation through reading other what other bloggers have posted and discussed. Its also explained that comments can get a little tricky and that some people, i.e. internet trolls, exist and as a writer, you will have to overcome this obstacle without discouraging genuine commenters. Another point brought up in the article that I’m hoping to be true is that as you write and develop it into a habit, writing posts for the blog will become easier and with less thinking. As a blogger, it also will motivate me to post more even after the course is over to continue speaking to people who are interested in what I have to say, or even as a way for me to say things I’ve wanted to but had no audience.

Reflection:
I have previous blogs that I started but got confused on the setup process or just got bored with, however, I think this class can help me get started on them again after I get into a blogging habit and realize how it works. I’ve always gotten lost after the first few “hey, welcome to my blog” and “this is my first post guys!” posts and not had anything to write about. One of my previous blogs can be found at nate.pringlecomputer.com if anyone would like to check it out. I think after this class is over I will go back to it and try to start writing again. I think its interesting how many blogs are out there, I never realized how popular it was, or that some of the websites I go to already are blogs.