Writing and Thinking

    The thinking process is important to writing, and yes, it’s also true that writing can help one thinks more clearly. As writing process goes on, writers are able to develop more and more ideas. Putting words down on paper or on a computer can help a writer better know what he or she thinks or feels because along the way they write, they would have a clearer picture of what to write. Also, their emotions can be brought out easily as words are flowing out of their minds.

   One example of how writing helps one understand one’s own thoughts and emotions you come up with is writing journals. The first time we start to write journal, we would only describe the specific event. But after writing for many times, we would also write down how we feel about things that happened. Another example is when writing books. For first few chapters, sometimes writers aren’t sure what to write about yet, so these chapters are more general. However, when readers get to chapters at the back, they can finally understand what the story is talking about because writers are able to express the information more clearly since authors have a better idea of what to write and find a way to show their emotions.

Presence of Mind

    To me, this “perfect presence of mind” means the mind is in a peaceful, calm, undisturbed state. When I’m playing basketball games, I think my mind is in the situation of perfect presence. While on the court, I only think about one thing, and that thing is to score as many points as possible. The tempo on the field is fast, so if I’m not focused, then the opponent might get in 10 points of more. Also, basketball is about cooperation between teammates, so we can’t lose easy points such as miss catching a ball. Everyone on the court must not be distracted, so we can pay attention to the ball, thus gaining as many points as possible.

    For writing a compare and contrast essay, this presence of mind is particularly important because we have to think of the similarities and differences between two subjects carefully, unhurried. We sit down in front of the desk, think thoroughly, and write down about the two things that are being compared and contrasted with. At first we might have lots of ideas, but many of them might be eliminated because they are either insignificant or biased. As for result, when our essays are out, there would be less of our own opinions because we have edited and revised our paper.

Revising and Editing

    After finish writing an essay, we can’t just send it out to teachers or colleges without using techniques of revising and editing. Thus, this explains why there are so many drafts needed to be done and so much time the essay process takes. By revising, we are changing the larger part of the whole essay, which is our development of idea. It’s essential for us to check whether our ideas developed as the way we want, and whether we are sending the message we’re trying to tell correctly. Admission office must go over thousands of applicants each day, so it’s impossible for staff to look at each individual’s essay carefully. As for result, an outstanding essay has to show its significance right away, letting colleges feel that your essay is excellent, and they have to accept you.

   Editing is changing smaller parts of the essay, which is fluency of sentence, grammar. By looking at the essay line by line and word by word, we’ll be able to use the most concise sentence to tell the same message eventually. After reading some sentences for several times, there will be changes made. As for result, this makes the whole essay not only sounds better, but also look more complete. Although the process of revising and editing is lengthy, it’s also graceful because essays we wrote are going into a more wonderful stage.

Your Audience

   Writers write books, but how can they know whether their books are good or not? One solution is through us, the readers, giving feedback to authors in order to let them improve their writing or applaud their hard work. Writers are like performers: they need the audience to inspire them so they can continue on their path of writing career. A writer can get feedback from his or her audience through ways such as readers commenting on the blog. Also, if the writer is willing to give his or her email address or telephone number to the public, readers can send emails, call the writer, or even have face to face discussion. In addition, the audience can send letters to author’s living place. Other than direct contact with the writer, there is indirect one. If the writer finds out that the sale of his or her books start to drop, then this shows that the author fails to get the appetite of the readers.

  However, there’s solution for writers to improve their writing. Nowadays, the fast speed of Internet allows readers and writers to have closer relationship and to communicate in a more effective and convenient way compared to the past. By going over the feedback and understanding what the general public want to read, the writer can again produce books that the audience would like.

Before Writing...

      Before we start to write essays, we have to go through an important process first, which is developing our thoughts. During the time of brainstorming, we quickly jot down ideas that we’re going to include in our essays. It’s important to think because after we got through this process, which is the most complicated one, the rest of the work can be done quickly. The writing part doesn’t really take lots of time. Rather, it is actually the thinking part that needs the most time because the ideas have to go through several revisions. The revision process is essential for us to make sure whether our ideas fit the essay topic perfectly.

    During the time of writing application essays, our ideas need to go through many stages. Sometimes, we    might think of our ideas are great, but they get rejected quickly by teachers. Teachers are more capable than us to spot what do the essays truly want, what do they require applicants to include. I’m sure that nobody wants to write irrelevant essays because we care about getting into our dreamed colleges in the future. After our ideas are set, then it’s time for us to organize them and turning them into essays.

What is “News” to You?

There are many kinds of media in our societies: newspaper, magazine, radio, digital, and each media focus on different kinds of news. News about public welfare, such as schools, government infrastructures, education, children rights, economy, are emphasized more in print news sources rather than in digital. To the television companies, newsworthy news are those shocking ones: natural disasters, wars, accidents. In order to earn money, the companies have to report news that is appealing to people, that can feed people right into their stomach.  

When I look for news, I tend to seek out terrorist and celebrity ones because they can grab my attention. Recently, I’ve learned a lot about the Taliban in Afghanistan in the International Relations class. After knowing what have they done to their country and to the United States, I found out that I have a strong interest in trying to help the Afghans to restore their lives. Thus, I follow the news about the terrorist organization more often than I used to.

        In addition, I like to watch news about celebrities because I’m pretty interested in gossips. Also, the news are entertaining rather than serious, so reading it is a way for me to relax after whole day of hard work, and to recap from exhaustion.

Which News Source Do You Prefer?

   Nowadays, it is convenient for us to get news because there are so many sources. Internet, magazines, printed newspaper, media, radio, etc, are places where we can get information that happened around us or even in distant countries. My favorite way of getting news is through media, the television.

Advantages of this source are that I can just sit there watching news, and I like the sound. If I were to read news from the Internet or the newspaper, my hands couldn’t take a rest because I had to click the mouse or turn a page. When reporters use descriptive language to describe a new event, I prefer to see the vivid image and hear sound right away. Thus, it’s quite an important element that TV provides sound.

However, there are disadvantages to this news source. Whenever I turn on the TV, the news is always about violence and natural disasters rather than schools, government policies, charity groups. No matter which channel I switch to, the news are always about the same materials. If I read newspapers or Internet, I could skip things and choose article that I’m more interested in to read.

   The main reason that I prefer TV over others is mainly I’m a TV person, and I want to let my hands relax while reading news.