5-5:10pm: Introduction, settle in. How’s the writing going? Have you touched your journal?
5:10-5:30pm: Questions about last class, the semester, the syllabus?
FOR TONIGHT’S PAGE: This experience in English 5 will decline for you if you excessively deliberate, rather than ACTUATE. Just move and create, contribute…
5:30-5:55pm: What did you choose to write about, and why? How did the writing start? How long did it take you? Did you learn anything about writing, your writing style and way?
5:55-6:20: Jenny Lawson…. What did you find? Have you started reading? Do you have expectations? Why, and what are they? If if not, what can you tell about her from your research?
6:20-6:30pm: Close…. What’s in your notes?
ASSIGNMENT: Read the first three chapters in Lawson’s book. Write and your journal and prepare to share ideas next class. Suggested…. Focus on her writing style, her voice, tone, attitude, what you think she wants us to do or how you think she wants us to react.
#professormikey 
I love writing at night. Usually before bed
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Great time to write, Laura..
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You said you wanted us to send images of our journal to you when we write in it. Do you want us to do that every-time?
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As much as you’d like.
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do you want this as email or text?
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Email..
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When I write I have 2 separate stages. I find that when I am trying to think of a topic or figuring out how I’m going to format the essay I like to have music on because I find it makes me think with a more creative mind. But when I actually start to write I turn everything off and want to keep it quiet
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I also have multiple writing stages! My first step is very similar to yours, except I call mine “word vomiting” where I just spill out all of the relevant information in a semi-cohesive way. Then steps two and three are purely editing where my main question is “what am I try to SAY?”
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A’s are usually because of effort.
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where do we get to see our grades and how will we be graded?
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Email me for grades.
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For this semester, I am going to try and work on a schedule for school. I’m going to plan out times in the week where I will work on a specific deadline that way I can hopefully avoid procrastinating everything
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Definitely a game changer!
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I feel like a lot of what I’m going to write about, when the content is completely up to me, is going to be fiction and stories. Should I diversify what I write about in my journal?
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Always!!!
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I’m gonna get an A, how? By putting the work in. I enjoy writing and this class just gives me an excuse to do what I like, so if I participate and push myself, an A should be a no brainer!
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Love it!!
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For the assignments that we write, do you prefer us writing it by hand or typing it out?
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Type and email to me.
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ahh Okay I’ve been writing it by hand lol
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Honestly I’m not a big writer and I am not sure what exactly to write in my journal. Does anyone have any tips that I could use to help me use my journal more efficiently?
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I always advise… WRITE ALL THOUGHTS. Especially the ones you think are boring.
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A tip that I have that helps getting my writing going is getting an initial thought about anything and than things just come naturally
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For writing in your journal, literally you can write about anything and everything. Just write. Use youre journal to take notes also though. It’s just a place for you and your thoughts really. Just what I do in mine! Hope that helps a bit!
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I kind of think of the journal as a sketchbook for my thoughts. I’m not sure if it’s efficient, but to get my thoughts moving I try reflecting a certain part of my day that caught me by surprise. I also use it as a time to check in with myself on all fronts be it family life, school, news..
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I like that!
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The hardest part about writing for me is always the beginning. What I usually do is whatever I’m thinking I just write it down, whether that be random words or just writing “I don’t know what to write ” and then slowly weaving together everything until I get the flow going. Hope that sorta helps!
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The beginning is often challenging.
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I’m not sure if I have any questions about the syllabus yet. I’m excited about what we’ll learn with the David Sedaris book! I have liked his books for quite a long time! I think I own three of them in hard copy?
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Do you ever go on an “emotional rollercoaster” with his writing. Like I love and hate him sometimes. HA!
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Right?! I think that’s the beauty of his narrative voice & comedy
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YES!!
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I think I will get an A if I make sure to put in the work myself because no one is going to get it for me. That means being in class, participating, and making sure I’m proud of the work I am completing and turning in
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YES!!!
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how dose one get an A in this course?
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By doing the work and being here, being active..
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Ah yes of course good answerer, ” you have to put in the work” because no one will do it for you.
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True!!!
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My goal is to get an A and i will do that by participating, being in class and turning in all the work on time!
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Since our work and effort refelcts our grade, in order to get an A im going to put for the effort that deserves an A.
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Is our Journal supposed to be like our Ultimate Confidant? We basically tell it everything, our day,our ideas, the class meetings, etc?
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Yes.
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Thats a great way of seeing the journaling!
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I’m going to get an A. Taking things one step at a time and not over complicating things. By making sure I ask questions when I need to, something I have struggled with in the past. My goal this semester is to cap off my time at SRJC with straight A’s.
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I like this class and I get to be creative! I’m going to work hard and get an A for this class.
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Create your own habits and style, even if you have them already! 🙂
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I am hoping for an A of course but this much freedom in a class kind of scares me. I’m not sure where to start or what will be good enough. I also don’t know what the YOU or final essays involve or what I need to get the most I can out of them and I=this class both educationally and academically.
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You got this…Freedom is good for ones soul. This way you get to find more of your voice in your writing. I can’t wait to hear about it
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Thanks I really do appreciate the vote of confidence truly. I am really lost when it comes to the essays and writing in general but hopefully this class will help.
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When you’re lost, reach out to me directly. And after that, you make the writing your own. DO NOT OVERTHINK.
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I hope I get an A in this class. I think that is only possible if I fully participate in the blogs, read the books, and being proud of the writing that I turn in.
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I’m going to get an A by doing the work to the best of my ability and putting in the effort that an A deserves.
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I feel like I can get an A in this class. If i make sure to not miss any deadlines and not overthink any of my writing im sure i can achieve an A.
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You absolutely can. You have to want it, and efforts have to equal desire.
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I’d like to get an A in this class, i’ll be participating as much as i can and working to the best of my abilities.
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I’m 100% determined to get an A. If anything I have learned that nothing will come by relying on others, putting my own heart and soul into my work has proven to grant me the best outcome. In order to get an A I will have to stay focused, determined and on track with the work. The initiative is also very very important. For my first writing, I wrote about how I ended up taking classes at the JC while I am from the Netherlands, it’s quite the story.
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Love that attitude.
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I am going to try to get an A in this class by turning in assignments and finishing work to the best of my ability.
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What did you write about for the 2-page piece? Can you share some of it with us here? A couple sentences….?
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Hello professor, around a few days ago I was organizing my old documents and found an old descriptive story I wrote around 2/3 years ago. I thought it would be a good idea to rewrite and improve it but keep the same idea.
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Is that what you emailed me?
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I’m always determined to get an A, the only way of actually obtaining that grade is by participating as much as you can and by doing all the assignments as best as I can.
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Who wrote about the past?
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Who wrote about something more recent?
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Who just freely wrote and whatever happened, HAPPENED?
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I chose to write about my recent move to NYC and how different living here is to living there for my whole life prior. I ended up sort of getting lost in reminiscing of the city but it was kind of nice to do that at the same time since Brooklyn and NYC had such a big role in my life.
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Are you in NYC right now?
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No, permanently in Sonoma and CA now but I have and plan to go back and visit whenever I can!
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That’s so cool!! I’ve never been, want to go so bad!!
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I chose to write about a story of a man who fell from grace. Set in medieval times, with magic of course. He travels the country helping people and amassing followers, but someone he trusts betrays him. In the end he makes a very bad decision that curses him.
I chose to write about this because its a story that’s been mulling around in my head for a while. I’m experimenting with vague story telling short stories. Something along the lines of a prelude to the main event. I’ve learned that I need some more work. I get too excited about small details and end up mixing up the scope of the story.
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Cool!! Thanks for sharing! Love that you wrote something you’ve had in your head for a while.
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Wow! That sounds awesome pretty amazing inspiration must feel great to have gotten it written down now.
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For my two pages, I wrote about the weekend that just passed. I worked all week and had to deal with some horrible people and annoying coworkers. I gave some backstory such as where I work, a few things about my job, my coworkers, etc…
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Work is always a great topic. It’s always there…
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I chose to write about how i became a soccer coach because that was a big part of my life and made a huge difference in my life. The writing started good! because i’m proud of that moment in my life! I cant remember how long i took on it but i sure know it was an hour or so.I catched myself in some errors and I’ve learned to make my writing more vivid and detailed but without putting to much words in one sentence.
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Did you enjoy writing it?
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yes because it reminds me of why i’am where i’am today and makes me proud i changed my life for a better route!
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I choose to write about one of Les Brown’s ted talks I watched on youtube, as I was thinking about a question from the last post who are you beyond what you’ve told us. I started it writing by explaining why the ted talk helped me think about who I want to be and why that question stuck with me from the last post. It didn’t take me that long I really enjoyed the assignment. I don’t think I learned anything about my writing style yet, I’m sure once I start writing more I’ll learn about my writing style.
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My writing took an unexpected turn. I’ve never been one for writing stories or leaning towards fantasy but that’s what I did for some reason. I wrote about a boy who got lost in the woods one evening after following an apparition. I was feeling very uninspired. I had thought I would just write something that I knew a lot about. I grew up in the forest along the Russian River so traveling too deep into the forest is something I am very familiar with. I was surprised at how much I was able to come up with and that I didn’t experience any blockages after I got started. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the assignment and may return to finish the project.
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Awesome Janessa! Cheers!!
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That sounds like an interesting story. I think it’s cool that you branched out of your norm.
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I wrote about last summer and a trip I took that pretty much changed the course of my life…
Once there, I drove straight to the beach. The sky was all pastel; violet, purple, periwinkle and that deep blue around all its edges. The waves were quiet and slid into the beach like liquid glass. The sand soft and clean in between my toes. I took big, full-body breath and remembered in that moment my great childhood love of the ocean. I was so happy, I had done the right thing and went on a trip, and I could already feel the weight of daily life unwrapping itself from me. I spent the rest of daylight on the beach taking it in, breathing it in.
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In the 2 page paper, I wrote about the effects that stress has had on my life. I have been trying to find ways to cope with it for a couple years but I haven’t found a way that fully works for me. I have tried music and attempts at lowering stress by fixing my procrastination problems.
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I never go into a semester thinking I will get an A or even making that commitment. I will do all the work on time and put thought into my assignments, and I will show up to meetings. I don’t know if that is enough for an A in your class, it was for my English 1A teacher but that doesn’t mean I’ll make a promise to get an A before I know how you grade!
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I wrote about whatever happened to be on my mind at the time, ranging from the games I was playing to my wife, plans for dinner, and that it was my friend Joe’s birthday. It was a nice change of pace to be able to have a free flowing structure in terms of writing rather than being pigeon-holed into a specific writing style and subject!
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I had couple of ideas but wanted to tie it in to why I was in this class. It seemed appropriate.
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I wrote my 2 page on my weekend at work and my co-worker. He is quite horrible and I hate working with him, honestly everyone does. I work at a little cupcake shop is Santa Rosa and here’s a paragraph from it. “When I first started working there, I always closed with Joshua and did everything, thinking it was just the way it was because I couldn’t frost cupcakes yet so I was less than. We have 30 minutes after closing to sweep, mop, rap everything, and close the register but when you’re new, you learn everything but how to close the register. I did everything else I thought, while he took the whole 30 minutes to close it. I didn’t think too much of it until my other co-workers asked me about closing with him and if he helps me sweep and everything. Of course I said no and I was shocked that she told me that he was actually supposed to be in charge of cleaning everything in back and I was incharge of the front, not everything while he did the register.”
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I LOVED your piece. Well done!! Feel free to post an excerpt Nina!!!
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Thank you! It was fun to write so I’m glad you enjoyed reading it!
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🙂
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This weekend I chose to write about a movie that’s been bouncing around in my mind. It feels like I am deep deeeeep into the process of articulating my trauma and dissecting it, and even though it’s worthwhile it still just sucks! I wrote about this movie because it reminded me of the feelings I had as a kid. Over the weekend I rewatched the movie and took extensive notes and even though it’s terribly dark I was comforted by dissecting the symbolism and direction of the film. I let myself fill up almost three single spaced pages in my first draft. Then I rewatched the movie, took notes, and refined it until I thought it was decipherable to other humans. It’s been a little since I share writing with anybody and it always makes me kind of nervous.
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I learned that my style is informative but maybe a little too flowery sometimes. I think that’s because I often times will spend hours stuck on a sentence or passage until one special word pops into my head that encapsulates one feeling I am trying to communicate.
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I somewhat wrote about the past mainly comparing my recents semester to this current semester but I also wrote about how my week went added a few details into my writing to make it a bit juicy, I wrote a bit about everything didn’t really stick with one idea.
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For my two pages;
I didn’t really have any ideas on what to write so i decided to talk about myself and other random things.
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Well, the assignment was 2 pages on ANYTHING. So all good!!
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I wrote about my recent trip to Mexico and how I haven’t gone in over 10 years. I love the culture there. I had a beautiful time seeing my family in Coatzacoalcos
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I feel like I wrote about a lot of random things. There was on prominent story about how some creeper stolen a car part from our van. It was just funny to be honest. I also wrote about I I would love to transfer somewhere abroad when its time.
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I chose to write about my long day of surfing on saturday. I was there from sunrise till sunset and it was so in so magical. I probably spent a total of 6+ hours in the water. It was also my first time out in almost a month since the king tide had been so narly so there were lots of salty smiley moments. I felt really free and alive.
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That’s so cool!! Where do you like to surf?
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I’m from Santa Cruz so pleasure point and Waddell Creek will forever be my favorites but since I moved up to Sonoma County Dillon Beach and Salmon Creek have become the regular spots.
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Santa Cruz, my hometown. LOVE IT.
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No way that’s so crazy! Where in Santa Cruz if you dont mind me asking?
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All good!! I’m from Boulder Creek, but was on the beach a lot. I recently ran a half-marathon there!!! It was dope, except it was like running through a hurricane..
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I lived in Boulder Creek for a few years then ended up moving down to Sea Bright. My mom ran the Skyline to Sea race a few years ago and loved it.
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Nice!!
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I choose to write my 2 page assignment about myself and my journey just to introduce myself a bit more. The writing process went smooth, maybe because i did not have to stress too much about doing any research or making sure the details were correct, because it was about my life. It took me a few hours to finish the rough draft and to put it all together with the correct formatting. It made me realize how far I have come and gave me strength to keep going.
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Keep that feeling when writing through the semester, and you’ll do well!!
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