Chapters 14 and 15

Chapter 14 focuses on revising. The guidelines given for checking your draft yourself are something I do every time I write an essay or a paper. I especially liked the tip given in Guideline 3: Distance Yourself from Your Draft: Read your draft aloud. When I do this it helps me find awkward sentences as well as spelling errors. I also do this when I am reviewing a something someone else has written. This seems to help me focus. I rely heavily on spell check but tend to ignore the grammar checker since it is not very accurate.

I appreciate the guidelines given for reviewing drafts. I have been taught how to review and revise my drafts throughout the years, but reviewing another person’s draft has not been covered much. I do have others review my work and want their suggestions and feedback. Ranking suggested revisions is a very good tip for someone reviewing another’s draft. I tend to react to the writing as a come across a problem. Ranking my suggestions would be more beneficial to the writer since it would give me time to think about my suggestions.

Like many people I tend to procrastinate and write what I need to write at the last minute. A flaw I really have to fight. The section which lists the guidelines for managing your revising time is an excellent resource. This section is important because it help the writer organize revisions so that they can be finished in a timely manner. Guideline 2: Make the Most Significant Revisions First in very important. Too many times I get bogged down with details that are not that important and the section about how to rank revisions is good. I also like the suggestion to revise to learn. I agree that this will help a person improve his or her writing skills.

Chapter 15 is about testing your drafts for usability and persuasiveness. This is important, especially when you are writing instructions or manuals. Guideline 2: Pick Test Readers Who Truly Represent Your Target Readers is essential. Of course, you must know who your target audience is before starting your testing. Sometimes I think that a writer does not know who their target audience is before they write an instruction manual or web page. I know that I don’t always think about who my audience is before I write. Testing your draft ensures that a writer will think about their audience.

I believe that everyone who develops a web page should give a performance test. I have lost track of how many times I have visited a web site that is hard to read and navigate. I am taking an online class that could have been improved if the professor had tested his site using a performance test. He could have also benefited by focusing on the usability of his web site. I know that the difficulty of navigating this site has greatly affected my attitude. The information given is good and something I need to know, but I just hate sitting down at my computer and finding the information I need. The tips given in Chapter 15 are a good way to find ways to revise your writing so that it is effective pertinent.

Response to Vic's Blog

While reading Vic’s blog about news programs I noticed that he watches mostly national news. He is totally opposite from me. I avoid national news. I believe that the local stations provide enough world and national coverage and what they don’t cover I can get on the internet, without any spin. The local channels do follow the same reporting sequence that Vic mentioned: local, regional, world, weather and sports news. This makes sense. They start with what impacts their viewership the most. Like Vic, I too am most interested in the seven day weather forecast. That is usually why I watch the entire news program, so I can see what the weather is like.

I usually watch a news program everyday. The program I watch is local, not national. I don’t watch national news because I believe it has become too political and is no longer objective. I am not interested in some reporter’s opinion of the President or the candidates. Just report what happened and move on. The local networks sometimes are not objective, but not often. They do a good job of reporting the local news and cover some national news.

Friday I was watching a local news program and their top story was about one case of vandalism on an individual’s car. I don’t remember what their next story was, but the third item was an alert about a missing teenager, who was possibly suicidal. My husband and I commented on this. We thought that the top story should have been about the missing teen instead of a story about someone’s tires getting slashed. Who decides what the top stories are? Usually, as a viewer, I just watch the news. On Friday I was analyzing what I was watching. I really don’t know anything at all about producing a news program. I know that the anchors usually read what is put in front of them (when they do improvise it can be disastrous), but that is all I know about news programs. Hopefully our guest speaker will be able to teach me more.

Response to Inna's blog

Like Inna, I too didn't realize how many magazine used freelance writers for their publications. She also had the same concern I did about not being good enough to write freelance. I liked her comment about starting small and building up to better publications. Doing this would help a freelance writer learn how to write a good article and help him or her ease into the trade. Inna wrote a good blog which basically summed up the lesson we had last Monday.

Freelance Writing

I found the lesson on freelance writing very interesting because I have always toyed with the idea about writing freelance. I never did the writing because I had no idea how to get my ideas to a publication and I'm not confidant about writing for a publication. This lesson taught me what I need to do should I decide to freelance write. The proposal letter I wrote for our class assignment is actually an idea I have been wanting to write for a regional magazine for many years. Maybe I will actually do it now that I know what to do. The question I have is what degree of expertise does a freelance writer need to have about a subject, or is diligent research enough to write an informed article?