Reflection

 The Fluency Blog project I have been working on the last few weeks has been a bit challenging, but in the long run it seems to have helped me. The biggest challenge for me was finding things to write about. Most of my blog posts were freewrites, and they were a bit challenging for me when I first began writing them. I could never seem to find a topic for my freewrites when I began them, but once I started writing I always latched onto an idea that I was able to expand on and write a bit about. Doing this blog project helped me reflect a bit on things that were happening to me in my life or my other classes, and helped me get some thoughts down on paper and form new thoughts as I went along. My ability to translate my thoughts into understandable writing improved with this assignment.
  I did experience a little trouble at first with trying not to write about the same thing all the time. I always seemed to have the same thoughts when I sat down to write, and I was always worried that I was beginning to sound redundant. I would begin writing, and while many of my posts had similar introductions, I always seemed to branch out after a few lines and delve into whatever topic came to my mind. Once I opened up and began writing ideas just seemed to come to me, and once I got started on one I was able to take it and run with it. Once I stopped trying to force myself to use words and phrases I thought were better I was able to relax a little and just write. It became easier the more I wrote and I ended up writing about things that weren't even close to what I was thinking about when I began writing.
 This assignment wasn't something I was looking forward to when I started because I had no idea how I was going to find enough ideas to write about something new each day, but once I got started I found that I am more creative than I expected. I found I was actually able to write a paragraph or two about topics I wouldn't have expected to be able to get three sentences out of. One thing I enjoyed about this assignment was getting to write about things that were going on when I wrote the post. It allowed me to reflect on my thoughts and what was happening in my life, or think about the reasons for the thoughts or opinions I was writing about.
  This assignment has raised my expectations for my own writing in the future, and having a better idea of what I'm capable of will help me push myself when I'm writing. I will hold myself to a higher standard now and I have gained confidence in my writing abilities. I am more creative than I thought. I will use freewrites as a brainstorming tool in the future because they help me develop my ideas as well as gain new ones. As little as I wanted to begin this assignment, it really has helped me develop as a writer and become more creative.
-Ellie Lane

Freewrite

I like eating cereal. My parents want me to eat healthy things like meat so I can have protein, and I do like healthy foods, but cereal is the bomb. It's not like I eat sugary cereal anyway, I eat honey bunches of oats with almonds, or granola or raisin bran. My mom teases me and says I eat "old people cereal," but hey, if it's healthy there's no reason a sixteen year old shouldn't eat it. She says that eating just cereal isn't healthy enough though. I usually am only allowed to eat cereal once a day-for breakfast. Lately I haven't always eaten cereal for breakfast though because sometimes I am in a hurry in the morning and I just have time to grab a banana or something. I try to always eat breakfast because I know it's bad to skip, so I just try to grab whatever's healthiest before I rush out the door. I did skip breakfast the other day though, but I didn't feel the best that day so I thought I should probably not risk it. I do love breakfast, so it is hard for me to skip. I hate missing an opportunity to eat cereal, so I try to eat cereal for breakfast. I've been sleeping later lately though, so I've had to eat things that I can take in the car. It's a sleep for cereal trade I guess. I'm just always so tired I can hardly pry myself out of bed in the morning. I'm pretty busy but I have a good life so I'm not complaining. I have everything I need and much more so I am thankful. I know I have it a lot better than a lot of people so I try to keep complaints to a minimum. I like going to a small school. I don't like the idea of being lost in the crowd, although I do think I would most likely get a better education at a bigger school. I wouldn't mind a school bigger than the one I go to, but I wouldn't like a massive school. I like going to a school where all my teachers and the staff know me. I like being able to talk to them easily because they know me fairly well and I know them fairly well. It is helpful, especially since I am a pretty good student so I have a good reputation with the teachers. They seem to trust me pretty well, so I get a little bit more freedom than some other kids because the teachers know I won't abuse it. I am kind of allowed to do my own thing, especially now that I am older and I've kind of established myself in the school. I was always a good kid, but I am an upperclassman now so I've had two years to prove it and earn my teachers' trust, and they've had two years to get to know and trust me. It's kind of nice: it seems like as long as I don't break any rules, I'm pretty much allowed to do my own thing. I like it. I feel like I am pretty free to be honest. I am also responsible for myself a bit more than I was before though, because this year I am taking several online classes, so I have to keep up with homework and everything on my own. There's no teacher constantly reminding me of what I have to do. I also like being able to take tests whenever I choose. In high school classes it's on test day no matter what unless you're just gone that day. In my online classes exams are due by a certain date, but you can wait until that day to take them if you need time to prepare, or if you're ready beforehand you can just get it out of the way on your own time. It's nice. Like I said, this year I have more freedom and more responsibility.
-Ellie Lane

Freewrite

I have blond hair. I read somewhere on the internet that red hair is the most rare hair color. I think that red hair is nice, but I definitely like my blond. My hair is a nice golden color, and it is pretty soft and shiny. My computer's speakers aren't very loud. I am trying to listen to music while I do this freewrite and it is kind of quiet. I can hear it fine I just would like it a little louder. I guess this isn't technically my computer, it's my parents' or the "family" computer. It needs a new battery, but other than that it is a pretty nice laptop. It's an Asus. I like it pretty well. I hardly ever used it before this year because I have an iPad mini an my iPhone, which I used for all my social media and other things, so I didn't really use computers much outside of class, but this year I have used the laptop more because I have online classes, and I often have to work on them outside of school hours. I end up doing most of my homework on Sunday these days. I hate that because Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest, but with softball games and other things I hardly have to time to work outside of school except on the weekends, and I have tournaments on Friday and Saturday half the time. It all just ends up being pushed to Sunday afternoon after church, which is the most free part of my week. I can't really do homework on the bus rides to away games either, because most of my homework is on the computer.  It always ends up waiting for Sunday afternoon. I always seem to get it done, though, so that's good. I have a challengingly busy life right now, but I had better get used to this and more if I plan to play college softball.
-Ellie Lane

Freewrite

 The one thing I do like about winter is the clothes. I like hoodies and jeans and my letterman's jacket and sweats. The sweats are interchangeable with athletic shorts, however, so I don't need winter for comfortable pants. I do enjoy some nice Miss Me jeans though, usually with an underarmour or nike hoodie or a long sleeved t-shirt. I like long sleeved t-shirts. I like to wear my letterman's jacket too. If it weren't for the nice winter clothes I'm not sure I'd be able to make it through the winter. At least I can wear good clothes while I'm miserably cold. I like shorts and t-shirts too though. That's usually what I wear in the summer. Or sometimes a tank top. I usually wear athletic clothes in the summer, though. It's softball pants half the time to be honest. I do a lot of softball playing during the summer. This Friday is our last home football game. I'm not terribly sad because I'm not a big football person. I like it alright, but I would choose basketball as a sport to watch any day. It's also our homecoming this week. A friend of mine was chosen as a homecoming representative for her grade. She is buying her dress today. I want her to send me a picture but I'm not sure if she is going to or not. She wants it to be a surprise. I told her it's not supposed to be a surprise for your best friend and she hasn't answered yet. She will probably show me though. She is excited I think. I am glad for her. It will be fun for her. I will definitely have to go to the game now. I would've gone anyway probably, but I might have left pretty quickly. I still might leave after the homecoming and senior night ceremonies if I get tired of it. Like I said, I'm not really a football person, but even if I was, our school sucks at football. We haven't won a game so far this year. So I don't think I would enjoy our games that much even if I was a football fan. I like basketball better. I play basketball, and while I'm not that great at it, I have a far better grasp of the game of basketball than I do of the game of football. I just enjoy basketball more because I feel more engaged in the game than I do with football. Plus, our boy's basketball team is better than our boys football team, so it's not always a disappointing thing to watch.
-Ellie Lane

Freewrite

 I am not ready for winter. I hate being cold. These past few days of chilly weather have been about all I can stand. I just don't like the feeling of being cold. Everything is more painful when you're cold for some reason. I don't understand why, but even the smallest things like stubbing your toe are terrible when you are cold. It is especially unpleasant to play softball when it's cold out. If it gets too cold, you're not supposed to use composite bats because the inside of them can be damaged, and those are some expensive bats, so breaking them is very unfortunate. During cold travel ball tournaments you can often see players with bats underneath their shirts trying to keep their expensive bats warm with body heat, and there are often bats wrapped in blankets while teams play defense. Cold is just not fun. Winter precipitation is the worst. Snow is pretty to look at, but it makes things dangerous and wet and it interferes with everyone's plans. I don't like it when school is cancelled because of snow. A couple snow days a year are nice, just a day off here and there, but the days and days and sometimes weeks off at a time are awful. It's never just one snow day. It seems like it's always four or five days in a row, then a week later another four or five days. It just adds up and I get super bored sitting at home for that long. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I particularly enjoy school, but it's not that bad and on snow days you don't have any other plans and there's only so much you can do at home. You can't really go anywhere, at least for the first few days, because the roads are bad, so you just sit at home and go insane trying not to freeze. I just am not a winter person I guess. I'm made for summer. Summer is travel softball, and swimming, and no school but plenty of things to do and places to go because it's warm and nice and the roads aren't covered in ice. There are places to go, and you can get away from the people you don't like at school. You can still see the ones you like if you want, but the rest you don't come in contact with for almost three months. I have time to read in the summer, and time to watch Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and all those other great things I don't have time for during school. Plus, my birthday is May 23, which is usually right after school gets out, so it's a great kickoff to summer break. I love summer. I just love it. Everything is colorful and alive in the summer, especially when it's not a dry summer. The sky is blue, the plants are green, and everything is vibrantly colored and alive. I love it, and I miss it. It's only October 4 and I'm already pretty much done with winter. I can't stand cold. The good news is, this week it is supposed to get back up in the 70's and low 80's, which is perfect for me.  I can't wait to be warm again. I mean outside. I'm good inside, although my house is a little chilly at the moment. My mom just turned on the heat today for the first time. I don't understand how all these people say they love the cold. I guess fall is pretty, but I hate cold. I also don't like coffee so I'm not excited about the whole "pumpkin spice latte" thing either. Oh well.
-Ellie Lane

Freewrite

 Freewrite.  Another freewrite today. I don't know what to say, but I never do when I start these things. I always think of something though. These things really do help fluency. It seems like I can never think of anything to write while I'm starting out, but once I get going it comes very easily. I liked this past summer a lot. I had a great time. I wish it hadn't gone by so quickly. I miss last school year too. A lot of my friends graduated, and I miss them. It's weird being an upperclassman too. I am so used to being a sophomore. I like being a sophomore because you aren't new to everything like the freshmen, but people don't expect out of you what they expect out of upperclassmen. You don't have the responsibilities the upperclassmen do, and you aren't expected to be a leader yet. It is also easier to impress people when you're younger because, like I said, they don't expect too much from you, so when you are good at things, it excites and suprises people. I enjoyed being a sophomore. A lot of my friends were seniors, and they were the ones that were expected to be leaders, and expected to be good. By good, I am talking in terms of athletic talent, because many of the seniors I was friends with were my teammates in softball and basketball. They led the teams. I helped, but they were the ones that were expected to be leaders and examples. They were the ones people expected to be good. This year, especially with a group that important recently graduated, there are big shoes to fill. And since I am an upperclassman now, I one of those expected to fill those shoes. Underclassman and coaches expect me to be a leader now. Especially in basketball. Softball is my main sport and the sport I am best at, but we have several seniors on the softball team, and we have a pretty good team, so it's not just me; the responsibilities and expectations are shared by several of us on the softball team. In basketball, however, I am expected to be the only upperclassman on the team. I am the only one in my grade that plays, and the one girl in the grade ahead of me that played last year has said she isn't playing this year. Even though I am not that great at basketball, I will be expected by my coach and teammates to be a leader. I am going to have to work hard to be what my team needs. I am working hard in softball as well, but like I said earlier, I am better at softball, so it is easier for me to lead there. This year will be a challenge, but I am going to do my best to step up to it. I miss my recently graduated friends quite a bit, and I am going to have to do quite a bit to try to fill their shoes. I miss having them around quite a bit, to be honest. I looked up to them a lot. I never realized how much until this year, when they were gone and I realized that I was expected to step up and be to others what they were to me. 
-Ellie Lane

Freewrite

 My family is having potato soup for supper tonight. I hate potatoes. I am going to eat cereal instead. My mother stopped trying to make me eat potatoes after I threw up while trying to eat them in sixth grade. I think their texture is disgusting, and while I realize that they are very popular, I can't make myself eat them because I think they're nasty. I like potato chips and French fries, but the mushy texture of other potatoes is gross to me. I have weird taste, I know. I don't like ketchup or tomatoes either. I don't like mustard either. I was finally able to charge my iPad a few days ago. It had been dead since the end of this summer because I lost my charger, but at school the other day my friend gave me a charger so I can use it again. I charged it that night and now I can use it again. I haven't used it that much since, but it's handy to have around. I use it for school some and just for entertainment. I am tired. We had a tournament this weekend. We played two games last night and one this morning. We lost all three. Districts are this week, so hopefully we can win that. We are hosting again. I like having districts in Pleasant Hope because we have a nice field and we don't have to travel. Our district is fairly easy except for us and Morrisville, our neighbor town and rival. We beat them last week, though and we were missing several players, so I think we have a good chance of winning. We'll have to play well, though.

-Ellie Lane