Choose one of the archived articles from Writers on
Writing and create a blog post that describes the author’s
perspective on the writing process. Do you agree or disagree with the author?
Has your thinking changed throughout this course regarding a writer’s
perspective in the social media environment? Explain your answer by providing
examples.
Sustained
by Fiction While Facing Life's Facts
By
ALICE HOFFMAN
This article was written during a stressful time in the writer’s
life. The writer was going through a time where her mother and sister in law
were battling life threatening diseases. Her sister in law lost her battle to a brain tumor and her mother suffered from a stroke and breast cancer. The
author soon found herself fighting for her own life when she found out that
she too was diagnosed with breast cancer. The author’s perspective in this
article felt self-reflective to me. In trying to discover who she really is or
who she is meant to be while fighting for her life the writer realizes that she
is a natural born writer. The author found that her battle allowed her to
discover her soul. She realized she did not chose the craft of writing rather; she
needed to write to find peace. Even at her lowest point when she was not able
to physically move about, she always had writing. Writing gave her hope and
strength.
I agree with the author that writing for some is an art form
and can be as natural as breathing. Writing is a way to communicate and to
express oneself. I think writing can be used for different capacities for
different people in various situations. In this particular situation the writer
was stripped of everything and realized that in the end as long as she could write
she would have the strength to get through even the toughest of situations.
Writing for her was power. Writing was not only her identity, but her purpose
in life.
In terms of my opinion on a writers perspective in the
social media environment I would have to say that my opinion has changed dramatically.
I had always thought that new media and
social media allowed audiences to participate in communications and essentially
gave the audience the ability to be considered a writer. I always thought that because of social
media, everyone can be a writer. I do not believe this to be true anymore
however. There is so much more to writing then simply broadcasting a thought or
idea. Writing is an art form that requires responsibility, discipline, and ethics.
It is because of this course I have changed my mind on the perception of
writers in the social media environment. Just because someone creates a blog
and discusses their thoughts and opinions does not make them a writer. This
person has chosen to use the platform of social media to broadcast their thoughts and
opinions however, they could be broadcasting information that is inaccurate,
unethical, or offensive. Even though there is freedom of speech, this type of
writing is not artistic or professional. It is simply a means to communicate and nothing more.
