Listening Final Completed

Goodness that was an interesting assignment. We were supposed to work in a group of four students on the paper, but it ended up being just the two of us my new, dear friend from Alaska and myself. We worked really hard and collaborated very well, she was awesome.

The final assignment was to write a Listening Analysis on a Film. We decided on The Prince of Tides and set about creating a document that ended up being a full 16 pages long. I think we did a great job, we'll see what our Professor says, he is a tough one. We have been getting good grades from him but never a perfect score. Some classes are just like that.

So, if your interested in checking out the Effective and Ineffective Listening Analysis of The Prince of Tides, you can check it out on my online portfolio.
http://arvillasportfolio.webs.com/

My listening class was a great experience. The professor was tough but fair and gave the best feedback that I have gotten through NEU from any professor. I wish my writing professors gave such fabulous detailed feedback on our work. I learned many things that I sort of knew about just through life and many more things that I had no idea about. I think that the Listening class was a great success. Although I was skeptical of it in the beginning, as a Junior in college having to take a listening class, I have learned valuable skills that will serve me well throughout the rest of my academic career and into my writing career.

Read an entire Freelance writing book yesterday!

The book is called Getting Started as a Freelance Writer by Robert W. Bly.

It was well written, and kept my attention from beginning to end. I must admit there were a few paragraphs here and there that didn't really pertain to me so I breezed over them with a quick scan.

He starts with discussing what and how you need to set up your home office and your schedule. Goes on to money matters, fee negotiations and such. Then Bly talks alot about self-promotion throughout the book but Chapter 8 is devoted to it. It makes sense if your self-employed to self-promote. He gives great suggestions.

The hardest part for me, is probably what should be the easiest. He says early on that I need to pick specialties, things I know about or have experience in to write about. Bly says not to have more than three. I can't think of one good one. UGH! He has a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering, there is one of his specialties, he worked in marketing and direct mail is another of his specialties.

I have always been the "jack of all trades and master of none" type of person. I've cooked in restraunts, raised and raising four kids, homeschooled for several years, opened and closed a business, I'm crafty, and I can sew clothes.

I keep coming back to homeschooling to write about I researched the idea before I homeschooled for a year and then I was very involved and researching things for several years as we were homeschooling. I have been out of the loop for a little while but I think it would be easy enough to get back into researching even if I'm not actually homeschooling at this time.

So, I am off to research the world of homeschooling.