In the End (90/90)

I just got back from getting my dad at the airport.

Today's the last of the 90 in 90 challenge. I had an idea for where I wanted this to go back on day 30-ish. I wanted to pick selections of my favorite posts and lay it out for you, dear reader. I wanted you to know what my favorite ideas were that I had, or what were my favorite bits of writing. I wanted to let you know why I felt that way.

But instead of doing that, I have another thing to blog about. One last blog for the 90. And it kind of is a summary of my past entries, but also a new idea I had been playing around with for a bit. Throughout this whole challenge I've used the word "I" so many times. I understand it's my blog and my opinions on life.

But what about when I step away from the blog, and start to interact with the world? What about when I talk to my friends? I noticed that not only were most of my blog posts filled with "I's" and "me's," but most of my conversations with my friends were as well. Granted, most of my conversations this summer have been trying to give friends advice on their situations, and the way that I can do that is by drawing on my past experiences.

Even when trying to catch up with people, I noticed that when I tried to talk about other peoples' lives, somehow I'd get off on a tangent, even if it was just a simple "I understand." Since I've been conscious of it, I've tried to restrain myself from doing that. I don't like jumping into a conversation and dominating it with my life stories, especially if someone has a problem they want to talk about.

When you do that, though, it allows the other person you're talking to dominate the conversation for their own purposes. Some people don't notice this, and many will change the topic when they realize what they were doing. But there have been a few people I know who never acknowledged it. Those people don't really talk to me anymore.

One of the best ways I think I can show how much we are more concerned with the "I" than with others is Facebook. I've noticed that probably 98% of my friends on Facebook will comment on a picture that they are in and skip over ones they aren't in, even if they are located in the same album. I try not to do that, and think that I've succeeded in that endeavor. The only way to get peoples' attention to a picture they're not in is by putting it as your profile picture.

So that's the end of being concerned over "me" and how many times I use the word daily, especially in posts. I'm going to wrap up this 90 now.

The purpose of the challenge was to write once a day for 90 days to get you in the habit of writing and to make you a better writer. And I've gotten in the habit of writing daily, but I don't think I've improved as a writer. I think that maybe the first month was good, and after that I had some good days, but mainly mediocre days.

I think once I decided to start opening up about my break up and how I was dealing with things, this blog started to become more like a diary, but I wasn't sure how to get away from the diary feel. I knew that I didn't really have a consistent theme for this blog. I knew I wanted it to be my thoughts and interests, and I have many different ones.

I've noticed that I like starting my paragraphs with either "and" or "but," and if I'm not paying attention I'll do it two or three paragraphs in a row. I've noticed that I really like parallel structure. I've noticed that I've gotten away from the passive voice, something I've been struggling with for years. I've noticed that I now write shorter paragraphs in my short stories.

So maybe I've become a better writer in the fact that now I'm picking up more things about my writing that I hadn't before this blog, and know what I need to work on in the future.

Don't worry, dear reader. This blog will still exist. It'll probably go back to the way it was before the 90, with a weekly post. If you've stuck with me until the end, then I hope you enjoyed your journey.