TinNiE drew me in immediately simply with the title of her blog, “Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness~” Not to mention her interesting use of small and lowercase letters in her blog name—this simple act of funky flavor follows throughout her writing.
In the first several lines of her “About me” post, she immediately establishes a strong, spunky personality while exhibiting her ability to express her thoughts clearly. In the writing world, if one sounds educated, people will be much more likely to respect his/her opinions and further, to read one’s blog posts.
In her introduction, she establishes her current mental state, age, and reason for traveling through her use of catchy vocabulary, parentheses, and ellipses. In the first instance, she pulls the reader in—we enjoy reading new innovative ways of using words and creating fun phrases. Dull word-choice is an instant turn off.
In her use of parentheses, she gives us a glimpse into her personal life “(and gloomy heart)” establishing trust with her readers. This honesty, though a sad truth, is charming. I am now a little more intimate with her as she tells her story.
Finally the ellipses-not my favorite technique in the English language, but I understand her use (though I think she overuses it a bit). These “…’s” can be a cop out, a way to avoid having to express an entire thought clearly. I think she uses it though, to wordlessly express her “feeling of lostness-(also a word she creates)” These ellipses show us she gets lost in thought and invites us to go along for the ride. She offers her experience, but then calls us to complete the sentence. And while this is a good technique, at times I think it is too fragmented, too distant.
In the end of her “About me” post, she quotes Mark Twain. While a bit of an overused quote, I think this can be beneficial in that it gives the reader another opportunity to connect—possibly through a mutual love for Mark Twain or expressing her need for exploration by use of someone else’s words (who is conveniently a fantastic writer and phenomenal creator of voice).
In her blog post, It's okay to get lost (if you're not alone), she pulls in the reader with a quote—a thought she had while traveling. She italicizes the quote inside quotation marks (which I’m not sure is grammatically correct?) letting the reader know we are inside her head, once again inviting us into her experience.
She furthers this quoting by introducing a dialogue between herself and her friend while they are hiking on an unknown trail, giving us more personal insight into the adventure she is trying to convey.
She also uses a technique in this story I have seen before, but mainly in poetry. She repeats the three word phrase “we went on” three times before ending the story with “we were lost.” The rhythm of this repetition establishes a distinct flow and feel to her writing.
Unfortunately, though, a few of the promising observations I made from her writing don’t necessarily continue throughout the rest of her blog post. Though I appreciate her detailed descriptions, I get lost a little in her long sentences. I am brought back in though, occasionally with her use of exclamation points-conveying both wilderness and excitement. However, her “about me” post, I believe, was a bit more inviting.
Likewise, she doesn’t link nor use metaphors which can seriously enrich the journaling of a travel log, bringing the reader closer to the source of adventure. When a reader can “see” and “hear” what the writer is experiencing, the blogger has mastered his/her voice.
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