RAISING DIGITAL AWARENESS

• Why is it important to draw visitors to your site?

Drawing visitors to your site creates a purpose for your writing. Though writing for pure enjoyment is also nice at times, your work being used and valued on top of that on a regular basis has its perks as well. By drawing visitors to your site, you as the writer get this satisfaction.

• How are you currently addressing visitors' needs on your blog/s?

I am currently addressing my visitors' needs on my blog by posting frequently about sites they can/should check out for tips on traveling. This includes everything from the cheapest times to travel to how to pack a carry on luggage to get the maximum outcome! I feel if someone is generally interested in traveling these things are quite helpful.

• What steps can you take to improve the value of your site for visitors?

What I can do now is continue to post daily on resources because I have really been slacking lately in that area of my site. Followers, fear not, more to come. 

• What do you think is more important in general: digital tools or human ideas/interaction?  Why?

I believe both digital tools and human ideas/interactions play a huge role in todays society and therefore neither is more important. They coincide in the success of a project. With technology today, our resources have expanded greatly and we are capable of achieving so much more than before. However, what are resources without the idea to fuel them. Without human interaction and ideas, your chances of using the resources for good become slim.

preview of coming attractions

Today I decided to combine my masterpiece with something that will make my project more feasible and exciting for that matter. I decided to make my masterpiece traveling/adventure. This way I can do some awesome local things that may be unknown to others!

LIT ANALYSIS

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
Chocolat begins with the arrival of Vianne and her young daughter to a small village in France. This village is strictly and strongly catholic where everyone goes to mass on Sundays. Vianne is the only one who decides to not go. Her resistance for the religion and her opening of a chocolate shop in the center of the town during lent set the plot as conflict unwinds between the mayor and Vianne.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
Enjoy yourself! That is the theme in simple terms. What Joanne wanted to capture in her novel is the simple theme of living life for yourself and not to please people around you. What truly matters in life is your happiness. Carpe diem! ;)
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The author's tone was strong to illustrate Vianne's personality as well as the overall theme. Because of the author's tone, reader's were able to capture the true depth and meaning of just how strong of a message the author was trying to get across. To illustrate this, " You don't misbehave here. It's just not done, did you know that? If you don't go to confession, if you don't... dig your flowerbeds, or if you don't pretend, if you don't pretend... that you want nothing more in your life than to serve your husband three meals a day, and give him children, and vacuum under his ass, then... then you're... then you're crazy."  "Roux: I should probably warn ya: you make friends with us, you make enemies with everyone else.
Vianne Rocher: Is that a promise?
Roux: It's a guarantee."
"Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive."

SEEKING MENTOR

My mentor has qualities of a great writer. She has the power to attract someone instantly in her first line of an article. Of course her destinations draw people in as well but a destination is nothing if you don't know anything about it. Her courage to do what she is doing I also admire.  The fact that she embarked on a year long of traveling by herself is amazing. This gal is none other than Brooke Saward of worldofwanderlust.com
check it out!

RESOURCE OF THE LAST 3 DAYS

For the last 3 days, Travel Channel has had a 3 part series on European countries. I clearly couldn't reflect on this before I finished watching, but now it's safe to say that I can. This was an amazing video diary of all the European countries. They covered the landscapes, the best cities, and the tourist spots as well as the local spots.

IS THERE AN EXPERT IN THE HOUSE?

My expert as mentioned many times before is Brooke Saward. She is truly an amazing person for the courage she has to do what she is doing at the moment. She was just awarded International Skyscanner travel blog of the year! Her blog was barely made a little over a year ago. The tremendous amount of success she has had has been astounding. What she is doing now is she embarked on a full year of traveling, by herself, and is taking one town, city, and country one day at a time. She is meeting people along the way via social media and is living her ultimate dream. She is one person I really look up to and admire. I pick her and emphasize on her because in a way she is just like me. She is still very young, and here she is, a go-getter which is how I view myself.

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

How does my masterpiece affect a potential career and then how does it differ from my true life passion? Like discussed in class, there are 2 kinds of tests; school tests, and this is where we as students are ATM'S in which the teacher deposits information throughout the course and on test days withdrawals it, and then there are life tests. Life test are the one's where we can draw on an experience and we really learn something. So in this masterpiece, I need to have both types of tests in a sense. However, we do not get the typical school test in expository composition. Anyways, back to my original question. This masterpiece could turn into a career if I wanted it to. It can transform itself into a full time, freelance journalism of my choice, and that is how I can make a living later in life. But, my passion is in fact traveling. So as I am traveling, and seeing everything there is to see, I am really pursuing a passion. My masterpiece could be a simple hobby of which I take up, or I can turn it into so much more. This really excites me to think of the possibilities.