Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking Back

Overall, I think I have learned a ton about Indian mythology this semester. Two months ago, I couldn't have named any gods/goddesses, and I definitely could not have told anyone anything about the Indian epics. I think the writing assignments force me to critically review the reading assignments I've completed so that I can adapt the story from its original story. At this point in time, I am very happy with my project. I feel like I have a topic I am interested in and a plan that is solid. I am learning a lot as I research for my stories. I am mostly happy with my blog, but I feel that I struggle with stories quite a bit. Most times, I have problems thinking of stories to write for my blog. I want to write something interesting, but I am not a good creative writer. I tend to like highly technical papers; I typically only read and write technical reports. On that note, I think my biggest accomplishment to date is my WWE Mahabharata story. I was able to make a creative story without any problems, which is not typical for me. I do think my reading notes are the only reason I'm able to come up with stories. If I took worse notes, writing a story would be nearly impossible. I think my favorite reading strategy that I've found is researching as I read. If I'm interested in something, sometimes I'll hop over to Wikipedia and get more information about the topic. My favorite reading so far has definitely been the Ramayana. It was super interesting to start learning so much about Indian mythology so fast and I enjoyed the plot more than I enjoyed the plot of the Mahabharata. I can recall a lot more information from the Ramayana as well.

This picture of a temple in Vijayanagara has been my favorite picture from
any of my reading notes. I was amazed at the beauty of the architecture and
stone-working in the temple. Image from Wikimedia

Looking Forward

Going into the future, I think I need to take more time to digest stories and research the background information so that I can get more out of the readings. If I get more out of the readings, writing will be easier and I will learn more about each topic. I also should experiment with more note-taking strategies going forward with the class.