The following has been written for Writing Research and Technology at Rowan University and is meant to explain how the use of technology has impacted my writing.
    So far in this class there has not been a single print assignment. All of our assignments have involved reading something found online and creating tweets, a website, blog posts, and, so far, one project based on these readings. We were thrust into this world of technology immediately, and it is my opinion that this was the only way to do it. Some of the things we have been required to do are not unfamiliar to me. I have used twitter for a class, created a website for another and even kept a blog on Tumblr for another. The similarities end there. I was never before required to do all aspects of classwork online on a website that I created for myself.
    The use of Twitter was the easy part. I have only used twitter for school, but I have used it previously. Although I prefer to use Facebook, the small amount of characters was not a surprise, and I got used to it again pretty quickly. The only part of twitter I have not enjoyed is having to make my account public. I have been followed by several people I don't know in the past few weeks, which adds to my concern of how many people are reading this blog and the other things I will post to this site. In some ways Twitter provides an advantage, especially when I don't feel like writing much. I am forced to choose my words carefully and I can only post so much.
    Having created a website previously did not help me when creating this one since they are completely different formats, but I was able to appreciate how simple it was using this site and I was more aware of what my website would need. I have appreciated creating all assignments on this site because everything I have done and will do for this class is all here in one neat package. All completed assignments are added to my site live and easily changeable if I notice mistakes or just want to improve something I've done at some point in the future. While you would think that putting all assignments online would cause a feeling of finality, it has the opposite effect. Instead of handing in one final paper that cannot be edited once it is out of my hands, I can improve upon my assignments all semester.
    The most noticeable impact that technology has had on my writing is that I am more guarded about what I write, since I know that many people have access to it. While my audience would normally include my professor and a maybe a few classmates, I now consider that many others (who may or may not know why I'm writing the things that I am) could potentially read anything I write. This knowledge has caused me to want to steer clear of anything that would be too boring or unimpressive. I feel immense pressure with each blog post that I complete. While part of me believes that this is good practice for writing professionally, the part of me that sees this as yet another stumbling block that distracts me from the purpose of the assignments. I cannot tell yet if this has made my writing better, worse or unchanged, but I am sure I will appreciate this aspect of my writing experience much more in the future.
     I have had mixed results when creating my twitterive. The twitterive could not exist without technology, but I have also found that it can be a distraction here. I have had trouble finding the right balance of technology and narrative. At first I used too much technology, and now I am struggling to add the right amount of narrative to compliment it. On the positive side, I have enjoyed not having limits on how to express ideas. Instead of just words, I have videos, or screen shots, or sound-clips, or pictures, and the list goes on. I am only limited by what my imagination can come up with. I have been afforded an opportunity that no paper project would ever allow. I only see positive results coming from this, since I will be able to think of various ways to express myself and engage my audience in the ideas I am trying to convey.
    Overall, I feel that the benefits to working exclusively online outweigh any of the discomforts that I've experienced. This experience will be invaluable in the very near future since the use of technology is becoming more and more pervasive in all areas of life. Having to think a certain way when creating assignments is good practice for this future. I have already begun to change the way that I think about writing as a result of this experience.
   

The following stress release, or rant if you prefer, is meant to relieve the stress I am feeling over completing my Twitterive assignment for Writing Research and Technology.
In the first few weeks of the semester I looked forward to the weeks that would be focused on the Twitterive since I was finding the reading based blog posts to be so cumbersome. I had no idea what I was in for.
I call myself partially creative. Only partially because I love writing creative stories and I can be quite good at it, but I need guidelines. Tell me to write a story about the book we just read from a different character's point of view. I'm right there. You would like a poem based on my tweets? No problem. You want me to create a personal essay on why I write? When can I start?! But now you want me to decide on a place (any place, even a feeling) and create a "Twitterive" (what the hell is that) with a prologue and multiple genres as the only guidlines?? You lost me.
Whose idea was this? What am I basing my place on? When should I a have a SPECIFIED number of genres? Where do I start?  Why can't you pick the genres for me? HOW DO I DO THIS?!
How's that for 5 W's and 1 H?
The ironic thing is that this is just the sort of challenge that I wanted to be able to "grow as a writer." Every good writer has faced challenges at some point right? Be careful what you wish for. Now I've got this 5,000 pound burden attached to this Twitterive: If I don't do well, I'm a bad writer. I realize no one told me to put that much stock into this project, but there's no going back now. However, I am open to an intervention. I spend much more time worrying about the Twitterive than I do working on it. I do have other classes and assignments due this semester, believe it or not.
The good news is, I've finally gotten to the point where I can semi-productively think about my Twitterive without having stomach cramps. Can you call that growth? I don't know. All I know is that this better turn out to be one heck of a Twitterive, or it might take me years to recover.

   The following is the writing process I have gone through so far in creating my Twitterive for Writing Research and Technology.
     My writing process thus far has had the appearance of being painful. Painfully slow, painfully jumbled and painfully bad. I have found the simplest tasks, such as posting to Twitter, to be incredibly frustrating, time consuming and ending in dissatisfaction. I started the assignment by reading other Twitterives and then sitting and thinking about what I wanted to say. I first experienced a disconnect when attempting to decide what I should include in the project and how to make the readers understand how I am feeling. I have been taking notes on what genres I would like to include, but I am finding that it is better to not to try and make the writing fit the genre. I need to accept the the mode as it comes. What I have come up with has come in disconnected, disjointed spasms. The most frustrating thing is that I cannot seem to dig myself out of this rut. I have attempted to change my location, my process and even my writing style, all to no avail. It has not helped that I have been waiting until the last minute to begin putting my ideas on the actual page.
    Through this process I have discovered that the disjointed spasms might be the best method for allowing my readers to understand how I feel in my place. It has been the only assignment that can be made better by this stunted, disorganized process. I can think of a random piece and add it in without thinking about organization just then. Since it is personal I  do not have to force a connection. I do not feel connected in my place, and that is the point. I am not limited by genre, and this has made the process much better. If one genre isn't working, I can move on to another, and another, and another and they will all work together to make an awesome final product. The writer's block I have been limited by is finally working in my favor. I am confident that it will all come together, and this is the first time that I have had that confidence in months.