"Some people say that a certain consistent style restricts creativity others say it enhances, what are the arguments on both side?"

I feel a certain consistent style does restrict ones creativity to some extent. Creativity comes from the writers mind, and he or she needs to be willing to let it flow. A writer needs to learn to adapt him self into different writing styles.

Writing the same way makes one a strong writer in their particular field or in their particular style. It is definitely a gift to write they way they can. A sports writer, writes to entertain his audience, and is not the same as journalist in Economy Today. Both writers have a gift of expressing what they are best in. Each writer is creative within their own field, they know how to grab the attention of their readers and they can be creative in their particular area.
On the contrary using the same style, the writer will start to repeat and reuse the same method or approach to each piece of writing; it does not let them go wild. I feel a strong writer is one who is brave enough and confident enough and can prove that he can explore the fields and one who can adjust and adapt to the circumstances. An example of someone being constricted by their style would be my father. He writes in the English newspaper back home. His style I would say is writing humors articles. He enjoys is making fun of what he listens, sees, basically his environment and he loves to “word play” with the English language. He is too used to this certain style and if you were to ask him to write a serious piece on the issue in the Middle-East or the Terrorism or the Economic Crisis, he would really struggles to get half a page. Writing in one certain style does lead to a mental block to some extent; you’re limited and your mind starts thinking only in one way.

Writing is Thinking

The statement “writing is thinking,” to me makes sense. When one writes a piece, a poem, a reflection, etc, it’s their idea; it is their thought on a piece of paper or on a computer screen. When one writes, their feelings, their emotions, their perspective and their ideas are portrayed.

A writer writes about what they are motivated by, or something that affects them, something that instigates them. They write it out and they express themselves, they express what they think.

Even we, while we do school work, research papers, essay, it consists of what we think about a particular topic and we are writing about it. Therefore “writing is thinking.” However writing is not the only means of thinking. One can think without writing as well. When it comes to writing, the writer has to think, collect information, ideas, different stand points, and then he writes what he or she “thinks.”

Writing is a form of thinking, but it is not the only form of thinking. Different people have different strengths and weakness. Some express themselves better on a paper, and others people use other mediums to portray what they think, such as Art, instrumental music, gestures, etc. Art shows what a person thinks or feels. The painting speaks for itself. An example is when school children in Iraq were told to paint something, a handful of them drew pictures of war and violence. This is their way of expressing their view of their current state. An artist lets his paint brush do the writing.

Writing is thinking, but definitely not the only way.

Blog 1

I graduated half on May 2005, from Jakarta International School in Indonesia.

I traveled half way around the world for a college education in the States. I have been very persistent and clear cut on what I have wanted to do. The aspect of management and marketing has always fascinated me, therefore my major – Management with a concentration in marketing. I love talking to people, communicating, and I’ve always been told I am a people person. I thought, why not put this skill to use. I am double mentoring in Communication and World Religion. Communication acts as solid counter part to Marketing, and I have been advised that both do go well. As far as World Religion, I have always been curious and eager to learn about different religions. I am a practicing Hindu myself and I have been curious on other peoples take and other peoples view on the world, the creation, the aspect of God and so on and so forth.

After Manhattanville I would like to work somewhere in the States for a year or two, and go for my Masters. But my future definitely is somewhere in Asia. I have a very diverse background. I’m originally from India, but lived all my life in Indonesia. I have to say my future is in either one of those countries.

I have taken this course to improve my writing English is a second language to me, therefore I put in extra effort. College in general has improved my writing, I feel writing only by taking more writing courses I can improve as a writer. I hope to find my own style of writing and learn different styles as well.