♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #346
If you could take a free class at a university, what course would you take??
Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop! The authors included in this ongoing series wish to thank you for your reads. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writings with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.
Free classes for the win! I recommend writers try to find topics of interest to them and take as many of these as they can. They will only benefit your craft. Did you know that MOOCs and YouTube are great resources for learning? Expand your mind, because learning is all you can take with you, and it’s all that matters for our field.
A writer’s skill improves around their knowledge base. The more you know the greater your confidence and ability to write. It may not seem directly connected, but let me assure you that lifelong learning is imperative to a strong writing career. If you’ve been around my blog a while, you’ll have read my advice on expanding what you know and studying outside the box of your topic. How does that help? You can find interconnected pieces, information that correlates or is on topic, via other subjects. For instance, you may be reading a history book and the author alludes to a deeper history of custom/tradition (culture), a place, a person, etc. That insight deepens your knowledge on your topic.
Not only does the deeper knowledge you gain give you more to write about, but it gives you authority and confidence which will show through your text. When you know your stuff, your reader can feel that and they trust you better. That will result in loyal readers and people who finish reading your work and seek out more.
There are so many topics on my list of studies to undertake. Firstly, I want to study languages. I’ve been working at German, but I want to branch out to Mandarin and Welsh. Welsh is less difficult than Mandarin via the route I am taking (DuoLingo). The alphabet is familiar, too. Mandarin, like Hebrew and Hindi will be tougher, as the characters are different. In Mandarin, the concepts behind the language are also different. It would take a lot a more than one free class for that. However, a free class on understanding the nature and concepts of the language would be extremely helpful!
If not that, I would love to take a Chinese literature/culture course. Film is also high on my list. Red Cliff (2009) remains one of my favorite series of all time. The visuals are captivating, stunning. It is well-made! The acting is fantastic, and the story strong. I couldn’t complain about anything, except that I still don’t know the language! I’d also like to know what is realistic history and what was license. If you can recommend a good book on the history of China, feel free to drop the title/author in the comments.
A free class on China would be so much fun. I just don’t want to have to do homework or write papers. I don’t think that benefits people in the initial stages of learning. First we should be absorbing the material and asking questions. So, lectures and readings would be perfect. This is why I tend to lean on YouTube and other documentary. However, there is the question of what is reliable. When it’s from a University, which is accredited, you can be far more confident in the materials used. There are standards to be met. Unfortunately, anyone can make a YouTube or a documentary and claim its truthful without that being the case at all. So, be mindful.
Click on the links below to see what the other authors want to study…
