Literature and writing has always been something I am very passionate about. Words and poetries always intrigued me. This intrigue and the lockdown became the driving forces to force myself into writing poetry, escaping from reality and drowning myself into a fictional world made with a sea of words and rhymes. For a while I kept these poems to myself but one fine day I finally summoned the courage to let everyone read it, comment on my work and give me ways to improve, and to do so I started an instagram account @bleedingiink specifically for posting my musings and poetries. Creating this account not only allowed me to exhibit my work for all to read and decipher but it also served as a constant source of motivation for me to continuously write. 

• LO 1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

Since the start I was aware that I was fairly good at being socially active and quick to respond online and this really helped me in my journey to grow my writing page online. Along with being socially smart and well-read with technology I believe I am a reasonably good writer and posting my work online made me take criticism in a healthy way and also enjoy compliments. As for my weaknesses I found it very difficult to creatively put forth my work in a way to attract my audience and keep them engaged. I found it rather challenging to find the best suiting graphic that would complement my poetry whilst looking attractive and pleasing on my feed.  However with more and more practice and trial and error I think I am trying to grow in both writing and presenting it to the world.

• LO 3:Demonstrate how to plan and initiate a CAS experience.

Commencing this experience was quite a ride, but all in all it was very rewarding. The initial steps of opening the instagram account was extremely easy but regularly posting new content, writing new poetries, coming up with graphical ideas, finding different ways to keep my audience engaged, creating stories and reels, making sure that the instagram algorithm was intact, deciding on a theme and feed was the tougher part. Throughout this experience I had to wear my creative caps and think of creative solutions and ideas to engage my audience. I had to step out of my comfort zone, communicate with strangers on the internet, find/draw graphics that complemented the post and added meaning to it and continuously plan new posts, write musings and poetries. As a whole although the process was tiresome and challenging at times it was extremely gratifying and exciting.

• LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

I believe that commitment, consistency and perseverance was the key to this CAS experience. This is because in order to keep a hold of your audience online it becomes extremely important to keep them engaged. This encouraged me to constantly be active on my page, reply to comments, add stories and continuously write and write better. Even at times when I felt like giving my I remained committed to the experience, and did not stop writing. Even on days when I was faced with writer block I ensured to communicate with my readers and engage with them via instagram stories, polls, comments etc. Showing consistency and perseverance allowed me to increase my social growth and kept me constantly fueled with inspiration to write more.  

• LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Throughout this process I ensured to be completely ethical and made sure that my work was bullet-proof, completely original, ethical and respectful. One of the biggest steps into being completely ethical was to ensure that none of my work was plagiarized. I also made sure that I properly acknowledged everyone who helped me with my work in terms of editing it, helping me review it, and who created graphics for me. I also sourced the places from where I took photographs that complimented my work. This way I made it a key point to remain ethical always.

To wrap it all up, even when this experience was somewhat tiresome it was also very rewarding. While it was challenging to engage the audience and become more confident in my work it was also a platform for me to shine as a writer and take criticism in a healthy way.

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