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Alexina Laliberte
Prof. Voltz
UWRT 1102 Journal
2/16/15
24-hour Writing Log
Upon reflecting on my 24-hour writing log, I have come to the realization that my writing
takes on many forms depending on where I was writing. I noticed that I write a lot during the day
and that writing, no matter what form, is a very important part of my life. Most of my writing
occurs through text messages. Within the 24-hour period of time that I had to log, I wrote on
Twitter by tweeting, Facebook by sharing posts and commenting on things, Instagram by
commenting, Email, and text messages. I happened to do this log on a weekend, so my writing
was mostly social rather than educational. On all of these forums, I made social commentary and
attached pictures or links, or reposted things that included pictures and links, at multiple times
during the 24-hour period. The amount I wrote was determined by the time of day, my mood, and
my location. My location only determined how much I wrote because of a lack of WiFi. This was
so I was able to conserve my cellular data so I didnt go over on my plan. Another factor that
determined what and how much I wrote was whether I was on my computer or my phone. I have
access to all of the applications on my iPhone that I have access to on my MacBook, so the only
difference is ability to type in certain situations. If I am on my phone, Twitter, Instagram, sharing
a quick post, and text messaging are easier, but if I am on my computer, typing out Emails and
writing longer posts and text messages are easier. What I did write or post truly depended on
what I was using or who I was talking to.

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With Twitter, my writing took on many forms. It was persuasive, informative,
entertaining, and used for venting. Looking back on my log, I used 3 tweets to persuade people
to buy Marina and the Diamonds new album FROOT on iTunes. I used twitter to inform my
followers on many things; an upcoming music festival that I am attending, the room I was in was
hot, the weather that day was nice for the month of February, I wish I could go tanning, and
many other unimportant things. I entertained my followers by retweeting funny things that others
said, tweeting funny statements, and replying witty things to others tweets. Finally, the last form
that my writing on Twitter took was a venting form. I found that I used Twitter, later at night, to
vent to the world about my issues and feelings. These tweets were very opinionated and usually
got deleted within a 30 minute period because my mother saw them and told me the world
doesn't need to listen to sadness because no one likes sadness. She is always right, so those
tweets came down. But, nonetheless, I used twitter as a digital diary in that moment.
With Facebook, my writing was informative, narrative, opinionated, and personally
expressive. Through Facebook picture posts, I informed my friends on what I was doing in
college. I also informed my friends on what I was interested in based on the posts that were
written by other people that I shared. My writing was narrative when I shared links and wrote
about them in a post. I was opinionated when I commented my opinions on my friends photos,
friends statuses, and different Facebook groups posts. My Facebook writing was personally
expressive through the posts that I wrote. I don't use Facebook for anything other than to update
my pictures, share posts, and like things, so when I write a post myself, it is usually backed by
emotion and is very expressive.

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With Email, my writing is informative, investigative, and persuasive. I usually only use
my Email to communicate with adults, whether it be a professor or future employer, so my
emails are pretty professional. I am informative when I need to inform the recipient of something
happening that could interfere with a planned event or if I need to tell the recipient of something
that could impact my success in the classroom or the work world. My emails are investigative
when I need to ask a professor a question about classwork, quizzes, tests, notes, or homework. I
usually email a professor to ask about things I missed in class or if I can email an assignment to
them. My emails become persuasive when I need to convince the recipient to help me out or to
persuade the recipient to help me get my way. For example, I would use a persuasive email to
try and get an employer to see me as someone they really need on their team. During this 24hour period, I only composed 3 emails. These emails were all sent to the same recipient and
included attachments of assignments or questions about clinical observations for an in-class
assignment.
With text messaging, my writing was all of the above. It was persuasive, informative,
entertaining, narrative, opinionated, investigative, and was used for emotional venting. I was
persuasive in trying to get my friends to go do something with me. For example, I had to
convince my friend to get out of bed so she could go to SoVi with me. I was informative when I
had to inform my parents on my soccer schedule, when I had to inform my friends on the
whereabouts of the music festival, and when I had to inform my friend of where I lived. I was
entertaining through my texts when I sent funny messages to my friends to cheer them up and
also in group messages. I was texting narratively when I told my friend a story about how one of
my exboyfriends and I met. I was opinionated, and I am ashamed of it, when I was texting with
another friend about someone elses behavior. I was also opinionated when I was texting about

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how a sports event went. I was investigative when I needed to ask questions about an assignment
and when I needed to find out information on someone. And finally, I used texting for emotional
venting. I vented about some issues to my friends and my mom through text.
In conclusion, it is clear that within a 24-hour period a lot of writing, consciously or
subconsciously, happens. Writing, whether it is intense or for leisure, is a very big part of a
persons life. I believe that especially being an 18 year old female, I write a lot more on social
media and texting. I think that if I were to do this 24-hour log years ago or years in the future,
my results would be a lot different. I could be writing a lot less or even a lot more, but the type of
writing I would have done or would do, would be a lot different than it is now.