Kim Young Woo Alex
201203937
My Writing Experience
Growing up as an immigrant in the United States, English was my second language from an early age. However, ever since high school, where the writing assignments became more difficult, I realized that writing was definitely not a strength of mine. Maybe this was because I never had any prior experience in trying to present my ideas into written words. Nevertheless, it didn't help me with my confidence in writing and rather led me to further dread any writing assignments. I remember being very difficult and tedious in the beginning. It took me a long time to get used to the writing format of essays and the grades I received in many essays during my freshmen year of university reminds me of the difficult times I had spent alone, all night, by myself in my dormitory room. Being aware of my hopeless writing capability, I would ask a couple peers who I knew excelled in writing or majored in an English writing to look through the paper for some final corrections. After handing them a copy of my final draft and having it returned without being able to recognize my own essay, I was once again reminded how much I sucked at writing. By then, I thought that writing was a gift, a talent that one was born with. This however, did not exempt me from the countless number of writing assignments in my upcoming future. But as I became a sophomore in my previous university, I took a mandatory English course where something changed my perspective. In this course, the professor was rather focused in creative writing instead of the usual argumentative or research papers that I had previously dreaded. It was my first time writing about my personal opinions and my feelings. This particular class helped me realized that I actually had many things to write about and I remember actually getting some compliments from my professor for having an interesting view and making a good point. Never before did I ever hear anything positive about my writing. But this class was a pivotal point in my writing career. After this class, I tackled all my writing assignments with the belief that I could also be a good writer one day. Although there were writings that I wasn't too proud of, I still managed to write a couple papers that I was indeed pleased with. Today, writing is not too much of a mundane task for me, but rather a challenge to try to present my ideas on a certain issue or a topic in a way to move my readers. Now, I always strive to be the best writer I can be. I do not think I am anywhere near as good as I would like to be, but one thing is for sure: I have improved over the past years and I believe writing, like any other skills, can be learned and improved.
I thought your writing was quite organized. You start with how you thought you weren't good at writing, then you go on to talk about how your thoughts changed about writing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that although writing is a challenging thing to do, it is possible to improve with effort, although it is questionable as to whether a person who makes great effort can surpass the abilities of a talented writer.
Although I still hate writing essays, when I look at my past writings, I see that I actually have improved over the years. I thought that I would never become a better essay writer, but I was wrong. So, I do agree that one can improve in writing if efforts are made.
I like your positive attitude toward writing.
-Alyssa Suhhyun Yoo-
I can see that you went through a lot of difficult times. In fact, your story was quite interesting to read and I believe that you are already a great writer. I guess you don't need to be too hard on yourself about writing. Good luck to you in your future writings. I hope we all see an improvement at the end of this course.
ReplyDeleteKweonho Lee