Dabida Kang/Chapter 1/ Tuesday & 11 a.m.

1.      Write about a bad experience you have had with writing. How did this experience affect your attitude toward writing?   One bad experience about writing remains in my memory. When I was an elementary student, there was a writing contest day. Everyone had to participate in the contest which lasted morning to the afternoon. And a certain topic was given to the students, which I can't remember well right now. The problem was that all of my classmates seemed to start writing without hesitation, except for me. I had no idea how to start or what to tell about the topic. Then few hours passed so quickly that I couldn't still write a sentence. I felt like I was the only one left on earth, when everybody left for new habitat for survival. When it was almost submission time, I just wrote foolish things to just fill the blanks. I felt I was the stupidest person in the world. This actually had a positive impact on me. Not to feel such a shame again, I tried to perfect my writings as far as I had got enough time to prepare for them. And this practice had my writing skills improved in some degree. I still need more exercise for impromptu writings though.   2.      How do you feel about writing in your first language compared to writing in English?   Writing in both Korean and English is still difficult. I believe that same effort is required for writing in both languages, in organizing ideas and making them intriguing. The only difference might be the time. For me, it takes more time to write it in English, because I have to look for the adequate English words which fit in the whole context. Writing English is more challenging though. What is good about writing in English is, in the process of doing it, I get to study myself and learn more by trying to express thoughts understandably.   3.      Have you ever done any writing for yourself only – letters to friends or relatives, journals, diaries, poems? If so, explain how this writing was different from the writing you did for school assignments.   I used to keep diaries. And I still have 4 of them written from 2007 to 2011. Afterwards I unintentionally stopped doing it for the busy school days. Anyways there are so many differences between writing for myself and assignments. To tell one thing, when I write for myself, I am obviously not under pressure. However, the opposite goes for the latter one. Sometimes, I get so much freaked out to unwillingly do the writing assignment that I keep putting it off til the last minute, only to be in a hurry to meet the deadline.