Hajin Ahn/Why I write/Tuesday 9 A.M

Why I write and how do I feel about writing                                                      201301918 HaJin Ahn (EIT) My attitude towards writing is both positive and negative. So I should say I have mixed feelings about writing just like the Student B in the text book. I have done a lot of writing since I entered elementary school. Most of the time, I had to write for my assignments and for my personal statement. Those things gave me a lot of pressure and that pressure made me think that writing is a boring activity taking a huge amount of time and energy. However, two incidents have changed my thought drastically. And what I've learned from those experiences became the reasons for my writing. About five years ago, when I was studying abroad in China, there was a Korean girl living next door. She was two years older than I was and I always thought she was very attractive. I remembered that I often tried to emulate her by wearing similar clothes. One day I saw her diary decorated with all different colors of letters and pictures. Next day, I bought a notebook and started to write a diary every day. At first, I focused on making the notebook look pretty and fancy. However, gradually, I realized the enjoyment of writing. At the end of every day, sitting in front of my desk, I could feel a sense of achievement for finishing my day safely while writing all the things about that day down on my diary. I felt like I was talking to someone I could trust very much which was helpful for reliving my mind. Even for now I write a diary time to time at night before going to bed. In short, I write because free writing such as writing a diary gives an outlet on paper when I don't have someone to speak with. The other reason for my writing is that I can be creative as much as I can. I began to enjoy writing after taking an English class in Chinese school. A foreign teacher made us buy only one notebook and asked us to write a story all together. Every student was given with a number and wrote one sentence of a story and passed onto the next student. I could add a character or direct the story into a totally different way. For the first time I thought writing was interesting. I wanted to write more and further foster my creativity. It was different from other assignments as it did not limit my thinking through cramming and memorization. In other words, I write because free writing allows me to be creative, imaginative and energetic. However, I am still reluctant to do some other types of writing such as academic essays or term reports. To sum up, two incidents in my life have changed my negative outlook on writing. Now, I think writing is useful for relaxing my mind and promoting creativity but when I am forced to write something, all the benefits of writing become meaningless and it only comes to me as one of the works that should be finished in time.