1. What are your strengths as a writer?
Even though I'm not that qualified writer and I don't have much confidence in writing, I like writing something. Well, except writing an essay, actually. I like keeping journal and I like free writing that I don't have to care about structure or grammar which is my weak point. I think this is one of my strength because love what you do is really important. Your attitude toward it can affect the results. And this can help me not to feel so tired about practicing writing. I do feel tired and I do not want to practice writing sometimes when it's too hard, but still, I think I can enjoy it more than those who hate writing.
Moreover, I'm not ashamed of getting feedback from others. I heard some people feel bad when they got feedback, especially negative kind of feedback pointing out mistakes or giving advices. However, I'm rather willing to get other people's idea than avoiding it. I know I'm not a perfect writer and those new ideas I couldn't think of will rich my writing. I don't have courage to ask to give me feedback first, but when we have feedback session during the class, I really like it.
I'm not sure I have more strength as a writer, seriously. I'm not that creative, organizing idea is one of the difficulties I always face when I write, feedback I got always say that 'I can't understand what you wanted to say with this sentence' however, maybe I have ability to write something longer. This could be strength and weak point, actually. My essays, for example, usually have lots of examples and explanation but it might be considered as unnecessary part.
2. What do you find most difficult about writing?
The most difficult thing about writing to me is getting ideas. It is really hard for me to get interesting topic or proper supporting idea. Even though I have time to brainstorm during the class, I can't finish my brainstorming on time. When I choose specific interesting topic, them I realize that this topic has little things to say so I have to find another one. Writing about my personal experience is the most difficult part. I don't have interesting or shocking events that changed my whole life. My life was quite clam and happy life without big trouble or accidents. So I can't think of things to say about this.
Second, organizing ideas is also hard for me. Of course I know the basic frame such as introduction, body paragraph, conclusion etc. but I feel the flow of my writing especially flow of my essay is not that natural. Maybe that's because I'm not good at using conjunctions. But I think the bigger problem is lack of coherence. I need a lot of help from others since it is not easy to find out what's wrong in my writing.
Also, one of the most bothering problems is paraphrasing and sentence structures. After I finish my first, rough draft and read it again, I find out there are too many same words, phrases and structures. I really want to use various kinds of sentence structures and want to be good at paraphrasing; however, my English is not proficient enough to achieve that level. I'm always worried my essay would look like a writing of a child especially when I wrote about something serious.
3. Describe your writing process by answering the following question: How do you usually approach an out of class writing assignment? Do you start early or put it off until last minute? Do you write only one draft or revise your essay one or more times? Where do you go for help if you find a writing assignment difficult?
Before I start my writing assignment I usually do brainstorming since it's hard to think of good topic and good reasons. I make an outline when I have enough time to do that but I usually don't, because I always put my essay assignment off until the last minute. I know it is a bad habit but I can't start something unless it became urgent. After I finish writing first draft, I revise it because I know that one is too rough to just hand it in. it's more like a stream of consciousness rather than a good, organized essay. However, even though the writing assignment is too difficult for me, I don't ask help to others because there's almost no one I could ask easily to give me good feedback.
4. In what ways do you hope your writing will improve by the end of his course?
At the end of this course, I want I could write really interesting, natural writing that readers are very willing to read it further. But writing something interesting seems like it is a goal hard to achieve in 16 days. I'm not going to be a professional writer in the future of course, but I hope my readers-who are very kind to read my writings-could be interested and happy because of my writing. I want to write a story someday, but that's not the point. To achieve this, I need more interesting ideas for reading and my writing should be natural.
I also want my grammar & structuring could be better. I know it is not a grammar class, however, if I write several times and get used to it, I could learn something about this area too, I guess. I'm sick of writing like an elementary school student. How could that kind of writing make others impressed? No one could like or convinced by those writings with full of errors and boring structures. The most important thing in writing is its contents, but the container containing ideas also should be good or at least, acceptable.
Furthermore, I want to improve my revising skill at the end of this class. Getting feedback could help me but I can't always get feedback from others. I always try to revise and edit my essay or writing, but it doesn't help much. Because the writer and the people who revise the writing is the same person, the point of view is also same. And I know there's something wrong and not sufficient, but I don't know how to change it.
5. What do you think will help you most to improve as a writer?
The most useful ways to improve my writing is getting feedback from others, in my opinion. As I mentioned above, I have problem with fluent, natural flow of the writing and therefore it is really helpful to know what others think. It is a part hard to change all by myself. Moreover, I have lots of grammar problems either so feedback from a person good at grammar allows me to correct those errors.
Practice writing could be helpful, too. I could keep a journal or practice writing essay and so on. When I write a lot, I could find my own writing style and see my strength or drawback of my writing; therefore I could try to improve myself. And practice makes perfect.
Also, reading good examples a lot can be useful to improve my writing. Good examples give me ability to look at writings and it could lead me to revise myself well. Reading also can help me get used to the flow or style of the writing.
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