Ji Eun Bok/Week 2 Assignment/Tuesday 11am

Writing has been a big part of my life since I was a little kid. My faded memory of the very first time I wrote something that I can call an actual writing probably goes back to my years in elementary school. My teacher had us keep picture diaries where we wrote several sentences each day and also drew pictures that went along with the diary entries. We were very young and we couldn't really manage to write longer, and the idea of a picture diary made it more interesting and fun. I still keep a couple of these diaries, and it makes me laugh to read what cute thoughts I had as a child.            I first wrote something in English when I moved abroad and went to an international school. It was very similar to how I started writing in Korean; my teachers had me keep English diaries and journals to improve my writing skills, and I believe this helped me develop a keen interest in writing and also enabled me to improve greatly. There was no pressure as to writing for better grades, and I could just write freely on whatever topic that came to my mind. Of course, as I got older, my classes required a higher level of formal writings such as essays, and this got quite stressful later on, however my first memories of writing are very positive and full of happy thoughts.            While I first started writing for my teachers and eventually for grades, I also wrote for fun. I kept diaries for myself, I kept secret diaries with my friends and I wrote many letters to my friends and family. These types of writing were solely based on my own will to write, so I was able to write much more casually, sometimes even using slang words and abbreviations depending on the reader. Writing for fun was indeed much more entertaining, as I did not have to worry about my teachers' thoughts on my writing and what grades I would receive.            Unfortunately, my writing activities now mostly revolve around schoolwork. I do not keep diaries anymore; rather, I use various Social Network Services like Facebook and Instagram to capture special moments in my life and include just very short captions. This does not allow me to write with a more serious attitude than I would when writing on paper, and thus writing has become much easier, in a way. I do still write letters from time to time, but this has become less frequent as well, only writing on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. I strongly feel the need to spend more time writing personally so that I can balance the amount of writing I do for school and for myself. This will ease the stress and pressure I get from schoolwork and probably serve as an idea generator for writing too.