Writing is a passion. It is not a talent, nor a hobby; it is a means of expressing our innermost thoughts and ideas, another person’s window to our soul. And I have been a witness to how this passion became a means of getting to know myself more and others as well.

I used to not like writing, most especially if it was a required task in school. I thought that I do not know how to write well and I am not talented in that field. But little by little I got used to it.And in this class I learned that good writers aren’t born, they are made, and I believe that because it is up to the writer if he or she wants to develop a passion for writing and hone his or her skills, sharpen his or her vocabulary and continuously write. People choose when they write, what they write and how they write.

What they write depends on whether or not they are writing for an academic requirement or for personal purposes.Academic writing usually necessitates a lot of research, opinions supported by facts, word count requirements, meeting deadlines (hence time management is of utmost importance), and citing sources to avoid plagiarism. In contrast, personal writing is mostly freestyle. One can be asked to express an opinion on a particular topic every now and then and the writer is free to say whatever he or she wants to. There is no right or wrong answer. Also, personal writing can come in the form of a journal or a blog.

In this form of writing, we can really get to know the writer better.How people write reflect their style and organization. There are some writers who follow guidelines strictly or by-the-book and make sure that all their essays or articles are constructed in a similar way. While others just wait to be inspired. Inspiration plays a great role in writing, mostly because personal writing is inspiration dependent. I know it’s an unusual situation to be inspired with but I have a fascination regarding wars.

I believe that there are still some areas to be explored with regards to that topic and I am up for the challenge of navigating through those areas.Also, I love discovering different cultures around the world; there are just so many topics to cover with that subject in mind. Sometimes I get a writer’s block and just cannot make an appropriate opening line for the introduction, but once I have overcome the block, I can now finish what I have started. As a novice in this field, I greatly appreciate that I have a keen eye for my grammar, for which I consider it to be one of my strongest points in writing.

But of course, a beginner like me has to have a weakness. I cannot write under pressure fast.I tend to get a bit tense sometimes. With that said, albeit I’m not planning to start a writing career, I would love to develop a passion for it. Perfecting articles for a target audience, choosing the right words carefully and conveying a message to the readers require patience, hard work and definitely zeal. It’s not easy, but we all have to start somewhere.

To all the incoming greenhorns who chose to study this subject, I want to tell you that if you do not want to write, you will have to force yourself to learn eventually.Our mentors do not want us to become editors of the New York Times nor The Reader’s Digest. I think they only want us to appreciate what is written and know that we will need to write for the rest of our lives, be it a requirement or task, or a letter to a significant other. I did learn a lot, and I did work hard for it.

In reality there is no easy way to a reach a goal, and if you want to achieve excellence, it has to start within you. You must want it so bad that you will really try to do everything in your power to get there. That is how I describe a passion. Writing is a passion.