1) What you normally write? Shit. Since I am at university, all I write are basically school assignments. Typically some reviews of history books or annotations. Sometimes a bigger essay or two. Occasionally an email (It is as boring as it sounds). And every now and then some desperate complaints about my frustration from school work (but that is just for my amusement). On a rare occasion I attempt to write a short story with fantasy elements and fail. It is not even serious writing, just scribing some ideas. 2) What do you like writing? I am not sure. I believe I am able to enjoy almost any writing as long as I am allowed not to take it too seriously and ignore the rules/structure at least a little bit. So I guess I enjoy writing that is not purely academic (too bad this is an academic writing course). It´s not that I hate academic writing I just sometimes feel the structure could be less rigid. I tend to write silly stuff mostly. I often try to throw some jokes in. I also used to like writing for and against essays but that was at high school and we didn´t have to follow much rules. It was more like: Write your thoughts down and try to give it a conclusion in the end. And a deep insight into the problem wasn´t really required. It possible I would enjoy writing some review too, because I tend to nit-pick everything. 3) How often do you normally write, aside from school assignments? Not regularly. I would say rarely. It depends what counts as writing. I usually write just school assignments. Rest of my writing is more or less imaginary. During holiday I usually imagine writing something and then I plan writing something and then I just put writing off until I find out that it is time to go to school again and then the cycle repeats itself. Once in a while I actually try to write something but it never works out. It is usually some cheap fantasy, based around one or two ideas. In most cases I don´t finish it. It is probably not even worth mentioning (but just to be sure). 4) How do you feel about your own writing (do you feel proud of what you produce)? Not at all. There were few school assignments which I found somehow good but usually I don´t feel proud of the stuff I produce. Actually when I think about it, when I have been feeling quite confident about some of my writing, it often turned out to be some of the weakest stuff I have written. Most of the time I feel my writing is quite subpar at best. Although there used to be some pieces with good reception (but that was at high school, so I suppose it doesn´t really count). 5) How do you feel about the writing process (does it come easily to you, or is it difficult)? It is usually pretty hard. Over the years I found out, I am not truly able to write something until the deadline is getting near or is even already dead. When I want to write something I spend like 90% of time just thinking about it or not knowing what to do with it and the last 10% with actual writing. I guess I just need a dose of sweet, sweet adrenaline to finally get things done. I am very indecisive and without an external motivation I usually can´t choose what should be written / how it should be / which part to cut out... (I generally tend to expand the text more and more because once something is written down, I fell it would be somehow missed in the final text...) [JK1] It is really weird when I think about it, because I feel stressed pretty much every time I have to write something and yet, I always thought that I like writing. 6) How do you feel about sharing your writing? Bad. But when it meets good reception It feels extremely rewarding. Generally I am fine with it, when I see intended audience enjoys it. The older I am the more insecure I am about sharing my writing. Sometimes when I believed the text was good enough I was maybe even looking forward to it. But generally I always feel it could be much better. 7) Is creative writing what you would call academic writing? No it isn´t. I always fought they are opposites. You can´t really get much creative with academic writing because everything has to follow a template, and quite rigid rules and structure: You have to use correct language, follow rules and language of your field and basically everything you write must be supported by trustworthy sources. Now I realize question was if I consider creative writing to be academic and not, if I can define academic writing, so, sorry for that. 8) What do you normally read? During semester I have to read mainly academic and serious literature and texts and books assigned to us in courses. mainly some big synthesis about certain time period, sometimes a chronicle or articles by influential historians. When I have time (usually after semester ends) I prefer fantasy/sci-fi literature. Especially comedy, such as Terry Pratchett´s Discworld series. My favourite writer is Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker´s Guide to the galaxy). I am also happy to read almost anything by Neil Gaiman. I can also enjoy a comic book. 9) How often do you normally read, aside from school assignments? School assignments often tend to consume all of my time. When there is some left I don´t always feel like reading some more, because I am tired of all the school reading. I would say few times a week for about half an hour. When there is no school, I normally read daily, at least an hour or so. 10) What language skills do you think you use while you're writing? When I have to read some of my work I often feel like I don´t use no language skill at all. Generally, I think when it comes down to writing, one has to use grammar skills and spelling, good knowledge of the writing styles is essential. important. Extensive vocabulary is also useful. 11) Without looking it up on the internet, what is an essay, in your own words? I don´t like to admit it, but I actually don´t know what actual definition of an essay is. I would say it is a piece of writing which follows very strict structure and set of rules, depending on which type of essay it is. ________________________________ [JK1]na tohle se ještě musíš podívat.