Last summer, while I was preparing for the ISE III
exam that I would take this October, I wrote a fictional blog entry titled
“Writing is painful”. Now that I have to start my own blog - the objective being to prepare for the ISE IV exam - I thought: “What a
perfect title!”
After that revelation, I occurred to me to google
“writing is painful”. The result caught me by surprise: “approximately 71.900.000 results”. I felt relieved. Then, can
it be possible that I am not alone?
Since my feelings are just the same, I think it is
fair enough to finish my first blog entry with that very same text:
Writing is painful. This is the recurring thought that comes to my mind
when I am encountered with the task of doing a writing assignment in English.
How does anyone enjoy writing? Why was I not born as a naturally gifted writer?
It is not that I hate the language. I do love English. I started to
study English on my own some twenty years ago and I lived in England and USA
for a few months. As my level of English has been improving I have found myself
enjoying it more and more.
It is not that I hate reading. I do love books. I have been a keen
reader since I can recall. During childhood I would devour any book I laid my
hands on. A bookworm I was, reading anything from the classics to the Famous
Five.
The problem is that I am not a creative writer. I can be imaginative in
many other tasks, such as cooking, sewing or tourist guiding. Give me a new
recipe and I will come up with five different variations. Give me a piece of
fabric and I will imagine three different dresses that I could design. Give me
a writing topic and I will go blank.
I have only been able to write around two hundred words so far, and it
has been quite painful I must confess. What I do not know is how on earth I am
going to reach the required three hundred words. What could I do to call the
muses?
In
fact, I do not have any problem if I have to write to a friend, a business
report or an online complaint. The difficulty comes when I need to be creative.
I have no imagination whatsoever. How can one become a creative writer? I need
a MOOC for that!
