I. L. Chang

Progress

Story 1 – Takashi (updated and edited)
03.01.25 to 04.04.25 – total word count: 5,200

Story 2 – Camila
03.01.25 to 04.22.25 – total word count: 5,700

I debated whether or not to keep posting about my writing progress because it had been slow and uneventful. But since I started, I should keep going. At least I should remember why I took the year off.

For the last month, I felt stuck with my lack of technical experience and it made me want to redo my bachelor’s degree. I became aggressively ambitious, wanting to study again. I go back to the moment in 12th grade when I wanted to apply for the Faculty of Arts at UBC to study English Literature. What if I had done it then? What would my life look like now? But there’s no going back and I have no regrets. I’ve accomplished so much with my Bachelor of Commerce.

A new perspective

I decided to take up my writing in a new perspective after being stuck. Instead of thinking that I am writing a complete manuscript, I am writing the skeleton of a manuscript. The skeleton likened to the foundations of a building – there are only glimpses of the final product but crucial in setting up the beginnings. The first draft will be bad, my writing instructor warned us, readjusting our expectations. But keep writing she said. Keep writing. And it will take much longer than I thought it would. But still, I am determined to complete it.

I found a piece of advice from Dan Harmon that was amusing. It humbled me and helped me start writing again.

My best advice about writer’s block is: the reason you’re having a hard time writing is because of a conflict between the GOAL of writing well and the FEAR of writing badly.

but, let’s just be honest with ourselves and each other: we can only hope to be good writers. We can only ever hope and wish that will ever happen, that’s a bird in the bush.

Switch from team “I will one day write something good” to team “I have no choice but to write a piece of shit” and then take off your “bad writer” hat and replace it with a “petty critic” hat and go to town on that poor hack’s draft and that’s your second draft. Fifteen drafts later, or whenever someone paying you starts yelling at you, who knows, maybe the piece of shit will be good enough or maybe everyone in the world will turn out to be so hopelessly stupid that they think bad things are good and in any case, you get to spend so much less time at a keyboard and so much more at a bar where you really belong…

Reading

Back in elementary school, my mom used to take my sister and I to the library after swimming class. Every week, I would be excited to go and borrow books that I couldn’t wait to read. The desire of wanting to devour words on the page had now been replaced by mindless scrolling of short form videos. I want to return to the old habit of reading.

Thanks to a google search, I found libraries that housed a collection of English books in Seoul. I’ve frequented one a few times and borrowed some books, but it seems habits take time to change. It was nostalgic to walk through the hushed hallways and sniff the smell of aged paper.

I also found out by chance it was a cherry blossom viewing spot. What a pleasant trip to the library.