Hi! My name is “michelle” It’s great to meet you.

I’m originally from Chicago, USA. I’m currently living in the USA, but soon I’ll be moving back to South Korea.

I say “back” because I taught in South Korea for two years. Now, I’m working on my Master’s degree in English Teaching. If I spend half my program in the USA and half in Seoul, I graduate with two degrees! This is the end of my time in the USA; my time in South Korea begins next year.

With my ever-changing class schedule and place of residence, I’ve grown to love freelancing and working for Workshift clients as a writer. I enjoy the flexibility and diversity of the work as well as the chance to express myself through the written word.

Why Do I Love Writing?

Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my mother. She tried to instill the joy of reading in me from an early age and was, for all intents and purposes, successful; my earliest memories are sitting under the lamplight reading books in my mother’s lap. This grew my interest in both books and the worlds in them. I got lost traveling to Middle Earth and traversing the lands of Narnia, all without leaving the confines of my room.

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment my love for reading turned to writing, but if I had to guess, it would be around fifth grade. At that time, I discovered a website called Neopets. On Neopets, you could create a virtual pet, feed it, and play with it. There was also a social aspect called the Neoboards -- a forum for players to chat.

On these boards, I discovered a new aspect of the site: original character creation. Here, users would mold characters and backstories for their pets, developing pet personalities through role play. Needless to say, I was hooked. I would spend my evenings concocting elaborate (but unoriginal) characters and backstories for my pets.

If I had to point to one source for my love of writing, it would be Neopets. The hours upon hours honing my craft put a spark in my eyes and proved that literature was not just something I could read; it was something I could write, create, control. The rest, as they say, is history; as I got older, I continued to fuel my passion for writing.

What Do I Like Writing About?

Although I enjoy reading about far-off lands, I prefer keeping my writing closer to home. I often wonder about the people passing by in the city. They have their own intricate lives I could only imagine. This is what I love to write about: people’s day-to-day struggles, hopes, and dreams.

There is beauty in the simplicity of everyday life. Even if the subject of my writing is doing something grand - traveling, exploring, building a business from the ground up - they are still people. Exploring what it means to be human speaks to me as a writer.

I think this is why I enjoyed character creation as a child. I spent most of my time exploring not just who my characters were, but why they were. I still enjoy this, and I like to ask myself: why are people the way they are? What stories do they have to share?

These questions are themes I love examining in my writing. Everyone, no matter their origin, has something to share, to teach. As a writer, I am simply here to learn.

What Do I Usually Write About?

As a freelancer, I usually write about experiences. Travel blurbs, cosmetics reviews, stories about food--these are the kinds of things that make up most of my writing career.

While I consider myself more skilled as a creative writer, I don’t mind writing reality. Like I said before, I enjoy writing about everyday life (even if someone’s ‘everyday life’ is perceptually much more exciting than the usual). Every one of my clients has their own vision of day-to-day routine, either theirs or my own, that they want to convey. As a writer, if I can successfully help bring that vision to life, I am content.

In the future, I hope to branch out into even more creative writing--ghostwriting, editing, the like--but I will always be happy writing about the simple things in life. This is why being a writer is so satisfying to me, I think; there is always a story to tell, always something new to explore.