Petit à petit, Yuan fait son nid.

Lesson 70 Self expression ; self satisfaction

One day, José passed by and took a look at my computer’s screen saying, “You are writing a blog ?”

I said, “Yes.”

“What are you writing about if I may ask ?”

I said, “I chose a song, an image, and I copied the lyrics.”

“A very good match.” I was satisfied.

José nodded, “Hmmm I understand. You take a break ?”

I was taken aback by his comment …

But after few seconds, “Hahahahah…” I burst into laughter.

“Wow ! You are sharp ! Yes, I am taking a break.”

José smiled, “I see…You let yourself go a little bit, it is Ok.”

“But…” He continued, “You know, Yuan, if you want to develop your writing talent. You need to be more disciplined.”

I asked, “Disciplined ? How ?”

He explained, “You need to set a special moment for writing, one hour or two hours everyday. For example, from 7:00 to 9:00, during these two hours, you can not miss it. You can not allow to be disturbed either.”

“When the clock reaches 7:00, you sit down in front of your computer, and you write, whatever, anything, but you write.”

“You also need to give yourself a quota to finish for each day. Let’s say, a 3 pages quota. Write down 3 full pages, and fulfill your quota every day.”

“That is being self-discipline.

Writing is a practise also, it can be trained. By being disciplined and writing regularly, your intelligence, your mind, your emotions, even your muscles could be trained to write. You will be more efficient, more creative and more productive. A great writer is always very diligent and self-disciplined. “

I thought about it for a while, and then I said, “Impressive… really. But I don’t think I have the talent for writing, so I don’t have any talent to develop.”

Puff…

José said, “Come on… You are a very good story teller. You have your own way of writing. You have your personal style.”

I shook my head, “No, I am not a story teller. To be honest, I can not make up stories. You know, I don’t have this capacity to create stories.

Everything I wrote down to date was true. I can not imagine something which never happened before. I even can not write anything being a third person in the text. I can only begin with “I”…”

I said, “A great writer has a lot of imaginations, like J. K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter. Wow, that woman has been kissed by the Gods, really.

A writer needs to be good in his or her domaine, like thrillers, crime, love, politics, war or any other thing, but I… I can not see which domaine I could specialize in… In fact, I don’t have any domaine… “

José said, “Yes, you have your own domaine.”

I asked, “What ?”

José said, “Philosophy.”

Haahahhahah… I laughed, “I know nothing about philosophy, you must be joking.”

José said, “No, you are very good at writing small stories about life philosophy. In your texts, you are always conveying good values, and you express your reflections and understandings about life.

It is not hard or dry philosophy. It is light, it is sweet, it is brilliant, it is young…You put your girlish touch in your way of telling the story, here and there, just like the salt and the pepper. “

I said, “Like the book Anna and Mister God ?”

José said, “Voilà ~ You get what I mean.”

“But, Anna and Mister God is a very very good book. ” I said.

José said, “You don’t have to compare yourself with the others. Yes, they can be very good. But you are not bad either.

You have your own way of writing. You just need to compare yourself with yourself. Each day, you grow up a little bit ; you understand more ; you learn more. You make sure that you become a better person than yesterday.”

I said, “Hmmmm, another thing that I don’t believe is that I could be a writer because I cannot make a living by writing.”

José smiled, “But do you need to make a living by writing ?”

Ahhh… I thought about it for a while and I said, “No.”

José said, “Voilà ~ You are lucky. You write only for your own pleasure and happiness.

You don’t need to worry about the other’s reactions. You don’t need to please the market, the readers, the public.

You have your little space on the Internet. It is your own blog. You write down whatever you like. You have a total authority to control it. Isn’t it amazing ?

Remember, you write only for yourself… self expression ; self satisfaction.”

Voilà ~ 3 pages done !