From Broken Engrish to Medium Top Writer
My journey of growth & discovery in a country called Canada
A few weeks ago, I got three emails that changed me both personally and professionally. I am somehow a top writer in 3 different Medium topics after only publishing 2 articles. It wasn’t that long ago when I first landed in Canada speaking only broken “Engrish”. I couldn’t even pronounce “Truro” the town that I am supposed to be studying in and had to wait for an interpreter to help me get through immigration at Pearson Airport.
How I Started My Journey
Ever since I was a kid, I hated writing and literature. I failed almost all of my Literature, Language, and Social Science classes and I was only allowed to move forward with school because I was good at Math and Physics. (Yeah, of course, another Asian kid who’s good at Math)
Everything changed when I turned 15 and I realized that I will probably not get into a University because I suck at every subject except for Math(Yeah, I started to suck at Physics too). So, one day, I lied to my parents and shipped myself to Canada.
Life was tough for the first few months. I couldn’t really communicate with anyone and there were that many Chinese people in Truro, Nova Scotia. But, the good thing about a small town in the middle of nowhere is that there are a lot of retired people doing nothing.
I would spend most of my free time talking to old people in a Tim Horton’s (hockey version of Starbucks). They get to learn about China from one of the only Chinese people they have ever met and also share the stories of their adventures. They were sailors, World War II veterans, farmers etc. Nonetheless, their stories were incredible and perfect for me to learn English through the art of storytelling. *Also explains why I turned from a quiet kid to “old man” who never shuts up.*
I ended up studying Economics, Politics and Philosophy at Western University and later Business at Ivey Business School. I thought these programs would push me to be a better English speaker and writer. Well, I was right, but I also bite off more than I can chew… along with a lot of pressure from my family, I slowly fell into depression and had to see a psychiatrist twice a week. During that time, comedy was one of my main escape — John Oliver, Ali Wong and Nichijou just to name a few. Don’t worry, I am a lot better now!
How I Started Writing
Despite the fact that I hated my literature classes, I have always been a “storyteller”. I don’t like to use the “beautiful and elegant words” that my teachers want to see. Instead, I always wanted to tell stories as if I am hosting a talk show — Funny, lighthearted and with a lot of sarcasm (and memes).
I started writing on Medium just over a month ago because a few of my friends told me about Ofo and Sharing Economies in China. Initially, my drafts are very serious and analytics, almost like business cases that I have done in school. I could put in jargon, forecast data, financial models and more to make it as impressive as possible, but I felt that wasn’t me.
I completely scrapped my drafts and started again. I wanted my articles to not only be informative & straight to the point but also funny & memorable. This is great because I got a chance to use all the jokes that I learnt watching all the comedy shows before while setting me apart from other writers. *It also hides my lack of writing experience and skills.*
I don’t need fancy words and carefully crafted sentences to tell a joke, nor do I need to do hours of research to project a number that I could approximate in a fraction of the time. For example, numbers in my Ofo article are 10–20% off from professional reports but losing 809 Million Yuan/Year and losing 724.13 Million Yuan/Year both mean that you are fucked.
How to Burn $2 Billion in 15 Months for Dummies
The Rise and Fall of a Chinese Tech Unicorn
medium.com
So, in a way, I made my writing process easier and more enjoyable for myself and at the same time, setting my articles apart from the rest. I don’t think that my approach is better than the traditional analytical style that most Medium business writers have, but I do think I have found a perfect niche for myself. I get the main point across in ways that everyone will understand and I make it fun to read.
Lastly, I think I have been extremely lucky. My second ever article was selected by Medium Curators and that’s probably the sole reason that I made top writer status. None of my subsequent articles have been selected and they haven’t been getting any substantial views. But the thing is, even if you only have a 1% chance of getting selected but if you don’t post anything, your chance will be 1% * 0=0!
Anyways, I’m incredibly grateful for all the supports that I have received from you guys! Happy 2020!! Happy New Decade!
