Day 0 — Before starting my 642 things to write about

It is an experiment. A writing experiment.

I’ve been praised for being good at writing since a very young age. Not in English, but in Chinese, my mother tongue. I guess it’s because I’ve read a lot and I’ve always been loving to share my own opinions. I love to be heard.

But I still remember for the first time I wrote my diary in school, or say weekly diary. The mark my teacher gave me was: too detailed, too many trivial things. Like journal account in accounting that write down EVERYTHING I did.

Then I tried and tried again. Asked my mother to help me. How to get high scores on it? (yes, I want to be recognized by the teacher that I was a good student) I read a lot. Tried hard to imitate the sentences.

In the third grade, I made it. My Chinese composition was outstanding enough to represent my own class to join the composition competition in school. (yes, another strange tradition in Taiwan)

Similar thing happened in my last year in high school when I was preparing college entrance exam. There were two college entrance exams. If your scores are high enough to help you get in the university you want, then you don’t have to take the second one.

My first-time score wasn’t ideal enough and I didn’t receive full scores in Chinese. So I prepared hard on this, though the department I planned to enter is English literature. What did I do to receive the highest scores on composition?

I wrote and wrote and wrote. Asked my tutor to correct them almost every day. (Later, she was so scared to see you, because I had too many articles to ask her for correction and advise)

Though I started learning English at the age of 10, which was a little bit late than my high school classmates, I am lucky enough to be gifted. By gifted I mean with the solid foundation in Chinese, my ability to structure English composition and essay improves rapidly. I could write better than most of my high school classmates, which enabled me finally get in the English department in the best university in my country.

Now I have graduated from college for over 3 years. Though I worked in PR agency which gave me opportunities to communicate with clients in English, I can still feel that my English writing doesn’t improve at all, or worse, falls back. Thus, I bought the book by The San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, “642 Things to Write About”.

Through this process, I hope I can gain back the passion for English writing. Without any pressure to prepare for exams or reports in English, I can do creative writing and write whatever I want, and that inspires inspiration.