"Whenever I'm asked what advice I have for young
writers, I always say that the first thing is to read, and to read a lot. The
second thing is to write. And the third thing, which I think is absolutely
vital, is to tell stories and listen closely to the stories you're being
told."
John Green mentioned this on
an interview that can be read on his book An
Abundance of Katherines.
I am not here laying out a
book review and the likes. It's just that while I'm enjoying every single word
that I'm reading on that said book even before the story has started, until my
eyes laid on these words and my life came through a sudden epiphany.
Yes. I am not book-reviewing! I
am just about to make myself a Selfie Article. I don't know if there's an exact
term about this, about an article made by a certain just definitely for or
completely about himself! Pathetic. But yes. I can live with it!
I am a journalism student and I'm
half-way through till I can call myself a graduate. Since 4th grade I've been
writing and writing and writing and writing stuffs that I don't even have an
idea if what I'm writing totally makes sense at all-just like this article. But
ever since I learned how to talk and God knows when, I never stopped talking at
all-and just like the history of my writing journey, I just kept on talking
even if I'm talking nonsense all along.
The problem is, I never really
loved reading. And for a fact, by just doing it or by thinking of myself doing
it really makes me sleepy. But, that was before! Before… when I thought reading
is so boring. Especially if what I'm reading are textbooks or just a vast and
thick pages of highfalutin words and undecipherable terminologies. As a kid, I
had a fear that this will consume my time, my efforts, my youth and it might
also consume me. Comics and Children's books, and Bob Ong's. Those are kinds of
books that passed my standards. They have pictures- they are understandable.
But I guess, Bob Ong didn't
really make it through until the very end. But let's leave it there for a bit.
I'm still working on my back-story and I'll explain you why he didn’t last for
long.
My first year in high school
for me, is definitely the golden age of my writing triumph. I joined contests
and I get to win some of them. It may not be as much as big than I expected,
but it can still be considered as a magnanimous victory. But after that year, I
laid low. I don't know. The passion faded. My screws got rusted and suddenly I
realized I ran out of ink… and I can’t write the way I write back then.
I got busy for other school
works and even to other extra-curricular activities. With all those things
coming up on me like an avalanche of workloads, I set aside writing. Knowing
that it's like riding a bike-you can never forget how to do it. But I was
wrong. By the time I tried to write again, things become as blurry as blur. I
ruined everything. That's when it hit me that when you love something, you
should never set it aside. you should always find some time to work with it.
(This also can be applied on a person, just so you know)
Thinking about the time I
wasted instead of sharpening myself and giving all of my calories into writing
instead of things that has nothing better to do with me than to kill my time
into a landfill of total waste-as in waste, I decided to take journalism in
college. Knowing that it'll require me to write and write till I drop dead. And
yeah, it didn't disappoint me. It made me write and made me waste thousands of
pages of paper and megawatts of electricity trying to write something. I'm so
frustrated to myself. I can't barely write a single-paged article about the
things that you want to write about. (That's what my professor told us to do.
Write something about anything we want to write about)
This can't be happening to me.
I know I am better than this. I know that I can give more. So, I made this blog
site. So that instead of me-being so talkative and thinking about so many
random thoughts all the time or posting a lot of nonsense at my Facebook
account and bother my friends, I think I should be here-practice my writing or
do something to wake it again from inside.
But as you can see, it’s not
successful. Until this moment, I am not able to revive my dying passion. But I
know that I can still do it. If my passion faded, I know there's something out
there that will give a new and more brighter shade for it. If my screws got
rusted, I know there's a hardware in town where I can buy new ones. And I don't
really give a damn if I ran out of ink, the hell of it! We're in the new age
now! Computers baby!
Last year my Classmate 1 lend
may Classmate 2 a book, and while Classmate 2 reads it on our way home, I
oversee something. I saw a quote. A quote from Classmate 1. And according to
him, if you can't be a great writer, at least, be a good reader.
And that gave me a light-bulb
moment right then and there.
I pushed myself to read.
Because that's what my Dad, my profs, my Classmate 1 and as well as John Green
says. If you're going to be a writer, be a wide reader. And that's how I met
John Green as well as his fellow writers.
Now, I can’t imagine myself
not reading a book. Until this moment, my writing skills aren’t completely
revived and I don't have any idea if I can revive it anymore. But that's fine
with me, as long as I get to feel every surreal feeling every time I get to
read a story. I never knew the-more-you-hate-the-more-you-love-belief is real.
I'm pretty sure it is, now.
Oh, I forgot about Bob Ong.
But I guess, I have to write another article about it, as well as about the
FEELS I feel everytime I read. More Selfie Articles to come. Maybe this will
help me. Maybe, this is just the start. But I know that it's just asleep and or
in a coma, but I know someday it will open its ayes again and help me see the
world in kind of black and white feeling again. Help me see the world better,
help me explain the world better, and help me live in this world better through
my own words and sentences.
Maybe I should now work on
LISTENING. Because that's one of the major things that a communication student
should learn and master before graduation. And I should start immediately, not
only for my degree, but also because John Green said so. So I really need to
thank him if my writing skills came back to me one night and say to me, "I
miss you, please have me back."
