Inspiring
Sep 17, 2005 in Diary-writer
One of the celebrities in this sphere who inspires me is John Scalzi. Miles and miles away from Malaysia, this Science Fiction author's blog, Whatever, is remarkably humbling, and is the core from which I draw my ideas and writing values.
YOu see, as a writer, I am surrounded by mighty towers of concrete walls, walls that disallow the free rein of my ideas to be let loose.
Now I need to clarify that in my career, having to write under controlled circumstances isn't necessarily a bad thing… Personally I do not believe in total free rein, and the logic that 'You know what I'm going to whatever I want regardless…' doesn't click with me all the time. I trust in the necessity of barricades, and I believe creativity is best honed with some sort of shackles. The key is finding the differing routes to run around these barricades. That's where you get to play MacGuyver.
I've grown up in recent years. As a younger person I was very angsty and appalled at many things, and very often I would argue for the sake of argueing. As a school kid, I grew up with horrendous results in Mathematics (I only passed my Add Maths twice in both Form 4 and Form 5, and how I got the C3 for the SPM is still, beyond my comprehension). But fortunately, and thank God for this, my teachers thought that I seem to have a talent for language.
Perhaps it is by virtue of this that I chose to transfer from a pure science degree offered by a local university, to enrol myself in a language course. This isn't easy in a country where Arts degrees are scoffed upon as courses for the 'less intelligent'. Well, honey, not everyone is so lucky to be good in everything. A good part of my varsity life was spent rebutting questions by friends and boggled relatives who questioned, 'Why do you study English? Next time going to work as what?'
Truth be known, I hadn't any inkling what I was about to do. I knew however, one day in the future, I would be writing, or at least, dealing with books for a living. And so I answered candidly,'Too lazy to study, go study English easier. I'm not very intelligent with figures and equations you see.'
Today I'm being paid to write for a living. Not that I'm John Scalzi yet, and not that the salary is something to shout about. Writers are poor people, and we sell our intellectual property to ruthless vendors with no heart for pure creativity. Well, that said, those of you who work in the creative industry can probably vouch that we're poorly paid, and grossly misunderstood as 'playful people'.
What is wrong in being playful? I see nothing wrong in that. The sad truth is, at the workplace I am bound by rules and regulations, I cannot say half the things I want to say, and yet I truly believe this is a good thing. Fortunately I learnt about websites, and a few years ago, a friend suggested I start a blog. That story is overtold, and is obviously boring but oh, this is a personal post please bear with me on this will ya?
But I have digressed. The point is, I want you, Malaysians, Singaporeans to read Scalzi. If you keep a blog, and you have your ideals of what blogging is all about (i.e. I can blog whatever I want), even more so… Reading Scalzi will help you understand why this (blogging) is such a phenomenal catharsis in the scheme of Internet evolution. Like a growing community, it came up with businesses, conversations, noise… and then suddenly, an outburst much like a huge nuclear explosion resulting in the mushrooming of all sorts.
In the midst of this, remains the very personal, very lifestyle based thing call a personal site. Where were you again? Spending hours mulling over 'what to blog today?'
Back to basics, for people like me, that question doesn't bother us oh that much. Because to us this is a channelling of robust energy, the dilemma is more often than not, 'Shit where is my laptop and the Internet when I need it?' And Scalzi inspires all.