Writing Again

It’s been a while since my last blog entry in late 2014.  Since then, I’ve changed jobs and things have been rather hectic at work.  But it’s also because I seem to be losing momentum in recent years.  I can’t quite pin it down, but it could be that I’m getting old or lazy, or both.  Murakami said that while some writers seem to have an endless well of ideas to draw upon, it’s not the case for him.  To him, writing is something that he has to work on, and it can be tough depending on whether the creative juices flow.  I’ve read his first few and later novels, and I never felt that he had to labor over his work.  Somehow, he has a way of putting across his ideas in simple but impactful ways.  True, his earlier works can seem plotless but he more than made up for it through his punchy writing.  And some of his work are very complicated and hard to understand, such as Kafka on the Shore which I didn’t quite grasp.  I’m not comparing myself to accomplished writers like Murakami.  Far from it, but reading their struggles as writers provides insights into my own decreased momentum. 

The funny thing is I’ve recently considered writing a book.  And it’s not like I’ve a great idea to weave words around or a compelling plot to tell the world.  But the idea came to me as I was reading Murakami’s “Pinball”, where in the foreword, he talked about how he started writing.  He just felt that he could write a novel after watching a baseball match.  So it dawned on me that perhaps I could try my hands at doing the same.  I think I can write well enough but writing a book is at another level altogether.  It requires an interesting premise, likeable characters and credible plotlines.  And the aforesaid elements have to be weaved and worked towards a dramatic conclusion.  I know this sounds ambitious but what’s life without a few BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals) right?  After all, I’ve been writing very short stories for a while already.  I mean that is if you consider blogging in the same league.  And admittedly, they’re all about me, myself and I, and the trials and tribulations I’ve been through.  But writing is necessarily self-centred since it comes from the writer’s perspective on people and things.  So blogging should not disqualify me from taking the next step, albeit a big one.  In fact, at the wrong side of 50, some will say I’ve the life experience to do so.  That I may have something to say and that it may resonate with potential readers.

And truth be told, I almost wrote a book when I was younger.  Actually, co-authored should be the word.  This was during my national service days when I met Eric, a fellow enlistee at one of the Army Divisions in the East.  He was quite the smart and enterprising chap, and hailing from Raffles JC was proof.  He and I started a mobile disco company, and we pulled off a few gigs mostly due to friends’ patronage.  But our business didn’t quite take off and one of the subsequent ideas was to write a book.  If memory serves, the book had a risqué premise involving gay romance set in a drama company.  I tried to write a few chapters, but being young and still innocent at that time, I wasn’t able to depict what needed to be told.  So in the end, the idea came to naught and we lost touch after national service.  Some time back, I ran into him and his family in church.  He asked if we could meet up but I didn’t feel up to reconnecting with him.  I’m not sure why, but I think it’s because I don’t relish telling him about how my life has been.  Not that my life sucks, which it doesn’t, at least not to me.  I’ve a loving wife and I’m doing not too badly at work. 

But I digress.  So I intend to try my hands at writing a short story.  I’m not sure if there are courses I can attend so that I can learn the basics.  I’ll look around and if I can’t find any, I’ll just get a book or google it on the web.  This day and age, anything and everything can be found on the world wide web, although not everything is edifying.  Wish me luck and I hope to be able to report that I’m well on my way to writing a decent story.  I won’t aspire to be like Murakami of course since one would say he’s a natural at writing.  I will, however, aim to write something that’s balanced and hopeful.  While Singaporeans have many blessings to be thankful for, they also live lives of quiet desperation (to borrow a phrase from a famous writer, Henry Thoreau).  If my writing can help them to find ways out of that, I would deem it a success.  A tall order no doubt, but I’m no longer young and this is something I’ve always wanted to do.  From the time I pestered my mother to buy me a typewriter to when I started a blog, it has always been about putting my thoughts on paper.  Now I just have to use my imagination to create a fictitious world filled with make-believe characters.