Writer's Blog (2)

Writer's Blog (2)

My Blogger user statistics tell me that I've so far posted 570 entries in slightly less than 2 years of blogging, amounting to around 207,175 words. That's roughly the size of two full-length adult novels.

And I intend to write more, even though for the past half a year or so, I've been spacing my entries by a day or two. I still have a lot of subjects to blog about, just that sometimes I think some of my thoughts about them have not fully ripen yet. There are subjects which I have a keen interest on but which I have not touched on much yet, such as art, music and even the Vietnam war. Hopefully I'll find the time and inclination to write about them this year.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words; so finally I've decided to post some photos from my collection on my blog. That way, I can cheat a bit by uploading some pictures (= 1000 words)--captured with my camera over the years--whenever I'm too tired to write. My latest uploads to my photoblog will appear on the left of the picture strip up there and slowly gets shifted across the page as newer pictures appear. And I have tons of photos to share!

I am not much of a photographer; I wouldn't even say I'm serious about it as a hobby but I've been finding it an increasingly enjoyable activity these past few years. Hopefully, by starting my photoblog, I can also get to improve my photography skills, like how I attempt to improve my writing through blogging.

I'm not sure if there's any improvement in my writing since I started this blog but at least I'm now more confident when faced with a blank page--I know I can always come up with something because I have done it countless times before. It's already an ingrained habit. There's no such thing as writer's block in my vocabulary.

I've also trained myself to blog in "adverse" conditions: from the comfort of my room here in Subang Jaya with my 1Mbit/sec Streamyx connection, to busy public Wi-fi hotspots in Singapore, to dinghy Warnets (warung Internet) in places like Semarang and to cheap hotel rooms all over Indonesia using flaky dialup connections.

My heavy workload since last year has made it especially tough for me to blog consistently but I'm looking forward to write another full-length cyber-book this year. Writing is definitely therapeutic and it helps me to think. It's difficult to think by staring into blank space with your eyes blinking. Better to write and then you'll start thinking.

Writing and thinking are inseparable--a process which I call "writhink". To alter and paraphrase a famous quote from the French philosopher Descartes:

I write, therefore I am.