To Write a Life
I ventured a “passing remark” about becoming a full-time writer to my mother tonight, and she said she didn’t mind as long as I got a “real” job before that. Her reasons were that a writer needed something to write about. Some “real” experience.
I can’t say I fully agree with her. The more pressing danger for us in this generation is not having time to form coherent thoughts about life, rather than not having anything to do. Truth be told, the lack of blog updates the last few days was due to my having too many things to do, and not that I had nothing to write about.
Uncle Oliver and cousin Dylan came into Singapore from San Diego (where they live) a few hours ago. Whilst waiting for my uncle I could only imagine the immense task of travelling with a two-year-old and a ton of luggage on a 20+ hour flight. Uncle Oliver appeared at the gate alone with luggage in hand. I was half-afraid he had left his son inside a locker at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) just to save himself the hassle.
Dylan appeared a few meters behind. Let me correct that. A stroller appeared through the immigration counter. I could just see two small feet behind the stroller. When the tiny shoes went into a tippytoed position, a disproportionately large head and two eyes popped up over the top. Dylan looked every bit the seasoned traveller pushing his trolley. A really short seasoned traveller. He was coming out of a short transit in Japan.
I drove the both of them to my aunt’s place, where they will be putting up for the next two weeks. After carrying all the luggage up and playing with baby Dylan a bit, I had to head home for some shuteye. (ok you caught me blogging this entry, smartypants). Dylan’s eyes began to tear and he cried “kor kor”, which means older brother in our Chinese dialect.
Man, it was hard to leave. I’ve barely met the kid, but he trusted me enough to hold my hand and repeat words I spoke to him. It sucked that I had to leave, but parking laws in Singapore prohibited me from parking the car indefinitely in the loading / unloading zone. I left, but not without three rounds of goodbyes and hi-fives.
I’ll be back Dylan. Hang in there.
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I tend to concur with your mother's observations. I'm prob in no better position to tell this to you since I'm probably younger (and hence less seasoned with the lessons from life) but I once had a mentor (who wasn't my mother and would hence have some measure of vested interests -- not that its bad, mind you) who said those same things in different words.
I told her I wanted to be a writer. She said that unless I was prepared to work very hard and still starve, I ought to consider writing as a 'by the way' option and not a career of first choice. It is immensely hard to do that here.
She's a published author herself and was brutally honest. People like to read people who write from experience (and hence write the truth) but that typically comes with physical maturity. Her advice was to get a "real job" and pursue it on the side and be prepared to work very very very hard.
She now writes for herself and her children and has shared these writings with a small circle. I've also adopted her approach. To write for myself and if and when opportunity arises, write for others -- like at my cousins' weddings.
I'm not trying to pour cold water down your aspirations but I'm just telling you what some other older, wiser woman told me. :)
Stay true to yourself.
Hi, I'm a friend of Vanessa Tan's. She told me about your site and I've been visiting pretty regularly...all best for your wedding! I'm getting married a week after you, so I know what it's like trying to do a million things at once.
Anyhow, I thought I'd drop a comment after reading how you'd like to be a full-time writer. It's pretty difficult in Singapore to be the novelist or short fiction writer, unless you do a lot of freelance writing on the side to keep the cashflow alive as you work on the great novel. It's hard, but it may be possible. In the US, a number of my professors told me that they got lecturing jobs at universities or high schools, or wrote tons of book reviews so that they could buy food and pay rent while they wrote furiously at night.
I'm headed back to the US to pursue an MFA in creative writing and I've learned that after the two-year program, the university offers a number of lectureships so that graduates'll have jobs that's relevant to their writing careers. It also keeps them on the writing scene while they attempt to get work published. I'm not too optimistic about ever becoming a full-time writer, but I'm going for this to experience two years of reading, writing and studying with older writers.
Going away to study writing may not be the most practical thing, and it's not for everyone but I'm sure there are other ways to become a writer. Good luck, and I hope you do get that chance to write as much as you wish!