写字的快乐（Joy of Writing）

Everyone has a cup. The cup receives water, then overflows when it is full. Reading is the receiving, writing is the overflowing.

I wake up in the morning, or sit by myself, I like to do my thinking and talking with a pseudo partner. This is my pre-writing. That’s why I constantly at the edge of grabbing a pen, okay, a keyboard, to write it out. Yes, out of my perishing body. Writing is my desire of expressing myself. It can work as a channel of sharing, and it is a process of making thoughts eternal. Not every reader is a writer, honestly. Not every piece of writing is a reflection of direct reading either. I do believe, nevertheless, these two are mathematically and philosophically correlated for a consistent and quality yielding - Writers read a lot, many readers enjoy writing.

Out and about we got intrigued by something interesting or beautiful, didn’t we all want to capture them, either visually or verbally? I have the urges of both, the camera and notebook are my extension cords. My antenna is tuned high and receptive.

Of course, you won’t overflow if you don’t have a cup to begin with. This cup is your heart – you must have a heart for reading. What you read got distilled and dripped and flown to your fingertips. The reading got extended because of you, isn’t it? The possibility of evoking a chain reaction of more readings and writings by others is another excitement, you don’t see it, probably will never in your lifetime, but it is possible. We live in a world with enormous possibilities, it is stirring to imagine you’ve created one for many others like you down in the path. By the way, how well you write is a matter of art, not a natural result of being well read, thus breeding another exciting challenge  - To better yourself relentlessly, just like in a video game.

Writing is also a process of fermenting after distilling. Instant thoughts strike the surface of brain cells, then settle down in the brain, to mouth, to neck, to heart, to the fingertips... A much longer slow process, it demands conscientious and coherent work to turn the short streams or plain water to sparkling wine. No wonder it takes more skills to do the writings than merely enjoying ideas running deep and wild. The realization of withstanding picky eyes over almost eternal years makes writing intimidating and admirable same time. And that is exactly one of many good reasons why we write.

Ultimately, writing makes us wiser. Read, think, write, think more, read more…they go in spiral, each push the others deeper. One day, those processed fruits are so abundant and ready, like freshly baked bread in the kitchen, we can just open our mouth and use a piece freely. Writing escalates thinking, undoubtedly. That’s why majority writers have a wealth of philosophy.

So, why did I write this? Nobody may ever read it. The pure joy of being able to use words to create beauty is one, the surprise is another - “Did I really write this?” Reading and writing exclusively in English in the recent six months is good enough to keep me going. I don’t feel I am aging like others.