Yesterday, as a part of our Science, Technology and Society (STS) class, a guest speaker lectured about the process of creative writing in the modern context of computer age. It was a nice lecture because as lullabies some early morning classes tend to be, the comedic antics and lively audience interaction made the whole experience more than bearable-- fun, to be exact. The speaker, a known writer and part of the literature faculty, engaged  us in the art of creative writing, reiterating that writing is a combination of right techniques and raw emotions. One should write something that only he can write, something that he knows very well. This does not pertain to something originating from the unknown, but something given with a fresh take or perspective. The right techniques don't exclusively deal with grammar, spelling, sentence construction and the like. Things like chronologies, form, emotional power, ability to take the reader into a journey and having that certain 'X' factor are equally important things to consider. He told us that with today's technological advancements, writing shouldn't be much of a problem because we could easily encode,edit or even delete our works. However, there's still some mystique and beauty in using the traditional method of ink on paper. That would altogether be awesome if we are to write amid beautiful scenery, to bask under the sun and to unwind under the pristine greeneries. Well, whichever works. The thing is, in reality, however fictitious our writings aspire to be, a certain degree of pent-up personal emotions are conveyed in a manner only we can do.

Still,I find writing a very daunting task, partly because I'm not a broad reader and because my imaginations come mainly from reading Japanese comics (yes, I'm implicitly saying that I'm more of a visual person). The range of my vocabulary still lies on an average level and my storytelling capabilities follow a rather curvy or perhaps, a 'randomly scribbled' path-- both verbally and in written terms. However, after listening to the talk, I realized that I can still improve. To intensify this newly-formed resolution, I'll now try to write more.

On an unrelated note, I've unearthed these straw dolls from one of our cabinets. These, I remember, were brought from one of our then customers who specialized in export-quality handicrafts. A doll, if I'm not mistaken, costed 50 bucks--more or less. My favorite is the tall one with the grass skirt.I thought these were thrown out!Well fortunately, they were just stashed out and kept hidden for years.