How I write

1. Think of the idea of a book/an ad

2. Start to believe it will be a very good book/a very successful ad

3. Remember other good books/good ads I’ve seen

4. Google the author

5. Click on the Wikipedia entries for related books, related concepts

6. Open thesaurus

7. Open in new tab a hundred of words, probably

8. Go back to the idea of the book, or the ad

9. Open iPad, play Draw Something

10. If at home, sometimes Fruit Ninja

11. Open my blog

12. Think “So few views, why bother write”

13. Take out a pencil, scribble something

14. Check my email

15. Check Twitter

16. Still clicking on Twitter

17. Go back to the blank sheet of paper, write two or three lines

18. Or draw something

19. Someone send me a tweet, I must check it.

20. Spend more time on Twitter.

21. Check messages

22. Click on blog links

23. Read blogs

24. Look at my (almost) blank sheet of paper, or a blank word document

25. Think

26. Push myself to think

27. Get grumpy

28. Get stuck

29. Get frustrated

30. Write a lot of lines

31. Leave them. Open my blog. Start an entry.

32. Write non-stop. Publish.

33. Come back to the paper. Write non-stop.

34. Get bored of not writing.

35. Write.

“Haste” – A translation of “Vội Vàng” by Xuân Diệu

Another translation attempt from me. This time, I ventured into the poem realm. This poem is called “Vội Vàng” by Xuân Diệu, and I bet every well-read (or even not so well-read) Vietnamese has heard of it. It is a beautiful poem, with so many allusions, juxtapositions, and word choices that are romantic, arrogant, and also very clever. My translation can never fully grasp and transfer the soul of its original. I have tried my best, though, because I love it. Feedback is welcomed. 

Haste

I want to turn off sunshine

So colors cannot fade.

I want to tie wind up

So scents cannot flee.

 

From butterflies and bees, here is the honeymoon

Here are flowers of verdant meadows

And leaves of flickering virgin branches

From swallows and orioles, here is the ballad

And here, when light flicks through our lashes,

Every morning, God of Joy knocks on the door,

January is as luscious as a nearby pair of lips

I’m in bliss, but also in haste

I don’t need summer heat to reminisce about spring

A coming spring means a passing spring

A blooming spring means an aging spring

Once spring is through, I am over.

My heart is large, but the blessing is limited.

Youthful days are never prolonged.

Pointless to say spring is recurring,

If my youth can never return.

The Earth is here, but I am not,

The longing lingers, and I grieve.

Days are redolent of partings

And the mountains echo farewells

The lovely wind whispers with leaves

Does she resent that she has to fly?

Buoyant birds just stop twittering,

Fearful of waning times ahead?

 

Never, oh never again.

Hurry up, colors have yet to pale.

 

I want to embrace

All the fresh, burgeoning lives

I want to haul wandering clouds and swerving wind

I want to indulge in the butterflies of love

I want to garner in an ample kiss:

My homeland, my trees, and budding grass

Dazed by fragrances, full with light

Sated with the prime of youth

Dear Blushed Spring, I want to bite you.

 

Post-stuff – really?

I came across a very interesting blog today by an author called David Hepworth. It is very well-written with attractive writing. One post particularly caught my attention. The author asked a surprisingly strange question in the age where consumerism and materialism are accused of being social evils that occupy the minds of us all. “Are we post-stuff?” He seems to be of the opinion that people today are more enthusiastic about getting an ephemeral xperience rather than something tangible and long-lasting. People would rather have experiences rather than stuff. (Read full post here: http://whatsheonaboutnow.blogspot.com/2012/05/are-we-post-stuff.html)

Is this really the case, I wonder. Or even if the whole world is heading in this direction, at least in Vietnam the trend is still yet to come. My observation of people around me, not only my peers but also from other age groups and demographics, seems to be pointing in the direction that people are still being stimulated, and reassured, by their consumption of tangible objects. Money would not only be put into a saving program, but most of the cases would even be converted into hard stacks of gold. Handbags, shoes, gadgets are the destination of working hours and efforts. Mobile phones and vehicles of choice become not only tools of convenience, but symbols of social status.

While it is true that people do not only live in order to only accumulate goods and wealth anymore, it is also not accurate to assume that we might reach the state of post-stuff, or shall I say, move beyond consumerism anytime soon in the future. The smartest move of businesses and marketeers these days is to combine stuff with experience, hence plunging deep inside ourselves a sense of (seemingly) spiritual and mental satisfaction, while we are still being unaware or sometimes in denial that we are still slaves to consumerism.

In the opening, the author compared the enthusiasm between going to a live concert and buying records to introduce his belief that stuff might not be able to stimulate us as much as they did.

“Over the last ten years the music business has discovered that while it can’t get people to pay more than a couple of pounds for a CD, those same people will pay anything up to £50 to go and see that artist perform live.”

In my opinion, that is true not because consciously and actively we move beyond stuff into experiences, but because of the availability and the ease with which we get access to stuff. Movies, records, information, are being more and more widely available and accessible on the Internet, most of the time free-of-charge. Maybe, this has made us blasé to getting stuff? Maybe, being post-stuff, in this regard, is not a good thing, because we can no longer experience the joy or pleasure which we had when we enjoyed a record, no longer excited about watching a new movie, no longer treat information as educational, exciting nourishment?