Let’s get this one thing clear before anything else : I hate writing. Yup. Hate it. Even from a young age, whether it be the fact that I’m an immigrant or my ethnic background (Chinese), I’ve always preferred Math over English. It’s because of this one problem with writing, “What is the right way to write?” That’s why Math, having one concrete answer, is better in my opinion. However, I will admit that I certainly see writing in a new light. The question now becomes “What’s the most effective way to write?” Writing is and possibly will never be perfect. This is what fascinates me. Since there is no definitive way to write, infinite writings of the same material can be made with each holding a bit of the writer’s perspective and personality in it.

My approach to writing is from an engineer’s point of view. “What is the purpose of this writing and how do I make it work efficiently?” I will admit, however, that this probably the most boring way to write. Like a robot, I organize the outline/blueprint of the writing on a sheet of paper, separating paragraphs by topics, lining opinions with facts, checking consistency, and all that. This is something we are spoon fed in school, the 5 paragraph essay. However, recently, I’ve begun to notice different styles of writing lately. This blog, for example, allows a certain amount of freedom in writing, something that a young middle school student, preparing for the English exam, can never hope to incorporate. I am in no way belittling the things I’ve been taught, since they’ve become the foundations for my ability to write, but now, and only now, did I come to the realization that I haven’t been truly writing in a way that I can be proud of.

We’ve always been told to do it “by the book”. But what happens when the “book” is gone or has become irrelevant? What do we do? There’s but one obvious answer. We write our own.