April 25th (2020)

 

April 25th

07.24am
I am struggling to wake up.
Breakfast is that very dry Raisin Bread, butter and small bananas, with Red but without Palm Sugar. Ho hum. I have to wait a little while, to let the cold butter warm. Otherwise it’s going to tear holes in the bread.

Time and again, in groups, on Facebook, people ask variations of the same thing ‘how do I become a writer’. It is a simple, but also quite a complex, question. Perhaps the questioner actually means ‘how do I make money out of writing’, or ‘how do I find fame, and fortune, as a writer’. I’m not going to answer either question. I’m not qualified to do so.

Instead, let me answer the original question ‘how do I become a writer’. By writing! Creativity, including writing takes boldness. Boldness comes out of practice, it comes out of confidence. To become bold and confident, to reach a point where you no longer have to think about the process, you have to work on your writing skills constantly, like a pianist practicing scales, or a dancer practicing movement.

Fear of the tabla rasa (blank sheet) dissolves with constant practice. To begin, write the date. Then write how you feel, what you are doing, what are your intentions. Pretty soon that page is no longer blank, and you are on your way. But it doesn’t stop there. You must devise a practice regimen. Write a daily diary of your thoughts and observations. When out and about, take notes. Jot your observances down. Make a note of those perfumed, white, Champey flowers framed against the dark of the green. Your notes and observances are akin to an artist’s sketching. Making notes helps you to see things more clearly, helps with the details. The devil, as they say, is in the detail (originally, ‘Der liebe Gott steckt im detail’, or God is in the detail), so pay close attention to what you observe, study every detail, seek words which express, as accurately as you can, what you are looking at (drawing with words), but also remember the overview, those broad sweeps (sketching).

Write every single day. I challenge myself to write at least 500 words, every day, during this pandemic. I have no fear of them being ‘the right’ words, or even grammatically correct. That is not my object. My object is to practice my observation and my writing. Writing becomes a matter of tenacity, then confidence and boldness. And, before you know it, you have written five hundred words, each day.

Now to shower, then across to the supermarkets to cost out the ingredients for Bak Kut Teh.

I’m back, and yes, I have packets of Bak Kut Teh spices & herbs. Tadaaa!! I couldn’t find any dried Chinese mushrooms. I will look tomorrow, and brave the skin taxing at the Old Market, as I will probably buy the pork ribs there too, and cook tomorrow.

Before I have even started my ‘Project’ this evening, I am left a message on Facebook Private Messenger...‘Papa I Leave the food On the table for you✌🏻😊’. Once again this kind hearted Angel, Phany, has shared her food with me. The stainless steel tray, marked ‘Papa’ on its clear plastic cover, contains a beef and lettuce salad with a poached egg, sliced tomato, rice, a piquant sauce as well as two soft boiled eggs. The strange thing is, that Phany seems to know exactly how I like my eggs.

‘Oh yeah!
A lucky man!
And that's a lucky, a lucky, a lucky man
A lucky, a lucky, a lucky man’
(Alan Price, 1972)

Today’s spend
Asia Market;
Cream Milk; Bak Kut Teh Spices x 2; Oyster Sauce; Korean Noodles x2; Schweppes Tonic x2; Coffee Cola x2; New Zealand Butter; Plain Yogurt x4; Tomatoes and Yellow bananas = $18.17

Thai Huot Market;
Kean Fruit Juice; Dasani Water and Emborg Milk = $3.65

Today’s total spend = $21.82