I shall write more often. This would be my 2008 resolution, except that I don’t make resolutions.

Some people have told me that I write well, but my opinion differs. I may write well every now and then, but it hasn’t been consistent. I want to write well every time my pen slides along the dead tree. I want to write well every time my finger taps on the rubber-protected macbook pro keyboard.

Thus, I shall write more often, even though it may mostly be nonsense. One can write nonsense well, just as one can make garbage taste good. [Ed: use another analogy]

It must have been my sec 1 English teacher who first gave me some confidence in my own writing. Despite me consistently not doing my homework, despite me having to stand outside the classroom on countless occasions while she was teaching, despite having to deal with my smart-alecky comments during those times I wasn’t outside the classroom, she could look past my shortcomings to offer me that bit of encouragement:

“Have you ever thought of becoming a writer?”

“Nope,” was my reply, blunt as usual.

And that was after she had selected one of my 10-page compositions to be published in the school magazine.

(She was the same teacher I nicknamed Evil Tan* [surname changed]. Her name was Elizabeth Tan*, but because she gave so much homework, she became Evil Tan.)

I didn’t write 10-page compositions to begin with. It was my classmate Don who got me started.

One day, Evil Tan made as all pair up to write a composition. Everyone rushed to find their own partners, while I remained in my seat, thinking what a dumb idea it was to write pair compositions. At the end of it, there were only 2 boys without a partner - me and Don.

As I pulled my chair beside his, he started apologising to me.

“I must apologise to you first, because my compos are very long.”

“Oh that’s fine, mine are long too.” I was thinking about my long 4-page compositions.

After we discussed the plot that day, he set off to write the first draft.

He came days later with a 10-page composition. Your compos are indeed long! I thought, but didn’t say. Nor did I complain, since we got very good grades. And all I did were some minor edits.

But that was important for me - it broke this barrier in my mind that said that school compos couldn’t be too long.

And that was how I started writing 10-page compos as well. And ended up getting published in my school magazine.

Maybe Evil Tan wasn’t really that evil.

Maybe I’m a writer after all.

That’s if I keep writing.