不寫不寫還須寫 Writing as sure as eggs is eggs

自從兩年前在工作網站上 KeithYeow.com 撰寫關於翻譯與文案工作的心得，就甚少再花時間寫一些跟工作沒有關係的文章。一來是有些心野，可能想嘗試玩一下錄製粵語或英語的網上節目，二來是除了工作以外，對其他事務的看法沒有化為文字了。

這麼一擱置下來，中文寫作自然會生疏，尤其覺得自己用字好像怪怪的，因為每次下筆都會先想英文。也許是因為太過習慣寫中譯英的案子，就連廣告文案都是客戶要求我根據中文版本重新創譯一份英文版，由此可見我已經很少寫中文了。

以一個師大國文學系的畢業生來說，這是很不應該的。又或者說，與其一直懊惱自己很少寫中文，還不如自己努力多寫一些，為自己目前對這世界的所思所想作一點點紀錄，畢竟部落格是我可以自己控制文字風格，你若投稿給主流媒體還得顧及他們的政治正確與意識形態的包袱。這都不是我身為部落格作者所需要考慮的事情。祇管寫作而不理世事，大學時代曾經有過，一旦放在我需要處理工作與生活各種俗事的現今處境來說，寫作這等不食人間煙火的事情，更是來得難能可貴。

以往我寫部落格，曾經從不定時走到定時發表文章，今時今日還是覺得不定時會比較好。畢竟當今這個世界瞬息萬變，這一刻想表達的事情有特定的關鍵字，我沒有盡快寫出來的話，潛在讀者在網路上搜尋的時候可能就找不到我的部落格文章。對於我這些時常思考搜尋引擎最佳化的寫作人來說，當然希望時效性愈高愈好，總不能礙於我祇在星期五發表文章而硬是將星期二就該寫好的文章收藏多幾天。若早些完成了作品，早一些刊登在網站上可以讓更多人看到，而且對讀者有那麼一丁點的鼓舞與提示，那也是非常美好的事。

臺灣詞人陳樂融老師在他的《我，作詞家》中提到自己每天寫部落格，我讀到這一段的時候心裡愧疚了一下，因為我知道我沒有那麼努力每天寫。但是無論如何，在這個紛亂的世界裡有一個角落讓我寫作，就已經是非常愉快的事了，畢竟我還是不希望自己忘了如何用中文寫文章。

Since I was writing about the articles related to translation and copywriting on KeithYeow.com in October 2018, I have rarely written pieces unrelated to work. This is perhaps attributable to two reasons: I was playful and thinking about recording Cantonese or English online talk shows, and I did not go the extra mile to pen my thoughts in articles.

It is only natural for my Chinese writing skills to regress a bit when I find my wording to be kind of strange because I am always first thinking about English wording. I have gotten very used to translating Chinese into English and transcreating Chinese copies into English version for my copywriting clients. In other words, I seldom write Chinese now.

This shouldn’t be the case for me as a graduate of Department of Chinese Studies at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). I shall perhaps put things right: instead of feeling remorseful that I don’t write Chinese as often as I used to be, I should put in more effort and write more. This is a way for me to record my thoughts about what is going on in the modern world. Furthermore, I can control the style of my writing.

This would not be the case if I were writing for mainstream media, I have to be careful to not make my writings a burden for them to remain politically correct to avoid crossing the line when it comes to ideologies. As a blog writer, I do not need to think about such problems most of the time. Concentrating on writing and worrying less about other matters was a previous experience during university days. That is never going to repeat now, when I am bogged down by work and miscellaneous matters in life. It really is a hard-to-come-by opportunity to keep on writing without being distracted by vicissitudes in life.

My previous blogging pattern switched from irregular to regular publication of my writings. As for now, I still find irregular writing to be the best. We live in a world that is changing rapidly and constantly. If I don’t include some key words in my writings and get them published earlier, my potential readers will miss the chance to search and read my articles when they are doing an online search. For a blogger who is always thinking about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), it is always good for me to write articles promptly, if I wish to express my points of view on some matters. It is inefficient, if I write an article on Tuesday, only to be published on Friday, simply because I set Friday as my blogging day. If I am able to influence some readers positively and remind them of something, writing will become such a wonderful thing for me.

I was kind of embarrassed, when I read Mr Chen Lo-jung’s Chinese book titled Me, the Lyricist, on which he wrote that he writes blogs everyday. I was embarrassed for the fact that I know I wouldn’t be so hardworking to blog everyday. However, it still excites me that I am able to continue writing in a messy world, for I do not want to lose my capability to write in Chinese language.