“Make a list of your obsession,” said Natalie Goldberg on ‘Writing Down the Bones and I agree with her. Although sometimes, I couldn’t write all of my obsessions, but make a list can make me keep writing. My obsession now is to write in English about everything I want. After writing two short essays, I think it is nice to write about something more personal in English because I get a feeling that if I write in this language, just few people will be interested to read my writing (for Indonesian people I mean).
Why should you publish your writing then? Why don’t you just keep your writing in your secret diary? Firstly, I want to practice my English, and if I just write it in my diary, I would have less motivation to write in good English. Luckily, I have a private supervisor who is always pleased to correct my work. Who else? My husband of course! The impact is good. I get a strong motivation to read an English book at least one hour a day to improve my vocabulary. Secondly, I also realize that maybe there are some people out there who have same problems with me and may be they need ‘friends’, who knows. But sorry, I have asked my husband to remove the comments corner because there are so much spams and sometimes I also don’t have time to answer the comments. Honestly, after the comments corner was off, I feel more comfortable. I feel like I have a place to flee, to hide and I can say anything there to release my feeling. Weird, isn’t it? Whatever, but that is what I feel.
So, back to my obsession, writing in English is one of my way to prepare my study, actually. I will continue my master degree in English so what will it be if I can’t write in that language. I know that in the university I have to write in a formal way, academic way, and it is very different with writing in a blog like this. But, it doesn’t matter, there must be some advantages if I am used to write this language.
After I write my first article in English ‘Why do I write’, my husband said that I should continue writing in English because my writing is good. He said that I have a talent, I was born to be a writer, and he had a feeling that someday I will write an English book because whatever my language in writing is, it must be good. Ehm…his compliment made me ‘fly’ a bit, but then I said,”Please Honey..don’t dream so high about writing an English book,” Even though several years ago I had ever dream about writing an English book if I can live in an English speaking country, but now, I don’t dare dreaming about that. I know how hard to write a book even in my own languange, besides, finally I still live in the Netherlands, not in an English speaking country. My obsession to write in English is just for adding my skill. It is nice if we have several skills, isn’t it? And I’m sure, someday I will get some advantages from it.