Hofan’s 52 week commitment

i. I have decided to commit myself to write regularly in this space this year.

I’ve been teaching so much about writing this summer, and urging my students to write, write, write that it is time that I wrote some more myself; and to also hold myself somewhat accountable to the writing I produce.

So here’s the plan: publish something every Monday. Write something in Chinese once a month.

ii.
近日教英文寫作教得太多，覺得自己開始「講多過做」, 好像是時候以身作則了。
作為英文老師我會經常對學生說: 「想自己的英文好, 就要多讀、多講、多寫。最重要嘗試, 不要怕錯。學語言就是這樣。」
為了有權對他們的寫作有要求, 自己要做個好榜樣。因此我要求自己每個星期一在這裏刊登一篇（英文的）文章, 同時每個月寫一篇中文的條目。
大家都知道，我的中文比英文粗笨得多, 要拿着字典寫四十分鐘才寫到一小段出來。 但如果連自己的母語都怕辛苦而不嘗試,怎對得住自己的學生? 就算自己寫 的中文含有很多錯別字和奇怪的語法都要嘗試下去...
那麼一個月一次, 就讓大家笑吓吧...

iii.
It’s August already. I feel as if I’ve been running cross-country for the past eight months. I don’t know if you’ve ever run cross-country, but past a certain point I settle into a type of rhythm that allows me to chomp steadily at the path ahead of me. This is the point when my senses start to turn inwards, and my thoughts become slightly slippery.

For the past six weeks I have been teaching in the daytime and dreaming prolifically. It’s a wonderful, intoxicating mixture. When I teach, I am a miniature sun. My wit is devastating, mercurial, flick of the chameleons’ tail… I’m on the charm offensive. In order to come up with material for my classes, I’ve been reading voraciously. I’d be educating myself on universal health care in the morning, and Othello on the MTR home. The rule of thumb is: if you need to teach 1, you better have the background of 10. So I’m wolfing down all this material, marking papers, going to see Antigone, etc at night. My motor is primed, and yet at the same time, but I don’t have enough time to write down, express or even properly digest the multitude of thoughts and connections.

So under these bizarre conditions of many-thoughts and not-quite-enough-time, I have this immense desire to write. I feel as if I can take on the world. In fact, I feel as if I could even write a novel for National Novel Writing Month. And yet, I think: well, that's just avoiding the issue. Why don't you buckle down and finish the play that's been on the back burner? Or better still, organise your thoughts on theatre, teaching and tai chi in a regular fashion?

Ergo, write.