Write

I have been with Nghe An Newspaper for 25 years, nearly half of its life. Until now, I still have not forgotten the memory of that first day of confusion. In my twenties, holding in my hand a few sentimental love poems written neatly with a 4-color ballpoint pen, I timidly cycled to the editorial office. Looking back and forth like a thief, boldly sending and anxiously waiting. Honestly, at that time, I just wished that my name would be printed in the "reader's mailbox" and that would have been a lot of fun.

A week later, my first poem “Hoa Ban” was published. Surprised and happy, I bought dozens of copies to give (actually to show off) to my friends. Now, I write hundreds of articles every year, each “playing field” a little bit, each genre a little bit “cheating”, the pen name Cua Dong has more or less reached a small group of readers. But perhaps the feeling of “Hoa Ban” back then still cannot be replaced in the fate of holding a pen, which is only my left hand.

Being an amateur writer, I have never been fortunate enough to attend any training courses on the profession, and I am a true layman in journalism. So today, discussing the word “writing”, with all the sincerity and curiosity of an amateur, I would like to just briefly discuss it through the perspective and experience of an outsider, a writer simply driven by passion.

Born and existed for thousands of years, writing is not only a wonderful product of intelligence, a priceless achievement of labor, a great feat of struggle, but writing is also worthy of being a brilliant creation of mankind. Discussing writing is discussing an endless field of academics and the pinnacle of practical value. Although words and writing are different in concept, they cannot be separated. Before being recognized as a profession in modern society, writing was originally a verb describing the use of characters (letters) to record language in written form.

Life has never stopped for a single day, it is too rich in tones, too attractive and also full of events. The division of social labor is getting closer and closer to the trend of specialization. The rice farmer, the silk spinner, the task of “copying” human life entrusts the trust of those who pursue the writing profession. Today in modern society, writing is considered a real profession. Writing can be the work of writers, poets, journalists… of course, the writing space still has enough room for multifaceted writers like us to freely experience.

Writing is a very special form of creative labor, it is not only a job for those who have health and intelligence but also must have ethics, not only ethics but also courage, not only courage but also passion. Writing may not be difficult but never easy. There is a lot of pressure and countless nameless challenges. Accepting the writing profession means accepting the hard work at any time, anywhere. The beginning of an article can suddenly come on the train platform, a poetic thought can come to the author on the way to work, the end of a short story can come during sleep, meals. The writer has no time to rest, is not lucky enough to enjoy the feeling of relief of a farmer finishing plowing a field.

I remember two lines of poetry in the Tale of Kieu by Nguyen: “If you accidentally lose your footing, step out/ Take care of your body, take care of your home.” Writing carelessly will get you “bricks and stones” easily. Always in the writer are questions that do not appear but last for a long time: What to write today? Who to write for? How to write? Getting the article onto the page is “tiring”, but when that brainchild has “gone out the door”, it can be even more tiring.

After all, receiving and processing feedback from readers is also a state of work for writers, if not a form of hard and sometimes toxic labor. The continuity of responsibility entails the continuity of work, the writer does not have the blessing of enjoying the feeling of "A happy countryman with a light heart / Lying on the grass sleeping soundly" (poem by To Huu). This is a job that requires people to be strict with themselves. Any indulgence in carelessness can have to pay the price.

You can write badly, but try not to write badly. You can write badly, but you absolutely must not write wrongly. The phrase “the pen falls, the chicken dies” is the writer’s mantra, not the threat of a bogeyman. Once a work has gone beyond the computer to reach the readers, it is no longer the author’s own. It is the voice, even the viewpoint of a newspaper, a media agency, a publisher. Granted, that does not mean that the author has to shape, squeeze, or paint his work to fit a predetermined shape.

It is bad if an article has no ego, but it will be a failure if it has only ego in it. A work without personality is a bad work, but a work that is only a stage for personality is a bad work. The harmony between the public and the private, between the ego and the self is perhaps one of the mandatory and challenging requirements for a writer.

Each newspaper has its own style for portrait recognition, don’t be sad when your article is “chin-shaving” or “freckle-removing” by the editorial board. The principles of a newspaper are something that writers have a duty to respect and adhere to. I once regretted having my favorite sentence of an article mercilessly cut. But then I was forced to realize that writing with emotion does not mean letting go of emotions and writing arbitrarily. That sentence, that issue may be my favorite, but it is not necessarily the favorite of the newspaper. Writers who do not accept “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” should probably just be readers.

Writing is not for the timid, but it is also not for the careless. Writing requires attention, precisely attention to every detail. Sometimes every comma is considered. There have been newspapers that have been suspended, there have been writers of the “big tree” class who have been dealt with. That is a lesson for all those who want to “swing their pens to the sky”. Note, the road is very wide, but our path is on the right!

It can be said that no work comes from an empty head. For an article to reach the readers is a combination of many factors, the hotness of the issue, the capacity and reliability of the information, the author's point of view, the message sent to the readers, then the presentation method as well as the language material. Nowadays, when the 4.0 revolution penetrates every corner of life, opportunities open up at the same time as challenges come.

In the writer’s luggage now, there is not only pen and paper but also a computer connected to the internet, a camera, a recorder, a camcorder… A writer must not only be good at taking notes but also have the ability to “broadcast live”. “You guys are soldiers on that front” and must be ready to face danger, face temptation, and sometimes even face failure, a feeling of helplessness, the intention to give up, and a spirit of discouragement within yourself. Overcoming, that is the command of a true writer. Writing is difficult but writing is also interesting. Believe me, if you write, you will be addicted!

On the occasion of Nghe An Newspaper's 57th anniversary, the author would like to take the liberty to say a few words as a confession of gratitude from a dedicated contributor. A famous journalist once summarized the qualities of a writer as "bright eyes, a pure heart, a sharp pen". However, people now realize that that is not enough, in addition to "bright eyes, a pure heart, a sharp pen", one must also be... bold! The courage of the writer creates the courage of each article, the courage of each article creates the courage of the entire newspaper, it's just that, writing can be tricky, but being a journalist requires determination!