bus' blog

my name is bus and this is my blog

I am trying to improve the quality of my written work

I recently discovered that my speaking ability far exceeds my ability to coherently express myself on paper (although this can no longer be said to be paper). This is a problem because my university assesses me on the quality of my written work. How well i can convince people in person is irellevent to my goals of graduating.

Therefore, i became set to improving myself in this capacity. The result is this blog.

I got the idea from Chuang Tzu.

In chapter 19 (達生)of his book Nam Hoa kinh (南華經)he describes a conversation between Yen Yuan (顏淵) and a boatman. Yen Yuan was impressed by the boatman's skills and asked how he aquired them. The boatman said someone who can swim well will have no trouble learning.

Basically, if you can swim, you may have never seen a boat before but would know what to do.

A good swimmer learns quickly because he knows how to ignore the water. Someone who can swim under the water may indeed never have seen a boat, but he regards the waters as though they were dry land, and the overturning of a boat as nothing more serious than a waggon turning over.

Therefore my aim with this blog is to proactively practice "swimming", that is writing, so that i am more prepared to meet the challenge of any other complex written arrangements, such as those essays required as part of my degree.

To continue reading, just click 'next'.

next