Beberapa waktu yang lalu, ikutan kontes tahunan DearReader dengan batasan maksimal 650 kata. Tapi, ini sudah untuk yang ketiga kalinya belum menang lagi. Mungkin karena bahasa Inggris saya yang masih biasa(k). Dan mungkin yang menang adalah yang mampu menuliskan cerita dengan peristiwa-peristiwa atau orang-orang nyata (a story with real events or people). Berikut tulisan yang saya kirimkan ke kontes tersebut.
===
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
—Margaret
Atwood
In 2014 and 2015, I started writing a
daily journal. Well, actually it’s a thing I wanted to do long time ago. But,
after I read a book called Titik Nol by
Ayub Yahya, it sparked a light for me to do the same—i.e. writing each day throughout
a year. A page—or two—a day. Well, there were some days in which I didn’t make
it to write an entry, yet I tried to pay for it another day.
This year, however, instead of writing an
almost or half or full page with long words within a page in a daily journal, I
planned to write three words only. Each
day. In a page. It started from July 28, 2016 ago. My little three-words
journal consisted mainly with words both in Indonesian language and English. Not
that because I have found the aforementioned quote above that I started to do
it, but because simply I wanted to keep having this writing habit. Because if I
don’t write, I’ll go insane. And perhaps I will challenge myself to make a whole
daily journal again next year. Or some other year.
Writing is a challenge, isn’t it—either
it’s fun or a burden for some? Even writing for three words only. Three
words only. I even couldn’t able to catch up some days to write the three
words entry. And yet, there were also some days that I wrote more than three
words for the entry in any given day. For example:
***
Stranger to Yourself?
Humor Is Philosophy
If or how?
Iman
gila-gilaan. Punya? (Got crazy
faith?)
Follow It Up
Ministry is hard.
Forget to dream?
Behind the service:
Find A Song
Fighting inactivity epidemic.
***
Where did I get the words from? Some
were from my thoughts; some were from others or texts from any source in which
I felt the words were meaningful for me. Here are another examples:
***
Still an amateur.
For your miracles.
2 Become 1
Ideal, not rule.
Franisz being Franisz
Not too far
Approach It Differently
Like This Post?
***
I know, perhaps some of my English words
are grammatically incorrect. And, when the entries in Indonesian language are
translated into English, there will be more than three words. And the contexts
are quite different. But, I just simply want to keep on writing. And those compilations of three words—especially
in a single page—have become like a poetry for me. Here’s an example:
***
Hargai
udara segar. (Appreciate fresh air.)
Di
mana kelasku? (What’s your level?)
Where you belong
Hobi
naik motor? (Love to ride a
motorbike?)
Clarify the direction.
Will you pray?
Are you running?
Poetry in motion
The road ahead
Take the mercy.
Accept the help.
Memandang
wajah-Mu, Tuhan. (To see Your face, O
God.)
Submit your order.
Continuous Service Feature
Harus-harus
benar-benar serius. (You gotta be
really, really serious about this.)
Lost the view?
Relieved and thankful.
I understand this.
Plenty of laughs.
Your Lighter Side
Your remembering place.
Old battered saxophone.
***
It’s like random thoughts, right? Well,
perhaps it is. But, once again, I just wanted to keep on writing.
In the meantime, this is my third time
in writing for the DearReader Contest. And as I write the three words daily
journal up to now—and planned for a year to end on next July 28, 2017—I just
want to encourage any of you to keep on writing also. If an Indonesian like me,
could keep in mind to have a writing habit, even with modest English, surely
you could keep on writing too, don’t you?
As a closing, Miriam Adeney once asked
Eugene H. Peterson—if I’m correct—who’s responsible
for The Message Bible version, “When
do you write?” To which he answered, “Well—when
am I not writing?”
Keep
on writing. Even during a meeting.
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| Jurnal kecil yang saya pakai mengisi Three Words Only. |