Hui Zhen Ni's Page

A poor speller, a late bloomer, a shy writer - that's me. I've discovered my interest in story writing when I was in Grade III when my teacher taught me how to write a personal journal. It was actually a diary. I begun pouring my thoughts and feelings on each page. No matter how quirky my thoughts or how bad my grammar was I still wrote with my heart.

I begun writing stories when I was in Grade IV. It was when I started appreciating contemporary movies. I could say if the story affected me I would begin imagining I was one of the characters. I loved making up my own version of the movie in my head. Sometimes when I was alone I try to do some acting myself. About that time I also started writing on my scripts on the pages of my notebooks. But since I easily get embarrassed with my written thoughts, I throw them out. For some reason I felt naked reading my amateur pieces. I only realized how valuable these were until some twenty years ago when I took up sociology.

Fast forward. Since I was a very shy person - well more like someone with very low esteem - who treated any essays I wrote as a revelation of myself, I never had anything published while I was still in school. I was a good student in english but felt was not good enough to impress a reader. It was only when I begun to discover my leadership abilities that I started to write seriously. My first real exposure was with a youth newsletter. Although I was still very reluctant, I kept my writing on the straight news. I had no formal training though, but I was bursting with stories. I just wrote with all my heart until I realized that some people actually read my works. I begun to see myself as a writer then, but not really enough to say that I wanted to become a writer.

The newsletter became my space of expression, but I never leveled up. Then some six years ago a job offer came to me to work as Public Relations Officer in a government office. I took the job with so much anxiety. If I did not consider myself as a writer, much more as a technical news or publicity writer. Strangely I got the qualifications for the job. So I got the job.

Six and a half years of writing news, profiles, technical letters, and sometimes annual reports. Somehow my job became my playground. Then I was affirmed with my first impression about my writing style: I have always written from the heart. When I felt naked and embarrassed, it was because I treated my pieces as part of myself. It represented my own personal vulnerability. And this very impression also led me resign from this PR job that lost its affinity to its host (me).

Right now I am learning to breathe as a writer. I want to explore my skills beyond the news and into the realm of fiction. I have learned to embrace my handicap: spelling, grammar and use of idiomatic expressions. However, I am now confident of my ability to create and tell stories. This time my heart takes center stage as I seriously embrace the world of fiction writing.