Sanmao’s Speech: About How to Write

Dear friends: I’m sorry that I started a quarter of an hour late today. I am a very punctual person. I have just been waiting for Father Lu to come and take me. My life has been very confusing recently, and I couldn't remember which day I was going to give a speech, until a friend called me the day before yesterday: We will meet at the Gengsin Cultural and Educational Institute the day after tomorrow. I was shocked, but then I thought, no problem, there were only about twenty people. You can say whatever you want, but I didn’t expect that I have so many friends in Taiwan.

It is raining again today. I heard that it is not the rainy season in Taipei this time, but after I came back, I found that it was always raining. I thought there wouldn't be so many friends coming today. When I saw you, I was very scared and wanted to run away.

I hope my words will not have a bad impact on you. I taught in the past and often went to the podium, but I had textbooks when I taught. Now I don’t have textbooks when I talk to you. I am worried that what I said casually today will have a bad impact on you. I would like to start today's conversation with a letter from a young reader in particular. When I first returned to Taiwan, I received a letter from a high school girl. I can’t remember her name. This reader said that when she was in the third year of junior high school, she wanted to commit suicide because of the pressure to enter college. At that time, she read My book has changed because of it. I don’t know how she has changed, but she always said that it was my book that changed her. I think this child is a bit "stupid", because none of my books can save you. Only you can save yourself, and others can't save you. She said that she is now a high school student, and regarding the recent death of my husband, she said that she felt that life was fake and she would still die. It's been several months since I received this letter, and I still don't know how to reply. However, I miss this friend very much because her letter was written so sincerely. I hope she will forget about me, because this is a bad influence. I don’t know if this friend is here today, or if she has any friends. Please tell her that the letter has been received, and ask her not to be discouraged, because what happened to others did not happen to her after all.

I never aspired to be a writer. When I was young, my parents would ask, my teachers would ask, or I would ask myself: What do I want to do when I grow up? I want to be the wife of a great artist. "Do you have a partner?" They would ask, and I said, "Yes." "Who is it?" "It's the Spanish painter Picasso!" Because when I was a child, I loved art. When I was writing my essay, I always said that I wanted to be the wife of a great artist, but I never said that I wanted to be an artist. I wasn't good at my homework, I scored zero on the math test, and the only thing I could do well at was Chinese. When I was a child, my math scores were very poor. I often got zero marks on the test. One time, the highest score I got was five points. I don’t know how it happened. It must have been a zero mark. My composition is good. I wrote the speech I gave when I was in fifth grade. My work must be on every poster. My family is very happy. But one time, I moved my teacher to tears because I told He and I were orphans and wrote "The Wandering Story of a Wandering Child" which is about 5,000 words long.

After entering junior high school, about ten of my classmates had their compositions written by me. Because they couldn’t write it, I said bring it here and I’ll write it for you. Later, I also learned to write Tang poetry and wrote more than a dozen poems in the composition. I found that although I was good at other things, I could still write. This was an opportunistic way.

When I was in the second grade of junior high school, I didn’t like school life and left school to study on my own. When I got to college, I studied philosophy with many classmates who had graduated from high school. I found that my Chinese language skills were not as good as theirs. In the Chinese language exam for my freshman year, I didn’t know the questions about when and who wrote "Spring and Autumn", etc., so I failed in Chinese. Later, I went to see my teacher and said, "Teacher, I dropped out of school when I was young. I don't know what era "Spring and Autumn" is in. I think this is a question of literary history." The teacher said, "You should know that!" I said : "Yes! What I know is also Chinese language, but not this kind." Later he said: "Then you have to make up the exam." I said: "You still won't pass the make-up exam. There is only one way, and I can't I can supply you with six essays." He asked me how many words I wanted to write, and I said just let me write.

The made-up story actually moved the teacher to tears. Later, I wrote an article of more than 30,000 words, telling about my father, my mother, and my young life, starting from my grandfather. There is also a love story in the middle, in which my uncle is not in love, I made it up.

The teacher asked me to write with a brush, but I couldn’t write it, so I used a signature pen to make it look like calligraphy.

This article was very well written, with both true and false stories and plots. After reading it, the teacher called me over and said, "You are the most talented among my students. What you wrote about the previous generation is all true." "Is it true?" I said, "Don't worry about whether it's true or not. Do you still like this work?" He said, "The teacher was so moved that he didn't sleep all night."

When I was a teenager, I published a book, "The Rainy Season Will Never Come Again." This book was forced to be published, because if I didn't publish it, others could compile those articles into a collection and publish it, and I wouldn't even receive royalties. Can't get it. In fact, those things are very immature and should not be published. They were articles published before I was twenty-two years old. The writing is very raw and the feelings are very ethereal. I like the word ethereal, but that was what I meant when I wrote it at that time. Some feelings that cannot be faked, this is my first book.

Writing is the least important part of my life, it’s the cherry on top of the cake. Then, I left Taiwan for Spain. Life changes and other things caused me to stop writing. A friend always says every time he writes, it's a pity that you don't write, because you have just started writing. I told him: I am changing now, and I don’t want to write anything at this time, lest I regret it in the future. This friend is an editor. He said, OK, I will wait for you. How many months should I wait for you? I said: Wait slowly. Wait, wait ten years.

One day, sitting at home in the desert, I realized that I could write again. So, I think waiting is not a bad thing, don't be too impatient. Now another friend is asking me: Sanmao, you stopped writing, how long will it take before you write again? I said, don't worry, wait for me. He said: How long do we have to wait? I said: It will probably take another ten years. When he heard this, he immediately said: Isn't that waiting to die? I said: After all, this is not in our own hands. If I were forced to write it, I would not be able to write it well. And ten years later, another face may appear.

I think writing is not the greatest happiness in life. Someone asked me: Do you know that you are a very famous person in Taiwan? I said I don’t know because I have been abroad. He asked again: Do you care about your name? I replied that it didn't seem to hurt or itch, and I didn't feel anything. He asked me again, your book is selling well, are you happy? I said, I am neither happy nor unhappy, these are irrelevant things. Someone else asked me, is writing a very important part of your life? I said: It is the least important point. He asked again: If we look at the proportion of cake cutting, how much of it is writing? I said: It’s the cherry on top of the cake!

Life is more important than writing; I value life far more than writing. Maybe you will think that writing is an achievement in life. I sincerely say: There are too many things worth pursuing in life. Of course, writing a good book can also leave a lot of good impact to future generations. As for my own book, how many more years will it take? My writing is very shallow and can be read by children in the fourth grade of elementary school. I have always seen old teachers, but this does not represent literary value. This is definitely two different things.

One year, I was in love and walking with José in a big park in Madrid. At 6:30 in the morning, I was writing a manuscript for "Industrial World" and it was the end of the day. It's been a day, and I'm extremely annoyed. I said to Jose: I won’t meet you tomorrow because I have to submit the manuscript. Jose said: Okay, I will take you to the park early tomorrow morning, and your article will be published. I continued to walk with him in the park, but my mind kept thinking about the article. At this time, I saw the park gardener climbing up a very high tree to saw the tree in such a cold early morning in winter. I looked at the people sawing the tree and said to Jose: They are so pitiful. They still have to stay in the tree in such cold weather. Jose said something to me. He said: I think those people who are locked in a square box and work in front of numbers are the most pitiful people in the world. If I had to choose, I would definitely be the person who lives in the trees, not the person who works in the bank. After hearing what Jose said, I went home and wrote a letter to the editor of the magazine, saying, I'm sorry, the column will be closed next month and I won't write it anymore.

Writing is just one of my games, so I am a person who values ??life much more than writing. Others may ask: Are you playing the game of life? I want to say: I am a gamer. We came into this world to play. Confucius said, "Wandering in Art." These words contain so many meanings. To use the most vernacular word, it means playing.

When I say play, I don’t mean play in the dance club, nor do I mean play with electric toys, or smoke marijuana. No, I must have a good time in my life before I leave. Of course, whether I leave or not is not up to me, but at least my philosophy of life is to do You must do whatever you feel is fun, and you will never force yourself to achieve a goal. I was very nervous to say this, and it was wrong to say it, but it was only to myself, not to others, and my outlook on life is that everything is play, but it must be played at a high level, for example, painting It is one kind, growing vegetables is one kind, growing flowers is another kind, being a husband is another kind, being a wife is another kind, being a mother is another kind, life is a game, but it is very difficult to play it seriously. Interesting.

Many people read my books and said: Sanmao, your stuff is really interesting. I like to hear the words "It's really good" from friends the most. If a friend says: Your things have a deep meaning, I don't know how to say it, because few friends say this to me. Most friends say, look at you. The stuff is enjoyable and fun. I would ask: Are all the things I write for fun? They said: Yes. A child told me: "What you wrote is so fun!" I think this is a kind of beauty.

Not long ago I met a fourth-grade kid and he said: Your stuff is very interesting. I think this is a compliment. The things I wrote in the past were not fun, like "The Rainy Season Never Comes Again", because I was young and didn't know how to play with the world, and I lived through a very miserable teenage years. Later I realized that my time on earth is shortened every day. I must enjoy life. How to enjoy it? Like my "Story in the Desert", sorry to mention my book again. The first article "A Hotel in the Desert" is about playing with food, the second article "Marriage" is about how to get married and pretending to be a family drinking wine, the third article is about treating people in the desert, it is also about playing, and there is also a very interesting article called "Viewing Bathing in the Desert", see how local people take baths. These things are all about when you are in a good mood and find that your life is so beautiful, why not write it out? I wrote it without realizing it. There is no so-called "sense of mission" or "writing to convey the truth". I don't have either.

Let’s talk about the feeling of submitting my work to the United Daily News and having it published for the first time ten years after I stopped writing. When I was writing the article, I didn’t know what name to use. I was never called Sanmao. After I finished writing the article, I thought: I am no longer the person I was ten years ago. I have changed a lot. I don’t like to use a literary name anymore. I thought it was too artificial as a pen name. After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that I was just a nobody, so I might as well just call it Sanmao. Later, I had to explain to Jose what Sanmao meant, but he understood. He drew a head with three hairs on it and said: Is this Sanmao? I said: Yes! Jose said: Oh, this has always been my trademark!

After this article was sent, I have been worrying about gains and losses, and the psychological burden is heavy. I know that this is not a very informative article, it is just a little more playful. As a result, ten days later, I received the aviation version of the United Daily News sent to the Sahara Desert. When I saw the article published, I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. It was so fast. I took the newspaper and left. Jose and I didn't have a car at that time, but I really couldn't wait any longer. I kept walking on the desert with the newspaper in my hand, planning to go to the construction site to sue him. I walked in front of him. The traffic car would pass by on the road. Later, the traffic car came over and he saw me. I asked the driver to stop. I ran towards him and he said: Wow, you have made a hit! I said, yes, yes, right here. He asked: How can you prove that it is you? I said: Did you read the pen name? It was a really happy day, and I can’t forget it until now. Many years later, I wrote an article for the first time in the desert. There was only one person to share it with, and this person couldn’t understand my article, but I was still very happy, like Dancing in the desert like children. Love, hope and happiness are gifts from God to people. Since then, I have written many articles about the desert, and there are still many that I have not yet written. Many friends said that the desert you told us is different from the desert you wrote about. , because there are many beautiful and mysterious things that have not been written. I said, this is not a pity, there is greater happiness in my life. He said: But readers are waiting for your article. I said: Readers have their own happiness. If they don’t get happiness from me, they should pursue their own happiness. Of course, I think whether a writer is popular or appreciated, the writer himself must work hard, but the enthusiasm of readers is also a great encouragement and encouragement.

A friend told me: Sanmao, you can be friends with everyone.

I said: I am a very withdrawn person. Sometimes I answer too many calls and get annoyed and noisy. When he came back this time, he said to me again: Do you know where your strengths are? You teach people to have love and hope for life. This is what he told me, not what I said myself. However, I said: I want to jump off the building all day long! He added: But this time you come back and you still give me this feeling. I asked him why, and he said: Every time you come back, you still give your friends around you confidence and hope in life. This is something you don't realize. After hearing this, I felt that it was the encouragement he gave me, not the encouragement I gave him, because love, hope and happiness are not material things. I always think they are gifts from God. It is common for us to have so many organs, like a chemical factory, but abstract and intangible things cannot be produced by organs, such as thoughts, love, trust, and hope.

Marriage is one of the best things in the world; it is the same for boys and girls. I find that there are more girls than boys here today. Based on my personal experience, I am willing to tell all my friends, especially It’s a girl—marriage is the happiest thing in life. Don’t be afraid, if there are many unmarried friends here, aside from the topic of writing, I sincerely say that the greatest blessing in life is the same for boys and girls. But because I am a girl, I don’t know about boys. Psychologically, marriage is one of the most beautiful things in life. Based on my experience of life, I have been to many countries, including some areas in Eastern Europe, and many strange countries, including Africa, Europe, and South America. I have met different people, eaten different foods, and learned different languages. This is not happiness in life. I always emphasize the happiness and love of marriage. My articles cannot pick out some of the contradictions in human nature that most people think are profound. I have relatively few articles. Maybe good literature has a deeper description of human nature. However, when I grow up, I don’t like to say that everything recorded is true, but in real life, all I come into contact with is love, so I don’t know what hateful or contradictory things to write about, or complicated emotions, because I don’t have any of them.

My writing life is my love life; my outlook on life is my outlook on love. I used to be a very complicated person, but when I reached the age of thirty-one or two, I started to become more and more simple. Even when I returned to Taipei, I would still be scared when I saw cars, and I would be uncomfortable hearing the phone ringing. Because in the six years since we got married, our home has not had a telephone. Later, it was possible to install a phone. My husband and I thought about it, and he said, "We'd better not want it!" I said, "Okay, we don't want a phone." So let me talk about my writing life. For some people who really love Friends who write may not get much, but I have confidence. I believe that there are many friends who have doubts or fears about love. Based on my own experience, I still tell you that marriage is worth a try. thing.

In my writing life, if it weren’t for my husband Jose who gave me freedom, love and confidence, I wouldn’t have been able to write a single book. Besides, I translated a set of Spanish comic books called "Dolls See the World". I didn't pay much attention to this book in the past, but now I attach great importance to it, so I gave it to Crown Publishing House for reprinting. This book The book is about a thousand pages long and is part of my family life. This is not writing, it is family life. For eight months, after we finished dinner, my husband and I turned off the TV, locked the door to prevent anyone from coming in, turned on a small light, and he sat across from me and began to translate. After eight months, he translated Thousands of pages. So my writing life is my love life. This is really weird. Others will say that when I listened to Sanmao’s speech today, she was really talking nonsense, because she said such strange words, “My writing life is my love life.” But I still want to Let me just say, "My outlook on life is my outlook on love."

Almost all of my works are biographical. I can't write about things that are not true. I hope I don't have to wait another ten years before I can write again. I will go my own way and find my way in the future, but there is one thing I know I can't do. It's just something that's not true. I envy some writers who are good at making up stories. I have many friends who are good at making up stories. They can make up many touching stories. You ask them: "Is this true or false?" He says it is true or false. If they are mixed together, I think this is also a creative direction, but my articles are almost all biographical literature, that is, what I publish must not be fake. If one day you don’t know where in the world I have gone, it’s because I’m leaving again.

Before you saw my article, you might say: "Sanmao refused to write because she refused to write lies. When she wanted to write, she wrote the truth. When she didn't want to tell the truth, She won't write when you know it. "So, it's really in vain for you to come to listen to me today.

I am a good housewife, and the six years I spent with Jose were a gift from God. Some people must be wondering why I haven’t written any articles since I was away from Taiwan for ten years, but I started writing articles after I got married. Others say that writers cannot write articles if they are housewives, otherwise they will not be able to figure out firewood, rice, oil and salt. I am a housewife and very housekeeper because I love home. I think God has given me six amazing years. I believe that my husband came into my life with a very important task and mission. I don’t know, and I don’t know either. For six years, he took me here, there, to the Sahara Desert. He allowed me to be a free wife. He never interfered with me and allowed me to develop my personality freely. Although he did not understand my articles, he talked to everyone about them. People said: "My wife is a writer." No one believed it. He didn't understand Chinese, but he was very proud of it. I published a book called "Tender Night", but I haven't written it since. My friends asked me, and Mr. Xian Xian of "United Daily News" often wrote to me: "Why don't you write it again? I don't dare to rush you." "I don't know how to respond to these letters from friends who love me. I now have a bad habit of saying, "This is the last year," which means the last year of my husband's life. My usual writing habit is to write at night and sleep during the day. During my last year, I suddenly realized that when I was writing a manuscript, my husband went to bed in the morning, and he should get up at six o'clock in the morning, so at eleven o'clock in the evening, I said to him: "José, you go to bed, I It’s time to start writing, because I really owe too many people, so I can’t help it. You go to bed.” He put away my tea and went to sleep. I ignored him and started to smoke and drink tea, and put myself into the article. go. I couldn't sleep because of Hexi, so I stopped writing again. The last article I wrote was "Eternal Mary". I remember I wrote it for nearly four days, but I didn't write well. At six o'clock in the morning, I wrote secretly. I went into the bedroom to sleep. I walked in carefully to avoid waking Jose, but I found that he covered his head with a sheet. As soon as I entered, he jumped up with a "Wow!" and yelled: "You finally wrote It’s over!” I asked him, “Are you not sleeping?” He said, “I don’t dare to tell you because the house is too small, so I just covered my head with a sheet and waited to see what time you would come in. Well! You finally finished it." I asked him how often this happens. He said, "It doesn't matter how long it lasted. Ever since you started writing articles after you married me, I couldn't sleep." I said, "You know I'm outside, why can't I sleep?" "I scolded him because I felt bad. I said: "Why don't you sleep? Said: "I don't know, I can't sleep." "I said: "Then I can't write articles! "You can," he said. "So I said I would write in the afternoon, and he agreed to write with me. I said I would write at night, and he said yes. So every time I wrote a chapter, I looked back at him. He tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Later I asked him why, He said: "Have you forgotten? Because for so many years I have always held your hand when I slept. After hearing this, I felt sad for a while and simply said: "José, then I will stop writing from now on." "For ten months from that time, I really didn't write anything. When people asked me, I said my husband couldn't sleep. They thought it was funny and said, "Ignore him if he can't sleep!" "I said: "His job is dangerous, I hope he sleeps well. "Later, my parents came and asked why I hadn't written an article for ten months. I said, "José can't sleep. "My father asked why Jose couldn't sleep? I said, "I can't tell you, he can't sleep anyway. ”