I want to know your writing style

Read a great blog just now. I’m glad I have many friends around me brandishing that mighty sword. Each of them has his or her own unique style that I admire.

I was recently asked, during one of the “chit-chats” that I attended to you know, fill up my blank canvas with colours, (For the uninitiated, my blank canvas=damn exciting, romanticised future)

“What do you write?”
“What’s your writing style?”

In that split of a second, I thought for a while that those questions were a little too personal. Maybe it is that defensive mechanism arising out of a way to preserve the self esteem of a half-baked writer. Or perhaps it was the guilt that has been lurking forever in the nooks of my subconsciousness that I have probably never taken this (writing) seriously enough. Whatever it was, alarm bells went off in my head.

“I blog. And…” I started only with the slightest bit of sheepishness and then grew in confidence after the word, “blog”. On hindsight, I may have appeared neurotic.

One of them seemed to truly understand. I really contemplated about the second question. Another one chuckled, “oh just give her something, hemmingway or something.”

I couldn’t spin a lie. I tell the truth. When I finally replied with that discerning note of certainty, the woman smiled knowingly (or I perceived it to be a knowing smile).

I know she is a writer too. That shared empathy is hard to miss.

What is your style then? Are you able to articulate?

The Man – a combination of traits found in friend’s

Lying on my bed, stricken with guilt about my progress or lack thereof with my revision of my last exam (yes, the last one after 20 years of formal education) yet, tonight I know I will have happy dreams, I will be delightfully and carefully conjuring another world where my monstrous combination of the Man exists.

Wish me luck.

hm, let me see, my Singapore is…

Tapping on the country-of-origin effects is a tricky affair especially if you don’t have a strong “provenance” to boot for. Look at how many well-known Singaporean brands we have?

Provenance, from the French provenir, “to come from”, means the origin, or the source of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object.

It is not the name of the place or the hardware visible to the naked eye. Capturing the spirit and the values of the place are pertinent… and the number 1. rule, the values must be famous.

And where do you see provenance marketing most?

National brand identities! (duh)

Once upon a time, I envisioned to be in the branding team of Singapore Tourism Board. (Hear, hear, I am not even Singaporean!) Knowing me, I’d probably “leverage” on the ugly assumptions that people have of Singapore. (; We’ll make a comparison later.

Here is Peru’s:

The typography used in the new brand identity of Peru is making me feel so bright and zippy! Check these out. I love the vitality depicted by the colours and the curves and non-conventional choice of  sans serif typeface.

Source: http://www.underconsideration.com

Source: http://www.underconsideration.com

and then here is Singapore’s:

To give this more credibility, here is the “living logo” :

They call this, “It is an experience to call your own.”

Yeah, it seems like we are exasperated. We cannot decide anymore what we are now; or what kind of destination we are. You know what, why don’t you decide? (insert encouraging smile) Don’t consumers want to have the power of choice? (insert winsome smile)

“We are not just a business hub, we are/want to be a hub of everything!” I remember saying that in my “Business Study Mission to Scandinavia” class, coming across a little too strongly, and to my slight chagrin, my course instructor responded that we have to do that to survive as a small nation.

True, true. Does that mean though we have to transfer the imprints of our policy-making into our destination branding?

So in that Business Study Mission, we had a glimpse into how Sweden, Denmark, etc. brand themselves.  Swedish brands do a great job of squeezing every bit of its provenance and then drenching themselves in it, unapologetically.

Since we’re on that, here is what I’ve found via Facebook (Thanks momo!) on a Swedish cider:

In short, Rekorderlig is Swedish Cider.

What a proud and straightforward claim. It is like by just being Swedish, people will naturally flock to you…

Well, I think it does. I’m sold. I’m a fan of cider and furthermore, they get fashion blogger, Caroline to endorse the cider. Caroline is Swedish and we all know Swedish fashion, don’t we?  Chic, Contemporary and Creative.

So, bundling both brands together gives you one powerful and easily recognisable Swedish brand.  They even started a Beautifully Swedish blog – it tries to capture everything inspired by Sweden.

(Could we have one for Singapore as well? I hope it won’t be flooded with angry, angsty posts. Sometimes I think we may have this really, really… dry sense of humour and … a lot of dissatisfaction. eh, we’re a hub of everything ok, can we be content?! haha.)

Now, I just need a drink.

Epiphany

And you wait. You wait for the one thing
that will change your life,
make it more than it is—
something wonderful, exceptional,
stones awakening, depths opening to you.

In the dusky bookstalls
old books glimmer gold and brown.
You think of lands you journeyed through,
of paintings and a dress once worn
by a woman you never found again.

And suddenly you know: that was enough.
You rise and there appears before you
in all its longings and hesitations
the shape of what you lived.

– Remembering, Rilke

Amid the thumping music, the sardonically liberal movements  even in the fraction of the space that was only equivalent to the size of a tile in my house’s toilet, and the illusionary fog that made you forget that you were in a room full of sweaty bodies clad in skimpy clothes, I had an epiphany.

The story goes like this:

Like everyone else, I have something that I really, really want. Because I really, really want it, I am really, really persistent. (haha. really, really)

I think the persistence was wearing me off, not in the sense that I detest putting in the extra effort. It occurred in a way such that when the outcome doesn’t match the level of effort put in, it would drain off a little of my optimism.

I stomped my feet at Bras Basah MRT station in mock anger and exasperation. “Her internship in XXXX company??! It is only a distributor please! You just cut and paste the global strategy, that’s all!”

(Thank you to V for playing along.)  Come on, I needed to vent. I sounded really bitter on hindsight. (heehee)

However, prior to that, also on the last night of school, I met a fellow schoolmate. He was perhaps like me. He wanted the thing that I have been fortunately given the opportunity to pursue.  (I knew because someone said “you again!” and he was like, “yeah I am persistent.”) He smiled and congratulated me while I sheepishly broke the news to him.

So the epiphany, while I was tossing my head and swaying my body to the catchy rhythm of yet another chart-topping tune, arrived.

Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

The line from the Sunscreen Song dawned upon me.

I should be cherishing this and make it work, really, really, really especially since I do enjoy it.

My misgivings have disappeared.  I may need to convince people that matter to me, but that’s again another story and challenge to tackle later on.

I haven’t stopped trying. I haven’t stopped persisting. In the meantime, make the best out of the situation. All roads lead to Rome, says Strategy Prof! (;