Sing the poetry in your heart
W100 Practical Writing Training Course
I’m looking forward to the day when the literary camp will start!
Sister Jia Hua, a senior student from the Chinese Literature Camp who lives in Pennsylvania, took the initiative to take on the important task of picking up students from other places. The car was speeding on the winding mountain road. On both sides of the road are lush forests that stretch as far as the eye can see. Ahead, in the rose-grey evening light, are waves of indigo-colored shadows of distant mountains. The red sunset, carrying the remaining light and heat of the day, casts the last beautiful shadow on the mountain col.
I am used to seeing the endless plains of Florida, but all this is so new and charming, it makes me intoxicated.
The car turned into a path, and a huge green carpet seemed to spread out in front of us. Thick fluffy blankets were spread diagonally down the mountain, extending straight into the boundless forest. The asphalt road cut the green carpet in half, leading us to the simple gray-white building on the top of the hillside. This is the destination of our trip, the location of the Literary Camp, the Monastery of Mary.
▲The teachers, students and volunteers of the training class left heartwarming memories.
Travel notes reflect perspective
The content of the morning of the first day of the training class was "Qiyi Exercise". Although I had already understood the content of Qimi from the previous special issues of the Chinese Literature Camp, the principles on the paper became more vivid and vivid because of Teacher Su’s personal explanation.
As a writer, the first task is to cultivate the writer's lifestyle. Live a simple and disciplined life. Cherish your time and spend more time doing meaningful things, such as spiritual practice, reading, and writing. Be restrained in "time-killing" activities such as surfing the Internet, shopping, and watching TV. At the same time, no matter what you do, you must have a pure heart and use your body, mind, and soul to fully perceive everything around you. You must have a keen sense of interesting, innovative and humorous things in life, capture the bright spots in ordinary and busy life, and use inspiration notes to collect materials for writing.
Read more, read good books, and practice copying good articles. Use your own pen to understand and figure out the author's style of word choice and sentence making, learn from it, enrich your vocabulary, and broaden your ideas and realm.
Practice your pen diligently and submit more articles. For those who serve the Lord with words, writing is no longer just a self-expression of personal emotions, but also a tool to spread the gospel and save souls. This kind of writing is to use our pen to knock on the unopened heart door and cultivate the barren heart.
Teacher Su's lectures are both solemn and humorous, rich in content, and are constantly interspersed with wonderful movie clips, allowing everyone to feel the psychological changes of the characters in the blend of scenes. Not only did everyone not feel tired, but they became more and more enthusiastic as they listened.
As soon as the explanation of the Qiyi exercise came to an end, we immediately started practicing, starting with writing travel notes. Taking the rich lunch bag carefully prepared by Teacher Li, we went to the nearby tourist town of Jim Thrope. The town is located in the green valley. In the lazy summer afternoon air, baked by the scorching July sun, it seems to be taking a nap, exuding a leisurely and peaceful atmosphere. Holding inspiration notes in hand, everyone spread out and began the journey of capturing inspiration.
After wandering around the town for two hours, everyone gathered back to the classroom and immediately began to write down their thoughts on the trip.
After the dumpling banquet in the evening, Teacher Su commented on our exercises. The teacher encourages more than criticizes, and also reads out the good sentences in each article. Even though we were visiting the same town, everyone had such different perspectives, which was really eye-opening.
Uncle Chen Bowen focused on writing down the depression and loneliness of the town, thinking of his own advanced age, just like this town, which had a glorious history, but now has only empty memories, which is touching to read.
Sister Lingxi is truly worthy of being a pastor, and she has deep thoughts about her family and country. She associated the number "64" in our parking space with the political event. Although the association is strange, there are traces to follow. Who calls us Chinese?
Minwen is really fast. In just over an hour, I actually wrote two high-quality essays. The writing is so fast, and he is really a talented writer.
Yan Jun's writing is full of the atmosphere of Generation E. Time and space jump back and forth, sometimes writing about a small town, sometimes writing about the tension of having nowhere to write, sometimes writing about Uncle Li drinking soup and Uncle Chen taking photos, and the writing style is lively and funny. Yan Jun's pen will be of great use in preaching the gospel to young people.
Lan Hui is worthy of being a visual artist. The houses in the small town she described have "purple brick walls with gray and milky white windows", "peach-like pink and orange walls topped with creamy yellow roofs". The observation is so detailed and the color is so sensitive. It makes me want to go back to the town and appreciate it again with Lan Hui's eyes.
Sister Yue'e thought from the train station she saw that life is like a moving train, with people getting on and off constantly. The association is philosophical and the poetic language is thought-provoking.
Weiwei, Jieyu, Yuzhang, Uncle Li, Lin Bo, Yuzhen, Jinghua, etc. all have their own discerning eyes. They wrote down their own investigations into the history and current situation of the town, interviewed the members of the town, and carried out the work conscientiously. Seven every movement.
This travel writing exercise is really a good exercise for practicing the Qi Every Movement.
▲The classmates live together day and night, and the friendship is strong.
Dumplings packed with joy
Making dumplings is a must-have project in every phase of the writing camp, and it is also one of the most popular projects. The time is scheduled after the travel notes are submitted. After handing in the test paper, I felt very relaxed and ran into the kitchen to start dividing the work. Those washing leeks, peeling onions and garlic, mixing meat stuffing, beating eggs, cutting leeks, and kneading noodles. For a moment, the kitchen knife and the chopping board rang together, and the leeks and onions and garlic flew together (flying from the sink to the sink) , the end is very lively. Lin Bo kneaded noodles with skillful techniques, and Uncle Li was the master of cutting vegetables with flying knives. Although these male compatriots are from ethnic minorities, their strength cannot be underestimated. Uncle Chen was not idle either, carrying the high-end camera that was always with him, taking one picture on the left and one on the right to capture the heroic appearance of everyone working together to hold a dumpling banquet.
Soon, a pot of dumpling filling was mixed and smelled delicious. Everyone gathered at the table to make dumplings. The skins of Uncle Li, Lin Bo, and Yan Jun are of moderate thickness, and they can actually provide bags for five or six of us. What a great effort. After a while, several people who were busy writing in the classroom also handed in their papers, leaving Teacher Su alone to mark the papers, and the rest all joined the process of making dumplings. The skin was a bit slow to keep up with, and the skin flying out from under the rolling pin began to have different shapes and uneven thickness. Yan Jun's product actually had thin ruffles. Everyone is welcome, and the dumplings made are still good-looking.
I don’t know who started it, and everyone started singing. This time it was even more lively. In Hokkien, Cantonese, Taiwanese, "selling wontons", "selling glutinous rice balls", "tianwuwu", anything related to eating, they all sang together. The most amazing is Lan Hui's meal song: "If you want to invite me to your home for dinner, you must prepare one, two, three, four, five buckets of rice. The table is filled with chicken, duck, fish and braised lion's head (the head of the lion sings loudly, Lyrically), as well as braised eggs, sausages, fish balls, winter melon and pork ribs soup..." There is a strong tendency to not stop until the other party is exhausted.
Amid the joy, the two large pots of dumplings were filled with fillings, and coincidentally, the wrappers were also used up. Making the best use of people's talents and making the best use of materials are the rules for the use of resources in the Kingdom of God. We are very proud of Teacher Li's praise.
The hot and fragrant dumplings were served. Weiwei, Yuzhang and other behind-the-scenes heroes endured the high temperature in the kitchen and endured the loneliness of not being able to join in the chorus. Not one of them was broken, which is really good craftsmanship. They humbly said that the skin was good and the dumplings were well wrapped. Along with the dumplings, there is also a large pot of spicy, appetizing and rich hot and sour soup, which is the work of teacher Li Li.
This dumpling banquet allowed us to taste the delicious fruits of our own labor, and even more so, the sweet taste of brothers and sisters in the Lord living together in harmony. Everyone was greatly satisfied physically and mentally. I believe this beautiful and happy memory will stay with us for a long time.
Movies that tug at the heartstrings
There were not only happy laughter but also moved tears in the writing camp. Teacher Su carefully selected many touching movie clips to enrich the class content. On the first night, I watched the Singaporean movie "Kids Are Not Stupid". The movie reflects the bitterness of "stupid" children in a humorous plot. The child who is considered a stupid kid in the film has a talent for painting, but both his teachers and his mother think this is useless and will not help him get into higher education. The mother tutored her child to learn mathematics, but to no avail. She was exhausted both physically and mentally. She also contracted blood cancer and was admitted to the hospital. After the child failed the exam again, she was so disheartened that she climbed up a tall building and wanted to die. The child's grievance and helplessness, and the mother's hatred are all vividly displayed. Although the film is a comedy, it reveals true feelings and makes people laugh and cry. It is really a good and educational film.
Another touching film is "Mr. Helan's Symphony", which describes a middle school music teacher who has been teaching for thirty years and has always dreamed of completing a great symphony. However, until he retired, this work could not be seen. Every day. The film tells the story of him leaving the classroom after his last class. His wife and son came to take him home, and the three of them walked through the deserted corridor. The sound of footsteps echoed lonely in the corridor. The old teacher's gray hair and lonely eyes only deepened the sadness of this situation.
Suddenly, they heard something. When he opened the door of the auditorium, he was filled with all his previous students, including men, women, and children. The governor who came here specially was also his student. In his address, the governor fondly referred to these students as his great work.
After the speech, the curtain slowly opened, and there was actually a whole symphony orchestra on the stage, and of course they were his students. The old teacher picked up the baton, and the majestic music that sounded in the hall was exactly the symphony work that he spent his whole life working on... In the darkness, there was the sound of breathing through the nose and the twinkling of tears in the eyes. A good movie can tug at many heartstrings.
▲The youth volunteer team made this year’s camp run smoothly and energetically.
See you again in this garden next year
When this article is about to be completed, it has been some time since I left the literary camp, but it seems that as soon as I close my eyes, I see the fluffy green grass, the verdant cornfield, the old oak trees with thick shade, and hear again In the early morning, the birds sang brightly and walked into the classroom to the ringing of Uncle Chen’s bell, enjoying the spiritual feast carefully prepared by the teachers. In this complicated and fast-paced modern society, being able to enjoy a few days away from the hustle and bustle in such a paradise, quietly receiving teachings, and equipping yourself to do the work of the Lord, is simply a life on earth as if it were in heaven.
I deeply hope that we, the child soldiers who have just started on the road of literary ministry, can encourage and supervise each other, earnestly implement the Qiyi movement, and be able to "read a lot and tastefully, write continuously and with flavor, Live seriously and tastefully."
Let us agree to meet again at this time next year. I hope that by then, we will all be able to, as Isaiah 38:20 says: "Sing my songs with stringed instruments" (use various gifts to write works with "my" characteristics). to God).