Benjamin Franklin had only two years of education during which he excelled in literature and writing but failed in mathematics. Upon leaving the school, he engaged in a life-long endeavor of self-teaching business.

When Benjamin Franklin apprenticed under his brother James Franklin, he decided to teach himself on how to write essays, which was probably the first of many self-improvement plans in his whole life.

His plan was simple. After reading an interesting piece from his most liked authors, he would make notes and write an essay by himself on the same topic in a few days. Then he compared his essay with the original one to further improve his essay. The style and contents of his essay deliberatively followed those of the original one. In this way, he built up a Socratic type of persuasion, that is, starting from an innocent question and gradually pursuing to the point.

Very quickly, he was convinced by himself that he was ready to write some serious stuff. The first essay was written for his brother’s paper under the pseudo-name Mrs. Dogood, a humorous widow. His essay was so well written that it was run as a cover story. He was certainly pleased. In following essays, Mrs. Dogood teased government, marriage, and education. It was the first of many important successes in his political writings but surely irritated his brother.

Well, what the heck do I write this story? For one thing, I found many of myself in Ben Franklin. I have been self-teaching in my whole life. I first noticed my talent in self-teaching during the first winter break in high school. I finished the complete set of math books for next semester in three weeks. The achievement not only put me right to the top of the class but also released my power of self-teaching, just like superman discovered his flying capabilities. Retrospectively, half of my studies were done in a self-taught way, and more in the college (a little sorry for my parents’ money).

Now the power of my self-teaching should be unleashed again, as I am constantly changing my research topics. However, the first hurdle is English, in particular the formal speaking and writing. Most of my friends are so good at writing that a couple of them have published novels and poems. When they are writing, they just write without break. All ideas, together with grammar, are processed inside their brains. There is no need to fuss around on the screen.

I know that there are insurmountable difficulties to reach that eloquent level for a non-native speaker. The most difficult issues are English grammar and advanced vocabulary. Sadly, there is no short-cut to cross over these hurdles.But without a try, you never know your capabilities. One has to write, write, and write.

By writing thus far, I am satisfied with my progress. I have written many pieces and bravely or shamelessly put them on the blog. Many people were very nice and patient to read my lengthy posts while ignoring numerous grammatical errors. I now feel comfortable to write in English and have no difficulty organizing my thoughts in English. In fact, sometimes I felt compulsive to write something (that’s weird :-)).

I didn’t strictly follow Ben Franklin’s rule because most of my posts didn’t have model essays for the sake of ingenuity. Nevertheless, to further improve my English especially in styles and language, I think Franklin’s idea is worth a try.By using good essays as templates and carefully dissecting them, one can learn many subtleties in English writing. Since the purpose is to practice English, one can and should copy all good expression and structure of model essays to his own essays.

I should search my heart and soul to find my potential in writing. Then I have to press on–writing, writing, and writing.