Recently, I have touched on the topics of reading and research in my writings, which has sparked curiosity among my readers. Many have asked about my pre-writing process, which is not easy to explain in a few words. So I’ve decided to explain it here.
Whenever I come across an intriguing topic – be it the English term for leap day, the Eurasian coot, or a Minnan colloquial phrase – I turn to Google to begin my research. Wikipedia remains a fundamental resource for understanding a wide range of topics. For specific terms, I consult authoritative dictionaries, including the Taiwanese Mandarin dictionary I mentioned earlier.
In addition, I search through all the texts available on “WeChat Read” to see if any books have mentioned the topic. This allows me to potentially refer to these works in my articles.
During the writing process, when I’m unsure about something – whether a sentence is phrased correctly, whether a punctuation mark is used appropriately, or whether there’s an alternative expression for a word – I ask ChatGPT for an opinion.
Finally, I also have ChatGPT review the entire article, making it the first reader of my work.
I hope this clarifies the process for the curious reader. This writing workflow is essentially a process of learning, summarizing, and sharing via the Internet, which is why I decided to share it.