It’s hard not to take a liking to Jemma Wei’s vivacious and infectious demeanour, be it on Snapchat or Insta-story. Beyond her globe-trotting lifestyle that has many of us in envy, there is also much for us to know about this versatile and talented multihypenate.
Well, what else do we not know about her? Plenty, as we have discovered in our interview with the awe-inspiring Jemma Wei from jemmawei.com. Read on – you’ll be enamoured (so are we) of her passion for writing and her style, which is so characteristically Jemma, as well as her truly wise words on writing/blogging.
When was the first time you started to blog and is there any backstory to that?
I think I must have been thirteen or fourteen – and it was the huge thing back then, every single person had a blog where they wrote about their CCA, what they ate for lunch, how stressed they were by homework, how schools sucks.. haha!
So I was no different. The only thing is I kept it going till today I suppose.
What ignited your passion for writing?
Not sure if there’s one particular factor. But I’ve always been a reader and writer, and even when I was a kid I was writing stories about made up people on notebooks and napkins.
I think my first ever completed story was about a robot girl slave trying to go to primary school. I wrote it in one of those fifty cent bright blue notebooks everyone carried around in those days, and did all the illustrations on the side myself too. Haha!
Has your style of writing on your blog evolved over the years and why?
For sure! Last time I was crazy lah, I wrote about everything and anything, like my theories on why certain cuisines cost more or less than others, and my great feelings about how I loved being in choir so much, etcetera etcetera.
I guess I’m still very emotive and my writing is and has always been very intimate, but I’d like to think that my writing as a craft has improved.
Of course, these days I also do a lot more pragmatic posts over stylistic ones – I have a running travel guide called the Broke Student’s Guide to Travel, and with the years my political and philosophical sensibilities have evolved, and so that influences the way I think and write as well.
Over the years, what challenges have you encountered in your journey as a blogger and what did you do to overcome it?
Not that much, actually. I think I’ve either been really blessed or really oblivious. I’m also the kind of person not to be too fazed by things and just work through them.
One of the things that I can think of, off the top of my head, is having to work through the invasion of privacy on a larger scale. I suppose it’s part wrapping my head around it and part learning to curate what I put online to protect the privacy of myself and my loved ones.
We understand that you are hosting “Hype Hunt” on Clicknetwork, alongside your co-host Roz Pho. How was hosting like and what were some of the key takeaways from it?
Amazing.
We just hit a million subscribers, and had a huge party thrown for us by Google and Youtube yesterday where we got presented with the Youtube Gold Play Button.
I think that in itself is a huge achievement, but the more amazing part is watching how everyone else reacted to it – the week we hit our million, I had so many people coming up to me in public to congratulate me in a really emotional manner. I think it shows people that Singaporean creatives can be recognised on a global scale, and I’m sure it’ll pave the way for many more in the future.
All in all I’m incredibly grateful that I’m part of such an amazing team. I’ve learnt so much from them, both as individuals, and as a network.
We’re also envious of your travelling lifestyle where you get to travel to exotic destinations such as Maldives. Is it tough juggling between studying/working and frequent travelling?
Of course it is! But it’s a lifestyle that I wanted, and worked towards accordingly. A great deal of my travel is project or campaign based, so in those cases work and leisure get conflated.
I’ve never been the kind of person to think that I have to stick to following a template to how life should be, so it has never occurred to me to give up my academic interests or research for commercial projects. They both fulfil me in very different ways. I’m also very blessed to be given these opportunities to do what I currently do, so although it can get insanely stressful at times, I see challenge and stress as a good thing.
When it comes to managing time well – which we believe you’re a pro in, what are some tricks we can learn from you?
Stop procastinating, stop worrying, just do whatever it is you need to do.
Work hard, get enough sleep, and learn to find meaning in everything you do.
Given that you’ve a degree in English Literature and a torrid passion for writing, is it possible that you’d write a novel one day and why?
Sure. I think you’ve just answered your own question in the asking, so I don’t have to respond to your why segment of the question. Haha.
Last but not least, what are some advice you’d offer to aspiring bloggers or writers?
Let the words of Bukowski advise you as they have me:
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.
If this whets your appetite in knowing more about the top bloggers in Singapore, keep an eye out for more interviews to come in our Top Blog series. Next up, we cast the spotlight on Rachel Wong.
You might also want to check out the interview we had with the flawless-looking Instagram darling, Melissa Koh as she talks about wedding bells ringing for her and exciting projects in the pipeline.
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