Four days ago, I had this silly idea running in my head. And I collected this information from WAB website. On a second thought, I realized all research works are like that, but not as silly and meaningless as mine. Now I realize it offers us some meanings after all. Let’s find out what our members are writing on WAB. Today there are 206 registered members on Writers Association of Bhutan and together we have contributed 257 posts in various categories.

What WAB writes

On an average, each member has contributed 1.25 articles. (A few of us might even have managed to post incomplete pieces… hehe). Out of 257 posts, the major contribution happens to be what we call Words and verses (poetry) category (33.46%), followed by Excerpts from my Life (personal essays) at 17.90% while the Short Stories (Telling Tales in Short) category stands third at 14.40%. We also have 15 in  Around the hearth Stories (folktales) category and 21 posts in What I think (opinion) category contributing 5.84% to the overall performance. We have 4 entries in our haiku category.

Like all researchers, now let me take a few seconds to pass my judgment on these data. We have heard accusations that Bhutan is no country for poetry and not many understand and enjoy the beauty of poetry. But our data show us that one third of us in Bhutan are poets, who love to write poems and enjoy reading them. This is something to think about. Maybe we are born poets or perhaps situations force us to become one. But poetry is here to stay. Our members’ creative muse is only growing strong. As days go by, I am sure we will have books and books of poetry being churned and circulated in the market since this is what most of our members are good at.

The research also shows that our members are more comfortable in writing about personal anecdotes – of incidents that happened to them or are closer to their hearts.  And the fact that our members are gradually churning out short stories tells us we are creative people and that creativity is taking deeper roots in Bhutan. It also shows that 8.17 % of our members have their opinions on numerous issues and topics.

Of special significance is the contribution in the folktales category. This is at a time when everyone everywhere is lamenting the gradually disappearing culture of storytelling and our ancient folktales losing their rightful place. But if the current data means anything at all, we can have so many stories captured on WAB – thus making us the reservoir of folktales. And one of our members should be really proud of introducing haiku poems. I hope many more would join him in promoting the art.

On the whole, going by the average of 1.25 articles per member (in 8 months) shows that we still have a lot of rooms to improve our efficiency and turn these ratios around.

Finally, through this useless finding, all I want to say here is that we can do it. We have the determination. We have the potentials. We have creative energies in excess. All of us! And we are growing strong by the day. Dear members, we hope you will continue contributing. Thanks for being a part of this research. This  is what WAB writes and this is what Bhutan writes.

Thank you!

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