“You may begin now,” a teacher announced on stage. I looked at the excited faces around me. My father had signed me up for the National Calligraphy Competition at Hong Wen School. I was nervous because I had never written calligraphy before.

My heart raced wildly. I did not know what to do. I saw some contestants pouring ink onto their ink pads. I copied them. I then wrote some words on one piece of red paper: 花木四时春.

Oh no! I used too much ink and caused the words to become one enormous blob. Tears welled up in my eyes. Luckily, I remembered that I had another piece of red paper. Relief washed over me. I could just write the five words again.

I focused hard. After what seemed like forever, I finished writing. A big smile formed on my face.

In the end, I did not win anything. But I had a whale of a time. I was proud of myself for trying something new.