About 10 years ago, when I was preparing for an exhibition, I wrote about 20 pieces and sent the best to my teacher (who was helping me to submit for the exhibition). If she had no comments, then she was going to submit it for me.
Well, she came back saying that, not specialising in kanji calligraphy (she specialises in kana calligraphy), she asked a fellow teacher for comments. And the other teacher only said, "You need to write at least 100 pieces when preparing for an exhibition."
I went back and wrote about 100 pieces.
Since then, this experience stuck with me, and so I end up writing 100 pieces (actually, more than 200 or more) whenever I am preparing for an exhibition. In the process, I use up a lot of paper and ink, and generate a lot of trash.
Exhibition season is here again, with submissions due in October and November. I am in my final leg for these upcoming deadlines, plus I also need to start thinking about what to write for the other exhibitions with deadlines in the first half of next year.
