Rendezvous With Writing

As I sat down to write, my thoughts drifted into the past, recalling my introduction to writing. As a kid, I never thought of myself as a creative person.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to write more regularly — at least once every month, and the first surprise of the year — the Orange Flower Award set up the motivation. Platforms like Women’s Web, Momspresso,  have done wonders for folks like me who are a novice in writing, would like to share their content with like-minded people and not be judged deeply about the technicalities. I attended the Orange Flower Award masterclass for nominees, which was an eye-opener for me into the world of writing, meeting the fantastic writers, especially women from all walks of life. I think the best takeaway was that each one has their unique way of telling their story.

As I sat down to write, my thoughts drifted into the past, recalling my introduction to writing. As a kid, I never thought of myself as a creative person. When my peers would create unique art pieces in school, I would still be making drawings that looked like what my teacher taught me in grade 1. My cat and human figures would still look the same. Whenever I would watch a movie or read books, I would be amazed how someone can think of such beautiful stories and write hundreds of pages, whereas I would struggle to write that one-page essay. Even though I was born to a journalist dad who often penned his articles and a creative mom who wrote Hindi poetry, “shuddh” Hindi articles, and make amazing rangolis, I did not seem to inherit any of these traits.

Life went on with the usual hustles of job, marriage, kids, and I never revisited the thoughts of writing. Over time and age, my choices on reading topics switched from fiction to biographies, topics related to my day job or human emotion centric subjects. I also moved more into the “few” minutes online reading habit. As I read a more diverse set of content, the urge to pen my thoughts and translate some of my own knowledge and expertise became stronger. However, my initial reluctance to get that perfect write-up and procrastination prevailed, and it took me a long time to get my first post out.

My first write-up was about a topic I had expertise in, but the format was very amateur-ish. I initially shared it with a few “experienced” bloggers, and their feedback helped me re-structure it better. Finally when I published it, quite a few people commented that they found it useful. This feedback acted like the catalyst I needed. I slowly started taking the plunge, and in the initial few blogs, I stuck to the topics related to my area of expertise. However, one of the leadership programs that I attended in 2018 influenced me greatly and helped me open up and become comfortable writing on myriad topics that reflect my own experience, learnings, and passion. There is so much to interpret and learn in our day-to-day interactions with people around us.

In the past years, writing has helped me reflect and dwell upon my past, reminiscing the good times, reminding me of the lessons of the not-so-good-times, connecting with people at a more human level, and make me comfortable sharing my vulnerabilities and most importantly — love myself. It definitely helped to review the SOPs my daughter had to write for her college submissions.

I am an ardent fan of the writers who can spin out stories that take us to a different fantasy world. My all-time-favorite is Daniel Steel, writers who can inspire others with their transformational stories. Satya Nadella in Hit Refresh and the writers whose stories instantly connect with you. Sheryl Sandberg in Lean-In. I love the authenticity Ankur Warikoo brings in various formats in his posts.

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In this era where we lose ourselves to the noise and content of all types and sizes, take the time out to spend those precious silent moments only to be with yourself, and who knows, you might be writing your “first” write-up. Happy Writing!

I would like to hear the stories of the journeys of other fellow writers. How did you get started?

Image source: pixabay

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