There are days when the act of putting pen-to-paper feels like a breeze over my bald head
; but the bad ones sting.
The words don’t come and I have to force them out. Some time passes before I get disappointed and morose over my inability to flow like a stream.
I am new to the whole writing thing and naturally find it challenging. There are days when I procrastinate the process for the longest while, engulfed by a clutch of nefarious demons. At the culmination of the hours of light, I find myself to have written for the duration of a mere 1.5 hours
, and the morale tanks.
Almost as a rule, I am slave to my fears, the biggest one being the fright of saying/writing something stupid. Then there are other fiends telling me I’ll run out of clever things to say.
They are all illusions, mere distractions.
If I can’t say something smart today, I will tomorrow
, or next week. It will find me in the weirdest places, when I’m not even looking. Sometimes just spending some duration with the idea, and letting it blossom slowly- does the trick. The brain directs my memory and creativity to come up with things that are apt and enticing.
The act of beating myself up for not conjuring masterpieces every day and every hour is not fair/nice.
Rough Draft
The focus should be on penning down all that comes to my mind, and not letting the good schemes escape. Doing so leaves me with a nice collection of jibber-jabber which I dutifully put down. The gibberish still (strangely) makes sense.
It’s not Tolstoy, but it is a beautiful dump, which shall soon become manure, and will help the sapling of fresh content bloom. The jibber-jabber should be accompanied by examples, so that even if I read it in a year’s time, I understand the soul of the words I belched onto the sheet.
A good idea is a good idea. If I made an effort to put it down, it must be important. I may have to sit down with the material and think back what the intention (to make a note) was exactly. End of the day, the meaning should come through (bare minimum requirement of the rough draft). The core principles should not be lost.
The trick is to write a shitty first draft.
Just noting down the intent when it is fresh helps. If I don’t have the time or the will to substantiate the single line I have written (as a hint), it’s still fine. Small hints go a long way. Most of the time, I recognize the thought behind the line/statement.
It can be fodder for material in the Dooms Day when the train of creativity leaves the station without me. The one liners add up to make a list, a list of magical creation, a tree of original thought.
Some activities are potent idea generators for me. I am bombarded with peaches when I take my walks in the evening. Somewhat curiously, many schemes introduce themselves while I am watching football matches.
A beautiful aspect of the process of noting stuff down is- writing begets writing. In the act of penning one particular piece, other ideas register themselves (almost every single time). While working on the new propositions, I realize something else I find appealing, and which demands further elaboration.
So one article lands me 3 more. Supremely efficient, this.
Not to mention the promise of fresh inspiration, mined by substantiating the stuff I have already written (but still not explored fully).
It becomes a chain reaction.
Still, if I doubt my ability to extract stories and articles, I should be mindful that it could be due to fatigue.
Physical or mental weariness is enemy number one of efficiency. I should ask myself if my insufficiency to write is down to tiredness. If so, I should focus on rejuvenating/resting.
There is so much writing in me
;so many stories to tell…….
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