10 Things You Don’t Know about Us – Writers

Are you a writer? No? Well, good for you. You are spared the agony of being a creator. But, then again you are also spared the ecstasy of writing as well. From the blank surface of a paper comes a world peopled with your imagined friends and enemies. This is the kind of experience writers will call beyond description. Which is true.

But, that is not the problem here. I am going astray on my track. But, then again what else is new right? I have specialized in going astray on my track. See, I am doing that again. Maybe because I am happy. Or, maybe because I am writing too much. Don’t know. Anyways.

So what was I writing? Yeah, 10 things that you don’t know about writers. Yes, I want you all to know a few things about us. Here you go…

1. We Write, We Don’t Type

 Do you know what hits the nerve harder than a Rocky Balboa punch? It’s people talking to us when we are writing. Yes, writing is typing. But, it is more than typing. You get the point? Or, should I take the liberty to explain?

Ok, you have asked for it.

So, when we write, we think. And thinking needs solitude. Space is important. You get my point? Typing does not need thinking. You place a document and copy it. No rocket science here. But, to write one needs to open the heart and bleed on paper. Please next time you see someone writing, don’t wisely mistake the effort for typing.

2. We Brood

Yes, we cannot help it. Our moods go up and down like yo yo. We are happy now. We are sad the next moment. And most disarming fact is we don’t know why. So, don’t keep asking. This does not make the matter better. If anything, we get even more drawn inside our shells.

Of course, I am not talking about all the writers. But, most of us are like this. So, please when you catch a writer brooding, let them burn in their hell for a few days. It will pass too.

3. We Are Jealous of Our Writing Time

Umm…well, so you have a friend who is a writer? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Writing time is very precious to us. We call it our freedom time. At least I do. This is the time when we get our magic wands out and go creating spells. Our masterpieces. Don’t invade this time. It hurts. It is maddening. Leave us alone when we say we are writing.

4. We Hate to be Asked – Have You Ever Been Published

It is like are you good at fucking. It touches a cord deep down inside. It does not hurt. It irritates. If we are published, we will make it a point to tell you. We will gloat about the accomplishment. So, please don’t ask this question. It solidifies a strong doubt most of the writers are secretly carrying in their hearts.

5. We See You As a Character

Hmm…this might feel like evasion of privacy. But, we cannot help it. If you are interesting enough, we will surely write about you. And we don’t feel guilty for doing it. At least I don’t. I think you should be proud that a writer finds you fascinating enough to write about you. There are too many characters out there who don’t not even get our consideration. They are too boring to write about.

So, even if we don’t read the Miranda Rights to you, know it in your heart that whatever you say or do will be used in a book someday. Sorry folks, some of us are life’s plagiarists.

6. We Read to Learn 

Reading is like salvation for us. It is improving our skills. It is losing ourselves in a land where everything will be sorted out in the end. This is important. So, don’t go – you want time to read, you want time to write, you are selfish. We are. We cannot help.

7. We Have a World of Our Own

And this world is very precious to us. We haven’t created it. We are just born with it. If you are not a writer or a painter, you will not understand this world. Our lost look denotes that we have gone merry riding again and we are creating some wonderful tales. Yes, it is hard to accept sometimes. But, that’s what we are. That’s the we are born. We cannot help it.  

8. We are Proud of Ourselves 

Even if we are struggling, we are proud of our accomplishments. Some of us are born with all the adversities crowding around us. We fight them every day. We live dual lives. We lie to our friends. Just to come back home and write. And with small steps we approach our destinations. This makes us proud. Intellectual arrogance? Maybe. But, not always.

You see every day we struggle to create yet another story with hope that it will make to print. And then we have to swallow the bile of rejection as soon as we send them out. The process breaks us down. It takes self love to survive the continual blows. It takes strong conviction of our ability to hang on. Our arrogance is just our survival strategy.

9. We Dig Non Readers with Effort  

Some outcasts us bookish nerds. They think we are not interesting enough, because we spend time reading. Let me tell you a secret. We find people who are not into books boring too. It’s not that we don’t talk to you. It just that we don’t know what to say to you. So if you find us boring, we find you boring too. If you are making an effort to tolerate us, we are also making an effort to tolerate you. It’s a two way thing.

10. We Don’t Ever Want to Grow Up

Please don’t tell us to. In our childish self is hiding the creator. We observe everything like a child. You know the process of forever learning. People don’t feel comfortable with our never ending jokes. They think we are not serious about life. Might be. Because we think life is not worth being serious about.

So, there you go guys. The writers might agree or disagree with me. You have the right. I have just summed up some of the things I have faced. This is not intended for anyone particular. This is just a general declaration lol. Please don’t take it too seriously. I will be back with some more information later on.  

If You Don’t Chase Your Dream – Who Will

Well, almost a year has passed by since my last blog post. After the torrent of emotion that I showered in my last post, I thought of going for a sabbatical. My blog actually needed a break from my occasional volcanic outbursts LOL. Kidding you see. What I want to say is my life, professional life, has fucked my ass royally. I don’t have time for myself. I don’t have time for my family. I don’t have time for anything but work. So, there went my days of blogging and along went the flow of writing.

Or, so I thought.

The good news is I have given up content writing. Yeah, I have. What a wastage of time and energy that was. Keeping up with keywords which hardly make sense can get into anyone’s nerve. But, then again I thought writing is the only thing I knew. What else would I do, if not writing? I forgot. I know another art. It has also got something to do with words. Yeah, you guessed it.

It’s called talking.

So, you see, write or talk, I always end up with selling words.

Though I have given up content writing, I have not given up writing. I cannot. This is what I am. I have seen numerous people giving up on their passions. They have numerous ready reasons to defend themselves. Lack of time happens to be the cliché I am tired of.

I agree, being a writer is not easy. I agree writing every day has its’ effect, especially when you know no one will read your writing. Its’ scary not knowing what awaits after the next line.

It’s a battle. It’s an everyday battle. We win some. We lose some. But, we win more than we lose. Our hardest battle though is with our own selves. Every morning when the buzzer strikes 6, I battle with myself. I debate whether to get off the bed and face the blank page or roll over and get another sixty minutes of sleep. Every night when I come home with aching eyes and pounding head, I go to war with myself. I stand torn between enduring the torment of facing a blank page and chilling in front of television with a tall glass of cold coffee.

Each time the blank page wins.

It’s my dream. If I don’t chase it who will?

We all have dreams. We all have passions. What we do with them makes all the difference. Sitting back and saying if only does not help. The some days never comes. Situation never becomes favorable. Time never magically appear.

You gotta make time for your passion. You gotta pursue your dream. All you have is the moment. And the moment is fast fading. Chase it today. Follow your passion today. Make it happen today.

The best thing you can do is making a commitment. Commit to your calling. Even if the blank page does not call on to you, reach out to it. Even if the empty canvas scares you, face it. And face it today

If not today, then when?    

It’s your dream. Make it come true.

To The Betrayed Souls…

People come to our lives for a reason. They depart for a reason too. I am talking to those who loved freely and openly and then stood with nothing but betrayal. I have seen too many people losing faith in humanity. I have seen people afraid to trust again - all because one motherfucker or one slut has decided to breach their trusts.

Well, I can understand that you are afraid to trust again. Anyone would be. And it is because of that reason only, you must sit back analyze situation. You must consider why people betray the trust of others. Why throw something as precious as faith and respect?

The simple reason is because they are like that only. It’s in their blood and family background. Upbringing always speaks for itself. And when you put libido before respect, you are not displaying a nicer picture about the woman who carried you in her womb and the man who brought you up. But, then again, do you even have the mind to consider this fact. I believe not. You have your libido between your ears after all.

Relationships die, I agree. Love vanishes. I agree too. But, leading a dual life and fucking someone else while still celebrating your significant other’s birthday? Well, should you still be called a human brought up in a family which taught respect? I guess not.

If you are confused about the birthday bash thing, let me tell you, I know a man who went to his fiancé’s birthday with his slut in his arms. The funniest fact is his fiancé was unaware of the reality. She was happy to show her would-be husband the new clothes she bought. What do you say to a man like that? What do you call him? Motherfucker? Asshole? Or plain simply a man not worth bothering about. I happen to remember what Ned Stark said about a similar man – Some men are not worth having.

But, should you be losing faith due to a man or a woman like this? Should you be afraid of trusting someone because some people don’t value what life has given them?

It is your decision and up bringing to trust them. It is theirs to breach it. They will keep betraying everyone who is unfortunate enough to cross their paths. And one day they will betray themselves just for the heck of it. It’s not their fault. It’s in their blood, tinted with corruption. Their saga will be eternal until the day life decides to end it for them.

You have an honorable father and a respectable mother - who taught you to be true in a relationship and stand till the end. You did. You lost. But, you have gained too. You have gained your freedom from an unworthy person who would have damaged your life.

If someone cannot have you as you are, the person should not have you in any other way. If someone asks you to grow up, ask them back to grow real. It is you, immature, rude, passionate and precious. It is the way your creator made you to be. Take pride and move on. Be yourself and keep dreaming. And don’t dwell on the betrayal. You know why?

Because, there will come a day when the people who betrayed you will be happy and safe. They will think that everything is perfect in their lives. And that is the day Karma will pay them a visit and their happiness will turn into ashes. And your debt will be paid.

Don’t believe me? Well, just wait and watch it happen.

What’s Your Qualification Again…

While I was sitting by my balcony watching the sky and scratching my head, praying to the invisible power to throw a hot blog topic at me, my cell phone rang. I almost ignored it as I was doing something important that I don’t usually do. Yes, you got it. I was thinking. But, then again I thought of answering the phone. It might be something urgent. You bet it was. An HR executive of some Kolkata based IT company called me. She had a job to offer. It was the last thing I expected. I don’t usually get calls from HR’s as I don’t update my resume frequently. Linkedin does the job for me, usually.

I almost said – I am not interested. But I didn’t. Had I done it, I wouldn’t have been writing this post today. So, something in her voice stopped me from disconnecting the call. Something told me this could get interesting. So, I patiently behaved. Those who know me, know how difficult it is for me to behave. But, anyways…

So, this HR, she asked whether I was free to talk or not. I was not. But, I didn’t tell her that. It would have sounded weird disconnecting someone’s call saying – buzz off I am thinking. Lol. I patiently said - I was free to talk to her.

She asked me about my employment history like they all do. Then she came around to ask me about my qualification. I knew the question would arise. My resume doesn’t have any mention of my qualification. It is as if you are looking at the resume of a person who never went to school. Well, I don’t need my qualification to get the attention of the recruiting executives. I get plenty of attention without any mention of educational history. This is not my arrogance doing the talking. It is the truth. I simply don’t need to talk about my qualification. What’s there in a degree anyways?

I answered with patience and not for once used a word of slang. I am so fucking proud of myself. Yes, I am grinning here. My answers didn’t satisfy her. She wanted to dig deeper. She wanted to know about my percentage in each board exam. I admit here my voice did get sarcastic and I almost disconnected the call. But, I controlled myself and gave the unimpressive history of my exams and percentage.

She couldn’t believe that I never risen above forty percent in my entire life. After the uneventful conversation, she said she would call me back once the content department’s head gave a go. Frankly, I was thrilled that she did not call back. But, the conversation gave me an idea. I did some quick research and found that…

Harper Lee – The Pulitzer winner had dropped out of college. She wanted to become a writer. The rest is well…I can safely history.

William Faulkner – Well, he hardly needs any introduction. At the age of 15 he dropped out of school and never went back.

Mark Twain – The greatest storyteller of earth had dropped out of school at the age of 12. He had never let his schooling interfere with his education.

George Bernard Shaw – This playwright dropped out at the age of 14. It is said that he found no value in formal education.

H.G. Wells – Wells was forced to drop out of school at the age of 11.

Jack London – Jack London was through with formal education at the age of 13 and dropped out of school.

John Steinbeck – Dropped out of college and did not get his degree.

You see degree is just a piece of paper. How much you have scored in your exam means nothing after college. Writing needs a heart that can imagine. High percentage hardly makes a writer out of anyone.

It is not only about writing. I will write a post about entrepreneurs who dropped out of college next time. You think Bill Gates is the only one who dropped out? You will be surprised to learn there are many more than just Mr. Gates.

Follow Your Passion – Follow Your Dream

Do you have passion?

Well, if you do you are lucky. I have had the opportunity of meeting people who absolutely have no idea about what they want from life. Such people puzzle me. I cannot understand how can anyone continue with life with no passion at all, with no destination in their minds.

Passion is more than just a strong feeling towards something. Passion is your dream. Passion is that one dream which won’t die. Passion is that one vision which survives despite millions of doubts. Passion is that one desire which keeps you awake night after night. Passion is that one wish which scares you.

Ever had a vision like this?

Ever had a dream that you haven’t shared with anyone yet?

Ever experienced fear while wishing for something?

If you have such a vision, such a dream, such a wish, you have a path. You have a destination. You are luckier than those who live a secure life without knowing their true calling.

Follow your passion. Live it. The life will not be easy. You will face rejection. You will live a duel life. You will be scared of being laughed at.

In my case, I had lived with the secret that I am a writer. I wrote in the privacy of my room and stashed the materials inside the safety of my drawer. I didn't let anyone catch a glimpse of the work I did. To be frank, the pieces were not worth sharing. But, that’s not the point here. Whether your creation is good or bad is irrelevant. If you are bad today, don’t lose your heart. You will become better at it with time. All you need to do is stay committed. If you are a writer, you need to write every day. If you are a painter, you need to paint regularly. The more you do it, the better you become at it.

I don’t believe that good does not come out of bad. I don’t believe that someone who is struggling at the bottom level of a pyramid today will never be able to climb up higher. Of course, reaching the top level will be difficult, but not impossible.

If you follow your passion, you will be ridiculed by your friends and some of your relatives. This is a natural course of life. Whenever someone tries to do something different people make fun of the person. The more your struggle, the harsher these criticisms will become. It won’t be a pretty scene. You will certainly not enjoy it. But, if you stick to your dream, you will surely have the last laugh.

The key is sticking to it. The magic is into continuing. Miracle happens when you don’t give up. I am not trying to be a motivational guru of some sort. God knows there are too many of them already and their advice come for a price. Mine is for free. Mine is for whoever takes it. I don’t care much about money. When I write a motivational post, I motivate myself. You can give it a try too. Write something that will make others feel special or say a word of encouragement that will make someone smile.

Do it and follow your dream. The road will not be beautiful. But, if you walk the walk, you will surely reach your destination.  

I AM

It has been a long time since I have written anything. I have tried to write posts so many times and failed. Instead I ended up writing a poem. I call it I AM.

I am the stream of water

I am the endless sky

I am the mellow sunset

I am the golden sunrise

I am the gust of wind

I am the flame of fire

I am the driving force

of my heart’s deepest desire

I am the solid rock

Forever silent and still

I am the towering mountain

Valley and the hill

I am the sweetest smile

I am the droplet of tear

I am the rush of courage

I am the jolt of fear

I am the forceful wave

changing the shape of earth

I am the pride of victorious

echoing in the laughter of mirth

I am the hungry ocean

I am the eternal hour

I am what I am

I am the power

Well, not a masterpiece, not even a poem to remember. Yet, it is mine and I am proud of it. Next time I will come up with another poem that I have written a long time ago. Till then miss me. It’s good to be back.

Pain and Pleasure of Writing – Confession of a Writer

Writing a novel is like making love, but it's also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it's like making love while having a tooth pulled - Dean Koontz

I guess the above mentioned quote said it all in one line. Writing a novel is a journey. It begins from a blank page. It ends with a world and its’ people. But how exactly writers cross the path? How they fill out the blankness with words and create an entire world? How?

Some days back a very witty friend of mine had said – ‘If you have the time to read and think blah, blah, blah, you can write a novel.’ I had curled my fingers and prayed for control. No, I did not have the urge to strike the idiot. I had to fight the bubble of laughter that threatened to emerge out at the comment. Man, I truly do have a talent for finding friends. But they help, you know. They give me ideas for blog posts and they make damn good characters.

Anyways, when the urge to laugh died down, I sat back and pondered what he had said. If you have time to read and think blah, blah, blah…well really? It bothered me to realize that the world view us as a bunch of nobodies with ample of time to read and think blah, blah, blah. Frankly guys writing a novel takes a lot more than reading and thinking blah. Blah, blah. It takes desire and unyielding passion.  

If you are not born with the desire you are not a writer. What do you think? Why a group of people endure rejections, mockeries and harsh criticisms and still continue writing? What makes them cry in seclusion when no one is watching and then wipe the tears to write yet another novel or short story or poem? It is passion. We are fortunate or unfortunate enough to born with it. We cannot give up. We are the prisoners of our own desires. But, the strange fact is we don’t want to be free of the captivity.   

So, what exactly do we do? How we write novels, poems, short stories? I am sure about any of you. I can only say about myself. To me it is like the above mentioned quote, a fusion of pleasure and pain. I begin with utter zeal and dreams of being the next best seller. I dream of attending book signings and getting mobbed by the admirers. With this glow I begin writing. As the process continues and I head towards the middle, slowly and painfully, dreams wane and reality creeps forward. This is the time I walk straight into walls (no I don’t call them blocks). I tear the pages and blow the pieces in the air (yes, I write the first draft with pen and paper). I bare my fangs at about everyone. I transform into a whole new person.

Believe me the picture is not nice enough. Writing takes away a lot of things and demands sacrifices. These we do willingly, if not happily. I have given up watching television. Although I have never been a TV freak, I used to watch an hour of TV everyday. That I have replaced with a session of reading. I avoid attending parties unless I absolutely must. Once a month I do step out in style and attend a get together of some kind. These are not sacrifices, I am investing my time into something that matters to me.

So, you see we are not born with all the time of the world. We make times for what we love. If anything, we are always hard pressed for time. You know why? Because we live double lives. We balance day job and writing everyday and survive to tell the tale. Some tales, we never tell. We never talk about rejections and negative feedbacks. These we deal in isolation.

If you are a writer, you must have heard words that hurt. Take them and move forward and keep writing. Don’t let the world pull you down on your knees and keep you there (yes, I borrowed that from my favorite character Rocky Balboa).

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard ― Neil Gaiman