When should you Write? On Inspiration or Daily?

One of the hardest aspect of writing daily blogs is to find a new topic every day. Sometimes you have an urgent or pressing issue/idea to talk about, so it's easy on those days. Sometimes, you have to think about what's bothering you or making you upset, and then share those thoughts. But other days you are just blank thinking what the heck to write today. Today was one of those days. 

A thought of skipping the day immediately comes to mind (especially when there is no one to hold you accountable for ). But then what's the use of making a promise or starting a habit when you can't keep up with it on your hard days? The next thought comes to the mind is should we write for the heck of it or should we write only when we have something worthwhile to talk about? Both ideas seem valid, so I though why not make this the subject of today's post and examine it. 

When we have something to talk about, words flow naturally, either through pen or speech. I try to keep the length of the post close to 500 words, but sometimes I easily cross 700-800 words without realizing it. When there is an itch to scratch, the thoughts are structured in a better way. We feel inspired and probably that shows to the reader too. So, it's a no-brainer to write when you have something worth writing about. 

But for how many days can you bring different ideas to write about on daily basis? It's only possible when you are living a life with a mission or experiencing different emotions, people and culture on daily basis. Not all of us are blessed with such a luck. It's probably easier to explore a single burning idea for days rather than write on a varied topics. If you are an expert, you can write a book on your area of expertise, but again you can't be expert in everything. 

Another option is to write about mundane stuffs (I ate this today, I slept at that time, I felt this and I talked to them etc. ). Kind of like a diary entry. While that's useful for some, but it doesn't appeal me. That was never my intention to start the blog . If you go through the archive of this blog, you will find posts on repeated themes, but I have always tried to do something new. I might have written in detail about a particular experience on a particular day, but you won't find a 'deary diary' kind of post. 

So, it logically follows that we should write only when we feel inspired. But, from my personal experience I can tell it's a dangerous slope to walk on. Because then there is no guarantee when you will feel inspired. And even if you feel like writing about something, not having a writing habit becomes the biggest hurdle in not expressing your thoughts. I am a living, breathing example of this way of thinking. That's the biggest reason of having just 1 post per year on average since past 3 years. 

I have had so many things to write about in these years, but I just kept giving it a miss because I didn't feel confident I had the writing acumen anymore to succinctly put my thoughts in a long form post. Or otherwise, I just procrastinated and took the easy route of watching a movie or Youtube. 

Sure writing daily is a struggle. I can tell you that I am already struggling after 20 days. And I am also acutely aware that not all of my posts of last 3 weeks are worth reading or are useful to multiple readers. But I am also sure that at least few of them would have resonated to different sets of readers. That wouldn't have been possible had I waited to 'feel inspired'. Good ideas only come when you are ready for thinking bad ideas first. If all you want is great ideas to come to your mind, you are left with No idea at all! 

So, in a nutshell, you may even find me writing a 'Dear Diary' kind of post or repeating myself in the coming days, but it's necessary to write something you might want to give your time to read. I am struggling to be a good writer, for me and for you. Bear with me in this journey (or better still, pick your pen and come along!). 

The Time to do Anything.

We all have a natural time to do everything. Time to sleep, time to wake up refreshed, time to eat and time to work etc. And while we are taught early to bed and early to rise, that schedule doesn't work best for everyone ( including me ). Everyone's circadian cycle is different. Whether that can be reset permanent is what I am not sure of. But what's definitely sure is that when you do something out of your best time to do it, then you can't put your best efforts in it (redundant statement?).

So, I wonder what's the best time to scratch your creative itch? As you know, I am trying to write daily and have been fairly successful in past 9 days. However, currently I am writing it at almost the fag end of the day. That's when I get some time without the distraction of phones and work. But on the other hand, the mind is tired by then from all BS of the day, so it's difficult to think clearly. Moreover, I take on the self-inflicted pressure of publishing something before the clock turns 12. While it's good to keep myself focused, I am not sure if I am able to put my best thoughts forward this way.

Earlier I used to follow a weekly schedule, trying to write something every weekend. It worked great when I was a on a roll, but other times I would go post-less for weeks and months. The worst writer's block I faced in past 3 years when I wrote only 3 posts in over 1000 days. What matters in any creative pursuit is the consistency. If you are not consistent, it doesn't matter how much talent you have.

I can only sustain something if I push myself to do it daily, whether it's exercise or writing or learning something or making a reading habit. So, while that aspect of my life is clear to me, what I am never able to make my mind is  the best time to do anything. Ideally, getting your personal goals out of the way before you start serving others is the best way to go about it. But when the life takes over your dreams, I invariably tend to push my personal goals towards the end of the day, and then finally sprinting to do them for namesake or just skipping them altogether and getting frustrated.

I guess I am not the only, anyone who pursues something out of the mundane has to struggle with this. Probably this struggle, this resistance, is the inherent part of the creative process and you can't escape from it.

So, well this time instead of preaching, I ask for advice. As I struggle to find the best time to write and how to keep that free, if you do something personally enriching daily, do let me know when and why you do them at a certain time?

I will wait for your comments as I hit 'Publish' and then go and finish my lemon ice tea now.

Goals Vs Life

How times has it happened with you? You don't like something or are stuck. So you decide to make a grand change, or to improve something or to chase a goal. You pump yourself up, make a grand plan and swear to God that THIS time you are going to achieve your goal, or make a permanent change to your life.

And for a few days (or hours) everything goes fine as well, almost exactly as you had envisioned. But then... Life happens. And it always does. That's the only task of life. To happen. For shit to hit the fan. Life's geometry doesn't have straight lines or tangents. It's always made up of tiny (and sometimes huge) sine waves. Ups and Downs. Ebbs and Flow. Crest and Trough.

And that's where the problem arises. You think you will get the same variables everyday, the same cards that you played with on the first day you decided to make the change. But life keeps changing cards everyday (and sometimes doesn't even give you a hand).

That's what separates true achievers from bluffers. "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going" is cliched but true. And while we are talking of cliches : success only tastes sweet after tasting a few bitter pills of failures and setbacks.

I am currently following a schedule of writing at night. So when I sit to write, the emotions are different everyday, depending on how the day went. I haven't written for too many days, but already sometimes I feel clueless about what to write on. And other times while I start, I go blank thinking how to take the blog forward. What good do I have to say anyway?

Of course, writing for the heck of it doesn't make sense either. It's not an essay and I am not getting evaluated and given marks here. I don't want this blog to be another "dear diary" either. Ultimately, the goal is write something of value, if not for you then at least for me.

So, when I hit a road block, I have to remind myself that it won't be gravy always. If the goal is to write daily then I will have to grind sometimes, and not wuss out. It won't always be like this, but good days will come only when I survive these bad days.

The principles remain the same whatever be the goal. It's writing for me, it may be running or dieting or dancing for you. Ultimately it's all about settling in with a process and not allowing the wear and tear of everyday life to hinder your progress. If you want success you have to own the sacrifices too. You can't get one without the other. 

You can't be at your best every day either. Sometimes you have to work at your worst also. And those are the days that define you. If it was that easy everybody would have done it. 

I have written this short blog full of cliches, today. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but for now I can go to sleep knowing I have paid my dues for today. Time for you to pay yours?

PS : Reading and not giving your views ain't cool. 

Experiment: Now Giving 50 Rs. Daily

I recently reached 100 posts on this blog. Although I am pretty happy with what I have achieved, I'm a tad disappointed as well. It's been 978 days since my first post here and it took me 132 days since the 100th one. While a lot of excuses for not writing enough can be given, there is no denying the fact that these stats could have been much better.

I read somewhere that a writer will do anything to excuse himself from writing and I suffer from the same difficulty. Writing is all about inertia. When you are writing good, you feel good, which gives a positive feedback to write more good stuffs. Similarly you are not writing, a lot of (unfounded) negative emotions come in, which makes it even more difficult to write.

I want to take my writing more seriously now. In fact, I want to reach the next 100 mark in 1/3rd of the time it took this time. And that obviously will require tremendous amount of self discipline and dedication.

Starting January 1, I want to make it a habit of writing uninterrupted for half an hour daily, doesn't matter what. And this is where I want an Accountability Partner (AP).

Here is what I want to try:

1. I try to write for (at least) half an hour daily preferably between 10 to 10.30 am.
2. The Accountability Partner checks DAILY if I am maintaining the habit.
3. The AP will make sure to remind me daily block half an hour in the 'busy' schedule to write.
4. In case, I am not able to write for 30 mins (not a minute less), I give 50 Rs. to AP for that day, to be given to them at the end of the month as lump sum.
5. Though, I am not required to show it to the AP what I wrote.

Of course, there is a scope of cheating here. But then there has to be a degree of trust for this experiment to pass. And while 50 Rs. in a day may not be that big an amount, totalling it for 30 days will make it 1500 which does become a significant amount for me.

If anybody is interested to become a Writing Accountability Partner for me for this January, please let me know. I am pretty serious about it, and would like someone who can honestly help me out.

Crap worth 500 words

Alright, so I am starting to write this blog now. Well I should tell you that you need not read this because I am going aimlessly here. All this is not going to make any sense to you. So why am I writing this rubbish post anyways? Well the reason is that I haven't posted anything for sometime now. And it is again me hitting the writer's block.

So, I am getting over with it this innovative way. And well I wanted to write a post like this sometime. This is different. Because I am not thinking what I am writing. I just am letting my fingers follow my instinct. Whatever is coming in my mind is going on this page and I am pretty sure this is going to be the fastest post I have ever written (of course most meaningless also).

And I also wanted to tell that this is how I usually write my 750words pages. I just don't think what happened or what should happen. Because if I start to thing that then writing 750 words every day will become a pain and I don't want it to be so. When I write like this, when I race against myself (by the way I am touted touch typist!), I feel good.

Well another way or writing this post, could have been just to copy paste one of the morning dump (and 'dump' here is a metaphor for the 3 pages of morning writing I do). But then I wanted to do it specifically for a blog post.

And how much more I am going to write like this? Well I am just using a writing tool that is telling me how many words I have written; so far I have reached 300 words and I will stop at 500. Just let me know if you could follow along these 500 words. 

But why stop at 500 words? Why not write more, like say 750 words as i usually (daily) do? The reason being that I have started to think that I am writing a little more than I should. You see when I start to read a blog post, I get put off by it's length. Usually I don't read blog posts more than a page long, unless they are really intriguing.

And I think the same about my blog posts. While it is easier to cough whatever comes in the mind on the page, it takes patience to read the whole thing. And if people are not reading it then what's the use of me wasting time writing long and elaborated posts.

The posts (since they are mostly text) should be interesting. If they are (in any way possible) then size of the blog post won't matter (or will matter less).

Anyways, I am done writing for today. Gonna post it tomorrow. I know it won't make much sense as a whole but were you able to read it from start to stop (if you were unemployed enough to read till here)? Let me know.