"How To…"

There is something about “how to” books that grabs the reader’s attention and makes him want to buy the book. I think my first “how to” book was named ” How to become a writer?”

Needless to say, that book did not help me a lot. Was it because the book was not good or because I was too young to understand it then, can be debated. But, the book was not a complete waste of money.

At that time whatever I wrote was in long hand. The book said if you are aspiring to be a writer you should have a word processor, or at the least a typewriter. Since buying a computer was not even a option, I began to look for typewriters.

I began to save my pocket money in the hope of buying a typewriter.  Every time I saw an advertisement in the paper for a typewriter, my eyes would be filled with a deep yearning. Of course, I couldn’t tell about my desire to my parents because writing to them was merely, “a waste of time”.

So, with stealth and economy, one day I managed to save enough to be able to buy a second-hand typewriter.

When I bought it home, I felt like a writer already. I felt there was nothing now that could stop me from being the best writer that ever walked this earth. It found a prominent place on my study table, and got the respect it deserved.

But soon I realised  that buying the thing was easy, using it was an altogether different issue. Since it was very used and old, it made quite a racket when it was put to use. Putting in the paper was another issue that involved a lot of adjustments that consumed a lot of time. To add to that, the key w was missing (which could have been replaced as I  later found out).

So, after a few days of trying  to type a single page of my ground-breaking novel on my  newly purchased typewriter, I realised that things were not what they seemed. I eventually sold that typewriter to a mechanic for half the price that I bought it for.

Over the years, time and again, I have come to realise that writing is not easy as it seems on the surface, and yet I have persisted…in the hope  that some day I will be a writer, and maybe write my own book about “How to be a Writer?”