Writing, Among Other Things
Ours is a weird world.
Most of the times we either have too much of a thing, or too little. We hardly ever have the right amount of anything, even words.
A writer’s job is to write. But, how many words are needed to describe an emotion, a scene, or an event is arbitrary. I may do it in a thousand, you may do it in a hundred.
Most people today know who Arthur Conan Doyle was, even if they have not read any of his works. In Sherlock Holmes, he created one of the most celebrated fictional detectives of all time. Sherlock Holmes had become so famous that when, in 1893, A C Doyle killed the character of Sherlock Holmes, the Strand Magazine – which printed the Sherlock Holmes stories – lost thousands of subscribers.
One may, therefore, wonder, why did A C Doyle kill Sherlock Holmes – the character that won him a place in the hearts of millions of people across the boundaries of space and time.
When I started writing, I strongly believed that I was writing only for myself. I thought that it did not matter if anyone read what I wrote – as long as I continued to write. Naturally, for a long time, I was the only one reading what I wrote. But, I didn’t care.
Then, one day, I was in conversation with another writer who asked me a simple question: If I was writing only for myself, why was I even writing?
What he meant was that writing is essentially a way to communicate – a way to make others see what you see, and how you see it. If you are going to be the only one to read what you have written, then you need not write at all.
I realised, then, that I wanted to write because I wanted to be READ… and when I said, I did not care if anyone was reading what I wrote, I was wrong.
Every writer has to figure out what works best – and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits. – Nora Roberts
Every time I find it difficult to write something, I set out on a search on the Internet to find something that may get me inspired enough to type out a few words on my computer. Sometimes doing this works, sometimes it doesn’t.
I am a strong believer in systems. If you have to do anything repetitively, it is best to devise a system for it. Doing that takes away some of the pain and labour associated with doing that thing. Since, writing a blog post is something that bloggers have do repetitively, it is best that bloggers devise a system for it.
Have you ever asked yourself the question : “Is Blogging good for Writing?” If you have, I am sure the answer must have been very obvious – a resounding yes!
I have, in the past, written a few posts that talk about how Blogging can help you improve your skills as a writer. I am not going to backtrack on anything that I have said in those posts, but in this post I will play the devil’s advocate and try to build up a case to prove that blogging can actually be detrimental to you as a writer.
Not possible, you say. Read on then is what I say!
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