7 Ways of Becoming a Meaningful Writer…

I keep aspiring to be a more productive in my writing and in the process be a more meaningful writer. This aspiration of mine, keeps me in a constant state of searching and researching. It keeps me busy thinking, thinking critically and it keeps me fairly engaged in spotting what all topics I should be writing and how I should be improvising my writing.

“Writing style.”

“Writing structure.”

The more I think, the more I put my mind to real task of hard thinking, there is a derived stress and there is an equal amount of pressure of demand to produce creative stuff within a given timeline and with perfection.

“Writing is never easy.”

Ask a writer and the answer would be unanimous.

By nature writing is tough and by making the mind stressful I only make the task tougher.

 

Freedom of Mind

First thing I do is to free my mind and give the mind the space to wander around without any stipulation and strictures. It is the freedom of mind that is quintessential to the production of creative writing, writing that is both productive and also profound.

Reading the patterns, I decided never to set unrealistic target, though it may be against the premise of extending your potential by setting higher targets. I never try to over-estimate my potential, not that I underestimate it. I have never put myself on production line and set the machine to produce to meet the unrealistic sales targets. I have realized by doing that I am only making my mind as a machine not treating the mind that is needed for good writing.

Writing is not a mechanical process.

It is a creative process and there is fundamental difference between both the processes and the difference is in the mechanics of creativity.

 

Writing not for Perfection

Next thing I have learnt is that perfection in writing and formation of new ideas cannot go together. Formation of idea needs good amount of deep and wide thinking. This aspect took some time for me to understand, appreciate the subtle difference and to realize this critical distinction makes a real difference in my journey as a writer.

I kept making mistakes of striving for perfection every time I sat down to write.

“I was wrong.”

I was never able to come close to perfection in writing.

This was indeed de-motivating and constantly dragging me down. Though there is another powerful dictum which states that “practice makes us perfect” but that is quite different from getting trapped in the zone of perfection.

Perfection cannot be achieved unless we keep writing. But if we keep practicing we cannot have the space to think.

There is a dilemma.

As a writer we are delicately floating in this arena of dilemma.

 

Procrastination & Practice

Perfection like procrastination is an enemy to good writing.

The more we postpone our programme of writing for perfection the more we go away from writing meaningful stuff, perfection cannot be achieved unless we keep writing and writing more whether the writing is good or not good enough to read.

“There is this paradox we get into when we write.”

It is good to be in a state of contrast and in keep contesting the idea as this makes writing get nurtured and nourished. Writing needs constant practice and writing needs periodical break and writing needs a balance between the both the break and the make.

“To make good writing to happen we need to take break.”

As a writer we keep striving for perfection but it the procrastination that keeps coming on the way.

As a writer we keep entering into this zone of procrastination. We should develop our own ways to liberate from that zone of depletion and destruction.

 

Reading for Writing

I have learnt that writing cannot be meaningful else I keep reading. Reading as much possible and reading almost everything possible.

Just not reading few things here and there but reading many things and reading widely and reading multiple genres and reading what I have never read, reading both good writing and bad writing.

Reading subjects I had no clue.

Reading topics I am pretty familiar.

I always see the difference in my outputs when I write after good reading and when I write after a lull in reading sessions.

Reading for me is the primary instrument to create the music in my writing. I read classics to understand the essence of durability of writing. I read the contemporaries to understand the trend and taste of new generation. I read the industry research reports to understand the science behind the business and management. I read the newspaper and periodicals to understand the views and opinions that is being discussed on daily basis.

I read the blogs and I try to read the minds of readers which I haven’t able to do so and I constantly look for materials which can creatively feed my mind and quench my curiosity of what goes inside the mind of a reader.

A mystery worth exploring…the reader’s mind.

I being a reader I have put myself as the guinea pig for the experiment I keep undertaking.

 

Focus in Writing

I have learnt that writing needs to be in a focused area though the thoughts keep encompassing diversity. Writing is multi-faceted, writing is just not writing, writing has different personality and writing has different colors, writing has both depth and diversity, writing can be critical and also writing can be creative.

“Writing can be serious.”

“Writing can be funny.”

There is technical writing.

There is academic writing.

Writing can cover anything and everything but as writer we cannot keep exploring and experimenting  every possible area.Initially true, but later we need to fix the direction our compass.

I realized that I need to channelize my thoughts and close my writing on my specific area of interest, that is on creative writing, creativity and story telling, digital technology and the phenomena of blogging that encompasses everything and provides a lifestyle that is different and keep defining my life and living around the idea of blogging.

This itself has broaden my focus. I’m trying to use a different lens to get the right focus.

 

Passion not Obsession

I have realized that writing is a passion and I should refrain from making it an obsession.

There is a distinct difference between being passionate and being obsessive.

It is just not the connotation but the force it carries behind it, passion is good for writing and obsession affects writing.

Developing a product is one thing and running a business around the product is another thing, as developer of product and founder of company, we at certain stage, forget to keep these two aspects apart. In the process we loose the ability to take dispassionate decisions from the product we created and the need to protect the company in eventuality of separating the product from the business model. It appears little complex but in simple terms it is all about the detachment.

Similarly, writing for a project or setting a writing target and enjoying the journey of writing should be treated as two different aspects, rather than getting obsessed with the outcomes and results from the process of writing. This has a direct bearing on the creativity of our writing.

If we make writing a mechanical process to meet the writing targets, then the very essence of writing losses it charm.

The passion shouldn’t get wedged between the obsession of meeting the targets and getting the money.

 

Place & Space

Finally, it is the place where I write and space that I need, when I am writing makes all the difference in my writing outputs.

I have tried to make writing independent of the place and space.

I’m yet to succeed.

As a constant business traveler. I’ve to keep my space in different places I keep visiting.

I don’t have an option, if I don’t, I will loose way and time for writing.

This is what I was constantly told to be a productive writer .

“Keep writing.”

I keep trying and I have realized that I’ve an attachment and I have a mystical relationship when I’m in the place where I write and the space I’ve designed for when I write.

I have created the creative corner in my house and I have my set of gadgets and I have my array of books.

I have the bright lighting and I have the light music.

 

And the rest is WRITING..

 

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Nihar Pradhan

Creative Writer

 

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