How to develop the art of (not) writing
As a teacher, it is easy to talk but as a student of literature and language, reading, listening, speaking and writing is an absolute hodgepodge in our lives. There are times where you are reading but not reading what you want, listening but not keenly, speaking utter nonsense. And when it comes to writing, it seems like a curse. We are always writing something that we never imagined to. Sitting down to write what we want seems like a herculean task. In addition to this, I am one of those overthinkers who comes up with an idea at 4 am, refuses to wake up and write it down because I want to do one thing I am really good at: SLEEPING!
Sleep is important to me. I love sleeping. I secretly believe that I must have been born a cat but due to my indecisive mindset, I settled to reside in a human body. But just imagine if I was a cat, I would be napping in one of those asbestos sheet than writing this lame blog. Still, what a blissful life it would be! Perhaps, some poor human would feel sorry, rescue me and treat me like a queen. Sigh!
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes! The Herculean task of writing, that which even Hercules would find it difficult to do. I used to dream of a time where I would have my own desk and just get paid to write. Today, I have the fanciest of the notebooks, an inherited vintage table, not-so-fancy pen and a lot of time (thanks to lockdown and NEP). Given a lot of time, I could have written many articles but I didn’t.
I sit down to write, gazillion things come up: someone rings the doorbell , stomach starts growling, a spam call, and the little bladder trying to steal your attention from everything. Then you sit down to write and there it is, itsy-bitsy spiders and their webs hanging at the corners of the room. Try to ignore it, put your head and there it is — a pile of clothes to be ironed yet. If you are one of those superhumans (I’m not) unaffected by any of the above (you are privileged. There, I said it!), you have superpowers because you know how to ignore all this and WRITE! What’s your secret??
