Brilliant at jobs, not so at Writing?

Dear M,

Many of us have jobs outside of writing, and are very good at it too. We've been appreciated, and we know we are as close to perfection as humanly possible. We're dedicated, hard-working, talented, good learners, and, if I may say so, indispensable. If we put in our papers, our colleagues are going to be devastated.

So why is it that, we are so brilliant at our jobs, but we aren't so at our creative pursuits? Why aren't we the winners, the way we are at office? Why aren't publishers or agents racing after us, the way our Bosses do?

Because job, most of the time, is different from creativity. This is a general statement. Many people do creative work that is as demanding as writing itself. But many others do work that has a definition, a certain expectation, some sets of rules to follow. There is, in most cases, an expected outcome.

When we write a story, or a novel, we're not working on any definition. As the author, we know what we're going to write about. But we do not have a sample or template to refer, we cannot get our work reviewed by others (except for editing suggestions), we do not have input specifications, we do not have a list of expected output.

Which is why it isn't easy. Which is why, one person may say it is great, while the other would find it boring. Which is why, our writing style may appeal to some while it would put off some others.

We have to tackle and master the craft, just as we did with our jobs. And if we are determined, we could be as good.

Love.

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Write for... whom?

Dear M,

Again, the same advice in another of those sites. They all say it so it must be true. (Probably explains the reason for my track record too.)

Write for the audience. Seriously? How can I write for the audience? I always write for myself. (Shut up.)

I don't agree, but that's what they all say. There must be something to it. See what the market wants, they say. Give it to them.

That's what some people do, and it works. Some people don't, and that works too. So what works? Wait a minute. There it is - right before me. Write what you think is best. If you believe in writing for others, that's what you do. If you want to write for yourself, that's what you do. Who knows, anyway?

Love.

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Ambitions, Aspirations and Goals

Dear M,

We should have the right ambition, you know. One can aspire to be a writer even with the wrong set of ambitions. Whether one makes it - whatever "makes it" could mean - is a different question altogether.

Some dream of going to a certain university for higher studies. It's the dream that makes them lose sleep. It's not the dream that came up yesterday for no reason. Because if it is, when the importance they give to that reason dies out, the dream would fade too. The dream has been consuming them for a long time, possibly years. The dream had been born in their hearts without their even noticing it. And during conversation, it had just slipped out. When everyone carried on the conversation, they are still stuck there, listening to those words that had fallen out of their mouth.
What did I just say?
I'd been dreaming of it all my life, I had said.
Had I?

If, on the other hand, the words that fell out were, yesterday I decided I wanted to be a writer. So I started my novel. I am close to the end. I should get it published next week. then I am not quite sure how far you will go. I am not quite sure how far that dream's gonna go. It could be a rebound from something else.

(Yes, I do like writing 'gonna' once in a while. No fun being prim and proper at all times, you know.)

Love.

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The Next Big Thing

Dear M,

Why would anyone believe in something they create? Like, say, a new product? The easiest, most thoughtless answer is, they are looking at the money it brings. A person who wrote a book very similar to Chetan Bhagat. He/She thought he/she had a good story to tell. He/She thought people who like Bhagat would like it. True, he/she was inspired by him. But for the reader, it is "Bhagat-inspired-attempt-at-making-money." Seriously. People say that casually, people who haven't written a word in their life.

Money is attractive of course, but we all know it does not come easy. We envision this product (any product, this is not necessarily about writing) and we think, this might work. People might find this useful. If this clicks, it could make people's lives easier.

If people start using it (the product, whatever it is), and if it does make their lives easier, the thought creeps into our mind - it's my product. I am the person behind it. It was my idea. I think that feeling is worth more than what a few thousand dollars could bring.

It is this feeling that we seek, every day. We bring people together to make a product happen, this idea to take shape, this innovative "next big thing" to take the world by storm.

Love.

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There's no Failure in Writing

Dear M,

Everyone makes a big deal of "succeeding" as a writer. But the truth is, everyone who makes an attempt and is sincere about it, dedicated and determined as much as they can be, is a success.

I do not mean in a philosophical way. Think about it. Basically all we want (at the start) is to get published. We think that's the "success" we are talking about. But if we get published by a small-time publisher who doesn't have time or resource to sell our books, then it is not a success. And if we did get noticed by a big publisher and the readers reject us (or worse, ignore us) then we aren't a success. If we did get a tremendous response to our first book, and the second was a disaster (the comparison is unavoidable), then we aren't a success.

See? Like someone said, failure is inevitable. The only question is How and Where. And the more important question is, What do you do next?

In the beginning, we don't see beyond the first step. It is not a success, it is perhaps a milestone. It is only a landmark by the side of the road. The highway stretches far far beyond that.

The only failure that we can bestow on ourselves is giving up. The only award we can promise ourselves is the strength we attain after crossing the failures and still going on. The only happiness we can offer ourselves is the one we get when we look back and see the struggles we have endured. The only success we achieve (and the best one I can think of) is being proud of what we've written, not because someone said it is good, but because we feel that we have created something wonderful.

Have I said anything you haven't heard so far?

Love.

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Of Success and the Journey

Dear M,

Only fifteen more days for the year to end. Though the change of year doesn't mean a thing, for it's nothing but a flow of days one after the other, week after week, month after month, somehow we have grown up attaching an extraordinary significance, a meaning, to it. An opportunity to look back and assess our efforts, results, achievements, failures and so forth.

As writers, what have we achieved? I don't want to go as far as the verge of the year to pronounce that I haven't gained much. This blog, which I have been able to consistently run since its day of inception, has been a source of pleasure and relief, and offers me a strong sense of attainment.

Everything else remained pretty much "another effort in that direction." Which is why I hate the whole process of looking back on the year dashing past. And yet I cannot but steal a glance back, to see if there are greener pastures in the mostly greyness of the ground behind me. Well, I am still alive, and so are most of the people around me. Which is essentially a good thing. We do not want the delicate balance of the world hindered.

But now, more than ever, I appreciate the process of learning. I have come so much farther than where I was last December. I know it. And despite days when I did not work, due to laziness or health or other constraints, there were several days when I did, and they offer me a sense of immense satisfaction that cannot be measured, that cannot be explained, that cannot be displayed.

And in this whole business of battling alone, against unseen (or non-existent) enemies, befriending the nature and sometimes going against her, I have made several relevant strides forward. There is nothing to boast about, no success stories to update in Facebook, but somewhere in the corner of my heart the light remains, the smile that I alone understand, the pride that I got so far.

Now I know what they mean when they say, Success is in the journey.

Love.

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No class can make you a writer

Dear M,

There are people who think becoming writers is like becoming engineers or doctors. As far as I know, it isn't. As far as I know, there is no Writing College where you can enroll for a four-year course (and there are also folks who believe it is a one-month or a two-day course) and emerge as Writers, and then churn out book after book, just like that.

No school can make you a writer. No crash course can. No four-year diploma can. No YouTube can. These courses can motivate us, inspire us to write, help us meet other writers, teach us about the techniques of famous authors that we can plagiarise, and provide us with the tools to use. They can drive us only that far, maybe as far as a week later, or a month later. After that, we are on our own. After the enthusiasm has died out, if we aren't writing, then we aren't writers. Nothing can inject passion into us if we don't find it ourselves. If there is no passion or dedication, then that's all what we are going to be - a person who attended a course.

When does a writer realise he/she wants to be a writer? In films, passionate and eager teenagers make the announcement that they are going to be writers. As easy as you please. Mujhe writer banna hai... I lost track of the number of times I have heard that dialog. Their parents object to it, but the youngsters' wish will triumph in the end. Yes, they become writers and they churn out best-sellers after best-sellers, just like that. As though they have just finished a four-year course.

Everyone has a different writing curve. I have seen people begin writing when they are fifty, and then write like crazy, churning out book after - yeah you got it. I have seen little girls writing poems, not knowing that they are already poets. I have seen a writer barely finish one novel, when someone just passing by happened to read what she wrote, unedited and raw, and offered her a three-book deal. I have seen writers who have finished five or seven novels and are still wandering in the dark, hoping someone would notice them, hoping that there would be some platform where they can showcase their work and try to grab the attention of someone big and important.

Of all the things you say, Make me a Writer should be the last of them. Those four little words can totally ruin you.

Love.

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Getting noticed

Dear M,

Getting ourselves noticed the way we want to be, is one of the most difficult things in life. It is just so in writing. We may have the talent, the looks, the skills, the learning, we may even have excellent results to show. We are like that post-graduate, walking around with his certificates and trophies, but his prospective employers aren't interested or impressed yet. Getting our writing noticed by the right people takes more than mere talent.

We have our own set of admirers - a small group consisting of family, close friends and a few not-so-close friends - who believe in us. But what we really need is someone solid - an agent to represent us, a publisher to publish us. There is only so much that a set of close folks can do. If they are not writers themselves, then their efforts and appreciation are close to nothing. They can motivate us for a while, then it is up to us to motivate ourselves, to drive ourselves close to death. Have I mentioned recently that writing is lonely business?

Why is getting noticed so important? Because sometimes we need more than a measure of our own assessment. We would not grow and our skills would not develop, if we do not seek feedback from others.

We know we are good. We are good learners, and we are on the right track. But sometimes these are not enough. Especially in these times, it is not mere talent that gets us ahead. This is like a job-hunt, really. The one who pushes through the most aggressively, the most mercilessly, the most selfishly, gets the job. The persistent ones keep trying. Eventually their day will come. The ones who give up? They have lost.

But the battle just gets fiercer with each passing day. Everyone has to fight, to win, to get noticed. In writing, as in everything else.

Love.

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I should have taken up cooking!

Dear M,

You know how much I dislike cooking. I would rather not do it, unless my life depends on it. Perhaps not even then! And yet, sometimes I think that cooking is a very gratifying task. At least if the food that you prepared tastes good, you know it is good and you are happy. If it isn't, you could improve the next time. The point is that you get your results rightaway.

If you prepare dinner for a number of guests, and they all eat heartily, that's probably your reward, delivered right to your hands. If you want to be a professional, you work towards being a chef and make people happy. At least that's one career where the consumers are completely satisfied, mentally and physically! Unless you royally goof something up - but that could happen in any profession.

I sometimes wonder why people take up writing seriously. I mean, what pleasure could they possibly dream of getting from it? But the fact is that people do, many people do, and they spend a lifetime (or part of it) unhappy for the decision. And yet these weirdos, if they get another chance at life, would do exactly the same thing the second time as well. Insanity of the highest order.

Unlike cooking, you never know if your efforts are good. You just keep going, you write what you feel is good. And if someone thrashes you, you just cannot bear it. All those efforts, all those devastating headaches, all those characters who rode their horses in your head. And all it takes is one person's one unkind word.

Writing is tedious, everyone knows that. But only a person who had actually tried writing, and kept on writing for months and years, would know how laborious it is. How terrifying it could get. How lonely life becomes. How unromantic it actually is. I am not surprised that the lives of many famous writers have ended in tragedy. How could it be otherwise? It is not smooth sailing. It never is. If it is, then there is something wrong in the direction we're taking.

I look for some sign - is this what I should be doing at all? Where am I headed? There seems to be no wind, no life, no movement. Everything seems abandoned. Or am I the one who is abandoned? I don't see many results either. No, I do see some - like a thin spring trickling down from between two rocks, drop by drop. It could vanish anytime. Or it could turn into a river.

Perhaps I should have taken up cooking.

Love.

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