I am going to start writing.
So, I read this essay on medium , and realized that it applied to me. Not the not reading 100 books a year part, I absolutely love reading and will continue to read a lot, but I should start writing, despite not being good at it and all that, one thing that made absolute sense was that I should start writing.
What about, though?
This is more of a question for myself and I have decided that I should write about things that I have experienced, on the tech side. Maybe related to India, or how tech is great / not so great, but purely things I have experienced myself. No hyperboles, no opinions for the sake of opinions, and no belief related stuff, because of a maxim I heard not quiet long ago,
Talk is cheap, work is expensive.
Ever since I heard that I constantly check myself when talking about things that I liked to talk and debate about simply for the sake of it (Vim vs. Sublime or Vim vs. Emacs, or Ruby vs. Python) when I could actually be doing stuff and proving what I am arguing for or against. I am not really listening to you, and I bet my life you aren’t either, both of us try to push our agenda, we reach no conclusion or even a compromise from either end, it’s basically just a waste of both of our breath.
People aren’t going to change their opinion because you said something, they change only when they are actually out there looking for something new.
I do love jovial discussions about these topics but with fewer and fewer people, and fewer and fewer things. So, yes. Will write about stuff I have experienced first-hand.
With that out of the way, what specifically? Here I can’t be too sure. Tech stuff, definitely. Experiences, tech to a better life, etc etc. Programming, definitely. OS design and usage, definitely. Books that I read, maybe. (Because I have to write this when I read and to stop reading to write while reading is very hard.) Books that I love, certainly. Concepts in the books that I love, yes, yes, indeed! This is probably where I would really want to say profound and meaningful things that I want to put out there. (Whether they are profound or meaningful I can’t really say right now, but that is the idea here!)
And finally, how many? 2 a week sounds nominal, but may be pushing it in tightly packed weeks. Basically, no number of essays as yet. Number of words? Not that either. I just want to write, when I feel like writing.
Though, editing is a big thing. The things I do end up writing, I have decided to endlessly read and re-read until I am totally okay with everything, the grammar, the spellings, the length of sentences, punctuations, and every little detail. Each time I have tried to write stuff, it has basically gone from writing pretty frequently without editing, and finally trickled down to nothing at all for four months or so. (Note to self: should certainly avoid this hellhole!)
Another important point, especially for a beginner writer is that the essays should be short and sweet. A huge essay is a lot of time invested on a new-ish writer, and readers may not really even spend that kind of time on someone new. I am certainly writing for people to read it, and talk to me about it.
In conclusion, this is what I am aiming for:
- Continuous writing, about things I have experienced (first hand) and want to talk and listen about
- Editing, editing, editing: The first draft is the worst, the second is better, and thus, comes progress.
- Talk is cheap, work is expensive
- Let ideas brew, let them take shape before hitting Publish (Hopefully, I start writing about something, and then start questioning my own approach to it. There there, that is where writing goes beyond passive reading!)
- Read a lot. Essays, Books, Short stories, everything.
Hey there, if you are reading this, and reached this point, thanks! I love that you spent time reading this (which was basically more of a note to self than anything else!) So, thanks and stay tuned, I hope I can actually write stuff that you would want to read!
Edit: 30th March, 2017: This ended up happening in February this year, when I started 100 Days of Writing. Day 1 post is here: https://icyflame.github.io/blog/100daysofwriting/writing/2017/02/18/day-1-begin/
