About Me — Akshay Gajria
Holding myself prisoner in a word-cage
Some people come to writing slowly, hesitant, unsure. I did not.
I dove in head first, with no care or concern, like a little child allowed to jump into the waters where it didn’t matter how big a splash they made. Or none. Some people don’t identify with the tag writer. They grow uncomfortable when you call them that. “I write, but I’m not a writer, you know?” I, on the other hand, took up that title as if it was my birthright. I added the adjective aspiring before the word and went about my day. Over time, I’ve fiddled with that adjective — budding, ghost, award-winning, ninja skilled, creative, story, full time, talented, obscure, waiting to be discovered, prolific, sci-fi, fantasy, wordy, simple, popular, great, young, gifted, talented, competent, graphic, elegant, imaginative… The list is long.
But the other word stands rock solid.
Oscar Wilde wrote how we should aspire to be verbs rather than nouns. You shouldn’t be a writer, you should be writing. If you aspire to be a noun, your misfortune is that you will become that noun. That’s that.
That’s all there is to me as well. I can play with that adjective how much ever I like, bottom line is that all I am is a writer. That’s become my identity, all facets of me. It sometimes appears…
