In the Land of Fast-Writing
My passion, My obsession, and My confession
Fast-food,
Fast-fashion,
And now, Fast-writing?!
I guess that is the reality of online writing we have to live with today.
And I confess, my clock is a bit slower than everyone else’s and the traditionalist in me refuses to catch on to trends.
But thanks to my brother-in-law Yeasin Arifin, for pushing me out of my comfort zone and encouraging me to write on Medium.
This place seems to have a lot more pizzazz than the rest of the buckets. So let’s see how it goes.
What is fast writing?
It's a term I invented for this article. Hope it catches on.
It's the kind of writing you see almost anywhere on the internet these days. The fast and furious clickety hooks of a piece on the go. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any issues with listicles and cheat sheets to Happy Endings if that suits you.
I am going to write a few myself soon, but I definitely don’t wanna see my feed getting flushed by them. And most definitely didn’t wanna find too many Dale Carnegie’s around. No thank you!
Give a Bukowski, any day!
My two cents on Medium!
Although I got hooked on Medium from the get-go, I dint find it too different after all. So many gurus with tips and tricks. Writers writing about writing, how to get the money ball rolling. But only a few who’s actually had something to say with ideas and knowledge to share. Not to mention the specific love of this platform for tech writers. Starts to make one feel too late to the race, a misfit in the chase.
But then I heard a voice from the back that actually resonated with me, with an instant “A-ha” moment. This article: “Write for your fans, not for your critics” by Jason Provencio is the very inspiration behind this piece. I may not be that proverbial renegade, but it gives me hope and scope to write, looking past the luring dollar sign. And that is something of a relief.
My Passion!
My passion is writing, especially poetry and it started from a very early age. I owe it all to my maternal grandfather, my true hero, who was an Army man back in the fifties. He was a gentleman of many talents.
A well-read, hard-boiled man with a vast collection of literature. He introduced me to Jalaluddin Rumi, Iqbal, Khalil Jibran, and many such greats, when I was only 6 or 7. I intend to give him a proper tribute in the coming days, along with his own beautiful poems.
I spent my teen years in a military boarding school where hardship was the name of the game. All those beautiful years, I kept writing diary after diaries. That was the birth of my relationship with words & pages.
I never thought of writing as a hobby, or never have I dreamt of making it a vocation. I only kept writing as a vassal to my soul, as a Medium of my thoughts finding a bit more permanent home.
My journey with online writing started as a blog, many years back. A dumpster for my thoughts, a pigeon coup for my poems. But during the pandemic, I wrote a piece that got published in a prominent national daily. That gave me a renewed boost to sit up straight on my writing desk. And well, here I am.
My obsession!
I am obsessed with life.
There is hardly anything that does not poke my interest.
I love the rain, and the long good-for-nothing chit-chats on the tea stalls called, “Tong” at our place. I am obsessed with celebrating life’s miseries with a big laugh and a head full of mushroom clouds.
Languishing longer than I should. Ponder my thoughts with a loud enough murmur for my daughters and my wife to look at me with an Ö face.
I love being a misfit happy in his own dismay.
I love the music and movies of the olden days. Forever stuck in loops of the sensational sixties and supersonic seventies Gems!
I also get derailed by a conversation or a topic of discussion quite so often.
Too many bubbling thoughts for one man to handle.
My confession!
I am here for a few reasons, like everyone else.
- I wanted to get back on my writing habit and bring back some fluency again.
- I am actually planning to start a business blog with one of my childhood friends. So, it's more of a leeway to One for Me and One for Them. You decide which one I am referring to as “for them”.
- I had no idea of the money-making aspect of such platforms until my brother-in-law told me the other day. Yes, I have been living in a Cave!
In conclusion, I don’t know how far or how long I am going to stay. Right now, this seems to be the first thing I read in the morning and the last thing I check before bed. No, not only the follow counter, but also for some pretty interesting pieces.
As far as my writing goes, I intend on finding my own voice. I hope I don’t fall for the hitmaker formula of the gurus with tremendous success. Because I would much rather be a one-hit wonder, if I may, than an average croon that falls out of tune with time.
But you can be the next Beatles.
Who knows!
So, happy writing my friends!
‘Til next time!
Thank you for Reading!
If you are a fellow free thinker, don’t shy out from a Clap my friend!
