A Leaf From the Pages of my Writing Jam
How I Propel the Writer in Me Every Single Day
#1- My Writing Practice That I’ve Come to Enjoy Over Time
I adore working from aesthetically pleasing cafés close to my place.
I like to shower, do my mantra chanting and dash out of the house.
Leaving the world of chores, beckoning messes on the dining table and just deep dive into the world of writing from the café.
Writing transports me into another realm.
I become part of another dimension.
Part of a world that is so much more compelling.
I feel joy, elation and hope.
Rejoicing and reveling in the process.
#2- It is fun to display the bait for yourself.
I always egg myself on with a bait.
‘If I clock in 500 words in the next 45–70 minutes — ideate and write, I’ll reward myself with a a cappuccino with a a shot of hazelnut.’
Two days ago, it was this cream cheese bagel.
What a bagel it was! Heaven sans the calories.
I have been visiting this café for more than a year but never happened to try one of their hot selling items— this bagel.
‘I shall do the honors today,’ I promised myself.
But first I have to clock in 750 words.
And so I punched.
Since I am the first one to enter the café, there is no one else on the top floor sans the cleaning guy.
It accelerates my concentration.
What I can accomplish in 40 minutes at home, I do in 25.
Empty chairs, a spacey ambience and the familiar lulling tunes of that playlist I know by heart now.
Refreshing, albeit!
Every. Single. Time.
Leading to spells of deep work.
Don’t I just love it?
It almost feels like the place belongs to me
Hahaha!
Just kidding you guys. ;)
#3- I’m still as raw in my writing as I was once upon a time — 25 years ago!
I am my own inspiration. No this is not a self-aggrandising post.
I love to draw inspiration from how I got my first byline in print media, back in the year 1999.
I had submitted an article to a publication house in Delhi way back then and forgotten about it.
‘Lo and behold!’
In about two months I received a copy of the print magazine in my mail along with a cheque.
It did give me a flutter to see my byline in print.
Such moments are defining moments.
I always backtrack to get into the state of mind I was in, at that time.
I detect a pattern emerge, maybe more going with the flow types as always.
If I get too much in my head due to mental chatter, I tell myself:
‘You gotta loosen up.’
‘Just coalesce into the groove of things.’
‘Things will unfold magically.’
‘I just got to stay committed to the course.’
I’m a lot more right brained than left, ‘going with the flow’ is more my jam.
But 25 years earlier, in a world where print media dominated and there were no courses and mentors, I was footloose and fancy free. The heart just went with its first impulse.
I’m jaded now with the setbacks life has thrown at me.
Even so, I’m a die-hard optimist.
I’m more of a learner now.
Observer and one who infers.
Sometimes I’m slightly guarded and walk on ‘not’ eggshells per se, but on pebbles. Pebbles they still are!
But more often than not, I’m in my natural intuitive avatar and twirling the pirouette and swirling all across the writer’s stage with my Ipad and stylus.
Obviously there is a difference between a 20 year old girl and a 45 year old woman that has lived life one day at a time.
The ways of the writing world are much different now.
Most of my writing is still raw and unfiltered though.
I’m in my natural element that way.
#4- Familiar faces offer an easy feeling of comfort, along with a cool distance of not having to engage.
So today I have not eaten anything at home.
But that can wait.
I must jot down my ideas first.
I write the rough draft of this write-up first.
Then I shall reward myself with the cream cheese bagel.
‘Is it tasty?’
You betcha!
I’m the kind that loves the bland cheese spread bit, so also the kind that likes to earn her reward.
It reinforces in me that I can enjoy it guilt-free.
Familiar faces walk into the café.
It becomes like a work space where the same people go to the same chairs and we smile at each other.
Sometimes, indulge in some conversations.
Casual and polite.
More often than not, everyone is doing their own thing.
But if you observe the same people in the same space over a span of months, you can discern habits and spot behaviours.
Familiarity has a strange kind of comfort.
Yet you don’t necessarily have to engage and can go about doing your own thing.
But each person adds to the human element that makes working from the cafe so much fun.
Snippets of start-up founders talking about funding, people talking about launching their first online project etc etc, all egg me on to remain focused. To keep raising the bar.
Such wholesome white noise!
Propelling states of productivity.
#5- The Idea is to Remain Consistent
I chose working from the cafe as it fuels in me a song of consistency, a rhythm of regularity.
It rescues me from the monotony of the home environment.
Transports me instantaneously to a ‘feel -good, feel-productive’ ambience where my output skyrockets.
The more frequently I visit these cafes, the more regularly I put in the reps.
Of ideating article seeds, writing, editing, commenting and so on.
I sleep better at night as I’ve done what I promised myself I would accomplish by the EOD.
The more you do something, the better you get at it.
The spillover effect of writing consistent articles is unmatched.
It is a rhythmic action in our lives that has the most far reaching benefits.
Game. On.
Totally!
Bring. It. On. BABY.
I’m. So. Ready.
If you enjoyed this story, do consider giving Shiitaal Budhrauj a follow.
Maybe you will love another offbeat story of mine:
And, and another fun read:
hAnd here’s something fun about me:
