Journey To Bring Back My Writing Passion
I never planned for this exciting journey before the Covid-19 pandemic came.
We have been going through the most challenging times in human history. Coronavirus comes to the world and changes everything in our daily lives. All things we have seen around the world in the last few months are empty streets, closure of countries’ borders, social distancing policies, and a downturn of the world economy. In that context, travelling is impossible. For a man coming from Asia to pursue higher education in Europe, with the dream of travelling around Europe, the Covid-19 pandemic is a disaster. I never thought that I had to stay inside my house without going anywhere. All I could do is waiting and praying that I would have a chance to fulfill my travelling dream.
But, a blessing in disguise. When I thought I would be stuck with the “no-go” situation, I discovered a new way to ‘travel’. After a few days of staying inside the house during the first outbreak of the virus, I started to plan for an exciting expedition that I never thought I would do it. I called it the “Writing Passion Regain” journey. I visited five destinations on the whole trip; each of them gave me valuable lessons and inspiration to help to bring back my writing passion.
Before the journey
Ten years ago, a high school boy started to write his first-ever articles to report the soccer matches his class played in the school tournament. He wrote three posts, and his classmates liked them all. They asked him to continue writing to update on what happened in the academic year. But, he did not do that. He wrote no more posts from that time.
Five years ago, still that guy, at that time, he was a newly graduated law student. He saw some problems with some policies of the government, and he wanted to write about that. He started writing down about two hottest issues in his country. He was eager to start a new career if he could not be offered any official legal job. But, after those two pieces of writing, he stopped.
Three years ago, the same guy was working for an international law firm. He was disappointed because he missed an important point to include in the advice sent to the client. His supervisor was not happy with his negligence. He started thinking of writing a lawyer’s handbook to give experience to junior lawyers in the future. He opened a notebook and wrote everything he had learned from the mistake he had made. It was 3-page long. He was proud of that. He imagined he could write them down every day for everything he gained from the job. He closed the notebook and left it at the corner of his office desk. He never opened it again.
That guy, sadly, was me.
When I stopped writing, I blamed everything that caused me not to write. For the first time, I made an excuse that my study in the senior year at high school was too harsh for me to write. I had to prepare for the important university entrance examination, so I did not have time to write. The second time, I told myself that I needed to focus on working in the legal sector, not being a writer or blogger. In the most recent time, I quit, I blamed the situation I was too busy with the work that I could not have time for writing useless handbook.
I still wrote a lot after I started my job. They were legal advice, contracts, legal writing, memorandum, emails. They were all writing. But they were not what I would like to write. I could not write what I want. I had to write based on legal documents and knowledge. But they were not my own opinion; they were our team opinion.
I thought my writing desire would never come back.
Planning for the Journey
The COVID-19 pandemic came. We all stayed inside our houses. No travelling. No going out. No gathering in a group of three people. Many ‘No’ things we had to comply to protect the public health. I did not know what I should do and what I would do when I stayed home.
My master's study program in the Netherlands had to switch online. One day, in the course about entrepreneurship in my program, my lecturer introduced a book named ‘The Lean Startup’ by Eric Ries. I found that book, and it motivated me so much. And I started thinking of writing a book review. I wanted other people who might find my review to consider reading that book. And the good thing was that the Coronavirus forced me to stay inside. That means I could have more time to write something.
I remember how enthusiastic I was when I wrote the football match report for the first time. I remembered how eager I was when I wrote about the hottest issues in Vietnam half a decade ago.
I started to plan for my trip. I listed out where I should go to find my passion. I knew it was still there, but I had not dug deep enough to see it, to bring it back, to regain it.
I decided my journey would include five destinations. Each destination would give me lessons or tips for my writing. Each ‘place’ has its own beautiful, to make me feel like I was going back to high school time when I started writing my first ever posts.
I realized that, if I wanted to write, I had to make time for that. No excuses.
The Journey Started
Destination #1: Butterfly Effect
We might all hear about the “butterfly effect” theory: when a butterfly flaps its wings at a place, it can cause a tornado on the other side of the world. I believe in that theory, while one small thing can be the start of something bigger and have a massive impact on the future.
I had to thank my lecturer because he introduced the book I needed at the right time. I started reading that book and finished it in four days. Then I talked to myself: “Why don’t I write a book review? This book is amazing, and people may be interested in it”. I started reviewing the book. I structured it as an interview when ‘someone’ asked me several questions about the book, and I explained what I thought or how I felt.
The book was the starting point for my journey. It gave me more than I could imagine. In the past, I was not a book lover. I was lazy in reading. I read, but not much. Laziness of reading might be a reason I lacked the motivation to keep up my writing.
However, when I started reading the book introduced by my lecturer, it was so engaging that I did not want to forget about it. Then I decided to write a summary of that book and started to think of reviewing a book. I realized a small thing like a book can create a miracle for me.
After visiting the first destination, I tried to notice every little thing around me. I found an idea for a short blog post when my wife was curious about why I liked doing the dish. I had some meaningful thoughts that I wanted to write it down when my wife asked me whether I would remember my childhood when I get older. A sentence, or a question, can be an inspiration for a more massive thing to happen.
Then I suddenly felt a little tiny light flickering in my soul. My ‘writing passion’ bar started loading.
Destination #2: An Ancient Place called ‘Reading’
I packed my bag to the next destination where I found an old lesson I had learned in the past: Reading.
Before, I read when I had to, such as preparing for lessons or the exam. Every time I thought of reading, especially reading books, I just yawned. Now, I read books because I enjoy them. Doing anything you like is far way better than doing things you are forced to do. I also do not only read a book to find relaxation; I read books to recommend engaging books to others.
After the first book, I realized that I needed to read more. I started reading more books. If I could not read books, I would read something else. I read various types of writing: academic papers, articles, journals, then blogs. Each of them will help me think of the appropriate approach when I write.
The more writings I read, the more ideas I have. Then I only needed to write the idea down and started outlining my post. And when I read, I could learn from other writers: the way they structured their writings, the way they expressed an opinion, how they expanded their arguments. I took away some useful tips on those articles.
‘Reading’ is an ancient location that every writer must visit to know what they should do to improve themselves.
Destination #3: Notes Taking
This destination was the third place I visited in my journey. After the first two destinations, I realized that I should miss nothing around my life, even the smallest point to bring back the passion and write better.
I recall that I missed so many ideas in my head before. Creativity is one of my strengths. If I took note of every thought I had in the past, I would have been a CEO of a start-up. I was reluctant in doing so. I just thought about one thing, and then I forgot that entirely later. That was why so many ideas slipped out of my head.
“Ideas Won’t Keep. Something Must Be Done About Them.” — Alfred North Whitehead
To develop an idea and turn it to an article or a post, I need to do something. That’s why I took notes when I have some ideas.
We are living in a technology-driven world, with the fast growth of innovative technology. We do not have to carry a notebook with us every time to take notes. When I have an idea, I only needed to type some keywords in the Notes application on my phone, or recording them on the phone, and then I would have a new thing to write next time. This habit helped me a lot to not forget any idea in my writing. Based on notes, I could expand the idea and keep it moving forward.
I completed half of the journey, and I felt refresh. The passion progress bar passed its two-third way.
Destination #4: Journals
I read several blogs on the Internet describing how good a journal is for writing practice. They were so inspiring that I followed the instruction. Writing a daily record kept me writing every day.
Writing a journal was an excellent way to start when I did not know what to write. I only needed to spend five minutes thinking about what happened around me the day before. I thought of how I felt during the day, such as how I loved a new pair of shoes. Then I write them down. I wrote almost every main event that occurred in my life one day before until I finished with all of them. It only took me 15 minutes per day.
I found journaling helpful to me to relax, release stress, and boredom when I was stuck at home. A few paragraphs about myself was a cure for dreary days during the pandemic. Sometimes, those few paragraphs gave me a new idea for my next blogs.
Keeping journaling every day taught me more things than I expected. I learned how to respect the life around me, respect what I have. I learned that, at some points, my writing passion was still there, deep inside me. I did not find a way out for that because I did many things in the wrong direction.
We are always a topic for writing. Writing words about things happening to your life is the most natural thing we can do to practice writing.
Destination #5: An antique Place called ‘Practice Makes Perfect’
This destination was the most beautiful place on the whole trip. When I came to this place, the entire writing passion came back to me.
Keeping writing every day was the most important thing to me. I wrote the journal or blogs. I read books and wrote reviews.
When I found nothing to write, besides journal, I thought of something else. I discovered that there were several ways to find topics to write daily. Sometimes I chose the most memorable events in my life to write. It could be the happiest moments, like my wedding. It could be the most terrible event, such as when my favorite university rejected my application for a scholarship grant to pursue higher education there.
I wrote faster each time, and the quality is also better. It could be easily seen on Grammarly when the program detects fewer mistakes in posts after posts.
Steps by steps and the joy of writing started coming back to me. I was not afraid of writing anymore. I could now easy to write 1,000 words in less than 45 minutes, which I never thought I could do it before. I felt excited when I read a long article. And I felt comfortable spending hours a day only to write, which I was lazy to do in the past.
The Journey Ended
Coming back from the journey, I returned to my room. But I felt differently. I felt energetic to restart what I forgot in a long time. I left my passion in the farthest corner of my heart, and finally, I found it.
It was strange, because each day if I did not write at least one thousand words, I would feel fidgety. That never happened in the past. That was a motivation for me to sit on my chair to write anything I have in my mind.
I also found what I want after this trip. I realize that I want not only to be a lawyer. I want to be a blogger. It may take time, and I understand that. But, after the journey with five fascinating destinations, my writing passion was back. That is the most important thing to push me to chase my dream.
I introduce myself as a blogger-to-be. That is my objective right now. I am happy to find it after ten years of writing nothing. Covid-19 pandemic caused severe problems around the globe. But for me, it created a chance for me to find myself.
