Month: August 2019

A Martyr or a Trickster, you choose

Neera 1 Comment

As creatives, we have a choice. We can be either a martyr and vow to be committed, dedicated, serious, grim, always-on-the-go, strive-for-excellence fit-more-in-a-day-to-achieve-more type.

Or we can be a trickster and be artful, cunning, play games, have fun, cheat- here-and-there-but-harm-no-one and put-in-less-and-get-more type of an artist.

I was recently going through Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic and stopped at a section that I had underlined when I first read the book years ago. I started rereading it and laughed my head off.

How could I forget how much I enjoyed it when I read about the martyr and the trickster for the first time?

How could I forget how much I wanted to be a trickster?

Here I am, six years later, still a martyr.

Here is an excerpt from the chapter if you haven’t read it before or need a reminder.

Martyr energy is dark, solemn, macho, hierarchical, fundamentalist, austere, unforgiving, and profoundly rigid.

Trickster energy is light, sly, transgender, transgressive, animist, seditious, primal, and endlessly shape-shifting.

Martyr says: “I will sacrifice everything to fight this unwinnable war, even if it means being crushed to death under a wheel of torment.”
Trickster says: “Okay, you enjoy that! As for me, I’ll be over here in this corner, running a successful little black market operation on the side of your unwinnable war.”

Martyr says: “Life is pain.”
Trickster says: “Life is interesting.”

Martyr says: “The system is rigged against all that is good and sacred.”
Trickster says: “There is no system. Everything is good, and nothing is sacred.

Martyr says: “Nobody will ever understand me.”
Trickster says: “Pick a card, any card.”

Martyr says: “The world can never be solved.”
Trickster says: “Perhaps not…but it can be gamed.”

Martyr says: “Through my torment, the truth shall be revealed.”
Trickster says: “I didn’t come here to suffer, pal.”

Martyr says: “Death before dishonor!”
Trickster says: “Let’s make a deal.”

Martyr always ends up dead in a heap of broken glory, while Trickerster trots off to enjoy another day.

Martyr = Sir Thomas More
Trickerster = Bugs Bunny

Martyrs are stereotypical starving artists, literally dying for their creativity. It is surprising how many artists want to be martyrs. They are ready to die for their creativity but won’t live for it. We are ready to struggle and suffer rather than have fun with it.

I am the first one to admit that I take everything the hard way. I have always found the martyr’s sincerity more attractive than the trickster’s playfulness.

Not any more.

I am ready to change loyalty and become a trickster. Not because a trickster achieves more with her vivacity than a martyr could with her solemnity, but because I have understood the value of life. I have learned that living a simple life with vigor is better than a complex life full of guilt and sacrifice.

I am pretty sure most of you would also want to be a trickster. You also want to use the energy of a trickster. But you don’t know how to. And even if you make an effort, after a few days, like me, you forget.

I have figured out how to bring permanent change. Ms. Gilbert described it in the next chapter, but I didn’t pick it up in the first read.

The secret of a Trickster lies in a single trait.

“The most wonderful thing about a good trickster is that he trusts. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest this because he can seem slippery and shady, but the trickster is full of trust. He trusts himself, obviously. He trusts his own cunning, his own right to be here, his own ability to land on his feet in any situation. To a certain extent, he also trusts other people. But mostly, he trusts the universe. He trusts in its chaotic, lawless, ever-fascinating ways – and for that reason, he does not suffer from undue anxiety. He trusts that the universe is in constant play and, specifically, that it wants to play with him.” – Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic

Trust is what we need to become a trickster. And trust is what I will be developing in myself, my art, and the universe.

What about you?

Photo by Levi Saunders on Unsplash

7 habits of successful writers and how I built them

Neera

It is your dream to become a successful writer. You have been harboring the desire for a long time. You have been setting daily writing goals. You have been attending writing workshops. You have been scribbling here and there. You started writing a book five years ago and you keep promising yourself that one day you will finish it. One day, when the kids are out of the house, when work is less demanding, when you retire, when all the stars are aligned, you will become a successful writer.

If these thoughts resonate with you, you are not alone. This is what I used to think too.

This was until I really sat down and had a good look at what successful writers were doing that I need to do as well in order to be as productive as them.

Here are the seven habits I identified and adopted which remarkably increased my productivity.

1. Don’t just set goals, build habits

Years ago I was setting goals to write a certain number of words every day but failing at it miserably. Something always happened to consume my time and energy. I even used an online app 750Words where people write for years at stretch but I was not able to maintain my streak. I was averaging twenty days a month. I have participated in National Novel Writing Month multiple times and won three times writing 50,000 words followed by months of no writing.

My writing pattern matched my exercise routine and I knew I needed to fix both. Surprisingly it was by fixing my exercise routine I was able to fix my writing.

Almost two years ago I started going to the gym every weekday. I set a time for it, 5:30 pm. This took the decision process out. By the time it was five pm, my mind would start reminding me. I always kept the gym bag ready in my car. When I did that a few weeks, all my resistance melted. Like any gym junkie knows that you always feel good after exercise (because of endorphins release). The habit brought a surprise benefit – I started looking forward to going to the gym. I even made friends there. They would ask me if they didn’t see me at my regular time. Another surprise benefit – my stamina increased and exercise became easier.

I did the same for writing. I bought a journal with 365 pages and started writing a page a day, no matter what. A page fitted roughly 250 words. If I didn’t fill the page it didn’t matter. As long as I wrote something there I had fulfilled my pledge. I did that every morning without fail. If for some reason I missed the morning, I did it at night.

Writing a page a day is a habit now. The day I don’t write doesn’t feel like the day I have lived. With time my stamina increased. I write close to 1000 words a day.

2. Understand writing is a three-step process

When I was a newbie writer, I thought that as would I move my hand on the page or punch the keyboard, beautiful writing will emerge on the other end. Something that could go straight in a book. I called it publish-worthy material.

We all know it doesn’t happen that way.

Most of the people give up their dream of becoming a writer at this stage because the magic fairy didn’t move her wand over their fingers.

But those of us who stick around, we find a magic formula. That magic formula is – writing is a three-step process – Idea generation, drafting, and editing. As my mentor, Jeff Goins says, “Think of them as three buckets. Make sure you add something to each bucket each day.“

Keep a notebook just to capture ideas. Ideas will come all day, without any effort on your part. Your job is to capture them in the idea notebook. Then pick one and write it and put it aside. It is called drafting. You will never be in a position when you have time to write and can’t think of anything. And when you have something already written, it is very easy to fix it and make it publish-worthy.

And this is what I do now and it works like magic.

3. Manage your time

I thought when I don’t have to go to work, I will have eight hours extra in my day. I will be able to devote all of that to writing and even the commute time and time wasted on getting ready for work. Within a month I realized how wrong I was. So many things are fighting for our time. Housework never ends. My house is still as messy as it was when I was working full time.

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days.” – Zig Zigler

Two things I observed. One, work expands to the time available (Parkinson’s Law). Second, I only get blocks of time available for writing. I started using those blocks most effectively. To learn more about those read my post Use 90-minute bock technique to get more out of your day.

4. Become a smart reader

Writers are avid readers. Sometimes our writing suffers because of reading but sometimes our reading suffers because of writing. Recently I was not getting enough time to read so I went on to find ways to include more reading in my schedule.

I used Pierre Bayard’s method (How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read), to select which books I wanted really read, re-read, refer to, skim, and never wanted to open (read my post So many books, so little time). Using the system, I got rid of several books and prioritized the rest. Then I chose five strategies to get more reading done – set a dedicated reading time, read at least 20 pages a day, sprint reading at times, subscribe to audiobooks,  and quit reading early if I don’t like a book.

5. Show your work

I have been writing on and off for twenty years. I have boxes full of notebooks and countless files on the computer of my writing. But none of it was any good. Why? Because I was not revising it and making it worth sharing. It was only when I started writing for this blog that I started growing as a writer.

Showing your work, even if it is on a blog, makes you a better writer. Because now you are writing publish-worthy material. If you are serious about your writing, start a blog in a quiet corner of the internet and start sharing your writing with an audience. Even if you don’t want an audience you can publish for yourself. No one will find your blog unless you actually tell anybody. The notion that someone might read it will make you work harder.

6. Have multiple pieces of work in the pipeline

For years I was working on one novel. I wanted to focus all my energy on it. No distractions, I would tell myself. But the novel didn’t go far. I ran out of ideas. In fact, I got sick of it. I parked it aside and started writing short stories. Some I was able to finish, others just wouldn’t go anywhere. Then I started a non-fiction book. Last year I got into blogging.

All this time my novel was incubating in my head. Suddenly the whole story became crystal clear. Now I am able to go back to it and finish it. The same thing happened with some of the unfinished short stories.

Successful writers never stop at one book. They might be concentrating on one at a time but they have several in the pipeline.

7. Understand the higher purpose behind your writing

Most people dread writing, consequently, they won’t write even if their lives depended on it. Yet some of us find our calling in writing. I believe if some higher power has selected us to write, it will also give us the aptitude to write well.

One of my writing teachers used to say, “Writing is receiving.” That was why at the beginning of each session she would make us sit quietly and write. An act to receive with gratitude whatever we were given.

Our job as a writer to write, keeping in mind the teachings of The Bhagavad-Gita, “Do your labor without expecting the fruit of your labor. Labor is in your control, the fruit is in the control of the higher power. It will decide when to bring the fruit of your labor.

Want more?

Here is a related article worth reading 21 Productivity Hacks from 21 Prolific Writers.

What writing habits have you been able to develop? Share them here with other readers of the blog.

Photo by Kat Stokes on Unsplash

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Finding a writing voice

Neera 2 Comments

Who am I? What is my message? What is my writing voice?

I had never thought I would be pondering these questions in a blogging course, yet here I am. In the last two days, I went through an unexpected self-discovery journey which is worth sharing here.

When I started this blog I picked two topics I was most passionate about – writing and creativity – and started writing about them. Then I went traveling and travel writing got added to the mix. I am still extremely passionate about these topics I am not sure where they are taking my blog.

Am I confusing my readers? Are all my readers interested in all the topics I am writing about? I know some of my readers are reading just the travel articles and other only creativity or writing tips.

In comes the blogging course Intentional Blogging by Jeff Goins.

The first thing that strikes me in the course is that blogging is not about picking the right topic and writing about them but about finding your voice.

Your writing voice is your unique way of sharing whatever it is that you’re going to say. It’s your particular perspective. It’s the way that you view the world.

There are three aspects of a powerful writing voice. It is distinct, it is attractive and it is personal.

Jeff Goins

How to find your writing voice?

Jeff has a three-word exercise to find writing voice to be done in three steps.

“First, review a piece of your own writing and describe it in three words, or short phrases, but try to use adjectives such as funny, smart, and super-cool.”

Okay.

“Second, select at least five of your favorite writers and list three words to describe their writing voice. This will indicate the kind of voice you like, read and engage with.”

Done.

“Third, ask five of your readers to describe you in three words or phrases.”

Not too much to ask on the surface.

But when I put the question to my father-in-law, first-ever reader of my blog, he had to go for a walk to think about it.

My devoted, encouraging lawyer-daughter wanted to know the purpose of the question. “It’s to determine what my readers would want to read?” I offer.

“That is a wrong approach,” she cried, “You can’t ask us what we want to read. It is up to you. You should write what you want to write about.”

“Yes, but it will help me find my writing voice.”

“I like what you are writing,” she said.

“But it is too broad. I need to narrow it down. I probably need to drop travel writing.”

“But you are traveling. You should write about your travels. Some of your best writing is travel writing. I like your post Words are better than 1000 pictures. I love the anecdotes there.”

In a roundabout way, she told me she wanted me to include anecdotes in my writing. Like the everyday stories post, I wrote earlier also Aunt Grace’s Philosophy, A story that will touch your heart, Evoke the senses with your writing, only that she wanted to write my stories, not other people’s stories.

“I don’t have a word for it,” said my son-in-law, “but you say in your writing you did such-and-such and you found so-and-so.”

“Learnings that it. Life’s learnings.”

“Your writing is not preachy but informational. Information based on personal experience” chimed in my husband.

“Insights, is the word.” said, my daughter.

“Seeker, courage-of-conviction and go-getter” declared my father-in-law, the three phrases he thought during his walk.

“Diligent, creative and consistent,” said my brother.

How finding my writing voice exercise led to important discoveries

At night I sat quietly and looked back at the arc of my life, from a child to a young woman to an aging adult. I was surprised at all the transitions I have gone through. First I was who I was. Then I didn’t know who I was. Then I became what everyone around me wanted me to become. Then I invented someone I really wanted to be and became that. And finally, I am what I am again.

It is a privilege to be my own person.

When we are young we don’t know what we are. As we go through life we learn about love, about marriage, about betrayal, about failing, about falling and getting up again, about work, about staggering towards success, about raising children, about caring for the aging parents, about what matters to us and to the world around us.

And when we get towards the end of life we learn who we are.

“Life must be lived forward but understood backward.”

Soren Kierkegaard

It is interesting to note that most of our learning happens not in a classroom or in a library but in the school of life. We can look back and identify the moments – the friends’ betrayal, the work promotion, the careless comments, the difficult forgiveness, the silence, the debates, the hurt. All these things shape us, make us the person we become and give us the wisdom to share.

Two discoveries:

  1. We learn about life in retrospect.
  2. The wisdom of everyday life is timeless and worth sharing.

My daughter was right. It is the anecdotes that capture the essence of my writing voice. My father-in-law was right too, I am a life-long seeker. Seeker of answers, seeker of knowledge, seeker of wisdom. My son-in-law pointed out another one of my traits, learnings from trial and error. And my husband said the evident – I am not a preacher. I just say my truth.

This exercise has changed the focus of my blog from a topic-based blog to a personal blog. I have discovered I have so much more to share now. My passions give me a unique perspective on life, my seeking, learning, and insights give my writing voice a distinct flavor that hopefully will attract the right audience.

“Curious, insightful and inspirational.” I wrote down on the course notes and went to sleep.