Until the end of last year, the only time I had written was either to give a test or for some business communication. However, my wife always has had tremendous confidence in my capabilities – be it cricket or writing skills. Having heard stories of people like Amish Tripathi (Sr Executive in Insurance)-one of my wife’s celebrity patients, Chetan Bhagat (investment Banker) , Ravi Subramanian (a Banker) and lately Nayanika Mathani ( a Banker friend turned author, screen writer) who got bitten by the writer’s bug and then even switched careers; she has always been extolling me to give writing a shot more than simply as a hobby.
I never thought this was possible with me until I decided to pen down my experiences on joining a startup around Nov of last year. The entire experience was quite refreshing as I went about capturing the new work culture as well as being around with millennials understanding their zeitgeist. I casually shared this short piece with my family and got an encouraging response. My son nudged me to start blogging. So one fine day, on 1st Jan, I explored wordpress. Lo and behold in a few clicks I was able to DIY my own blog and my journey started !
After my initial intrepid writings and positive response on my sharing within the immediate circle of family and friends, I got enthused to write one blog ( 1,000-1,200 words) a week. I would write a piece on my personal experiences and then request my family, especially my son who already is an avid blogger to give it a read and help with edits and also share their feedback and tips. Once this routine set in, to keep me at bay and keep me from bothering him repeatedly, he recommended Stephen King’s book On Writing which he had found useful, in his initial phase. I too found the book very handy as in this book Stephen King shares his own life experiences and nuggets of wisdom, he has gleaned over the years during his interactions with his publishers and editors.
Thanks to saving on commute time due to COVID, I have by now, touched the half century mark with my blogs covering my personal experiences across diverse topics such as Travel, Cricket, Corporate Tales, Covid Times, Startup life and times, Friends, Family and Marriages, Finance for Beginners and what have you. So here I am, sharing how out of the blue, about how I managed to do this. To help me articulate, I have picked up and built on some of the guidance and tips from Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft*
Where to start?
When I look back, I realise what has worked so far has been the fact that I have just picked up a theme which tickles from my memory or some insights that I have gained from my experiences, and then have just allowed my thoughts or events/ incidences or memories to flow without bothering about the grammar or sometimes even spellings. This has helped in being able to first capture the underlying thought or story on a word doc just as they flow, leaving the editing for later. As Stephen King says “First draft you write to pen your thoughts, subsequent drafts you write to edit”.
What it takes to get it “Just right”
How to go about making your blog worth the readers time/ attention?
Apparently, the great story writer Ernest Hemmingway has been quoted “ Write drunk, edit sober”. Also the easy way to get started is to go by the “Write what you know rule – for everything else research”. Once you have written what you know, it is essential to research things around the subject so that you not only get your facts right but it also helps you refresh some of the things that might have got warped in your mind over a period of time. Talking about research, let me share with you about a friend of mine, who has taken to writing one blog a day in these COVID times. Daily he publishes a blog of approx 500-800 words but ends up putting in 4-5 hours behind it, researching on the subject and then bringing in his context to make it crisp and enlightening for his readers.
Key lies in not giving up
Editing holds the key to finally what makes a reader pick up and read
As Stephen King has very succinctly put – when you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. This is the most challenging task – How to decide what to cut and what meets the cut? Here again Stephen King in his book On Writing has some very useful tips – “While editing, a good editor takes out only the bad parts.” Another aspect to keep an eye on is on how the content flows between paragraphs and sentences. One important thing to remember is that paragraph and not the sentence is the basic unit of writing. “Paragraphs are almost as important for how they look as for what they say; they are maps of intent”. Another thing to keep in mind is “single sentence paragraphs more closely resemble talk than writing. And Writing is seduction”. One observation about the way readers choose a book without even reading it is – when they flick through the book what catches the eye is the white spaces and airy => short paras which make for easy reading vis-a- vis a packed look.
The Drill before publishing
Stephen King says – “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open” – once it’s out in the open, it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Obviously, once it’s out there he also cautions – “You can’t please all the readers all the time,you can’t even please some readers all the time, but you should aim to please some of the readers some of the time”. So how does one manage to achieve this? Once you have gone through your edits, re-edits, re-re-edit and you have fairly made up your mind that you are ready, it becomes critical to go through a pre-release drill to chisel the edges. Sharing the blog with your blog support team for a pre-read helps, as it acts like a sounding board. For e.g what is logical to you may be boring to the reader. There may also be some places where you might have ended up going overboard and lost the reader’s interest. There are times when you end up overshooting on the length of the blog and might have to decide to either curtail or break it into a 2-3 part series. Also, one good thing that I like about a blog is that since it is like a magazine, read only once but stays on the shelf, readers can go back and forth between the various parts of a series, share their feedback online or even leave a comment on the blog. The reader feedback can always be incorporated instantly in case of some corrections, additions or tweaks which can help deepen your rapport with the readers.For me this interactive nature of the blog as a medium has been the biggest source of learning as well as encouragement. There have been times when a blog has triggered some nostalgic moments or memory with a reader who has reached out and shared his/her personal experiences during the same or similar event.
Final thoughts
Now that I have touched the half century milestone on my blogs, you might naturally ask, “how much time did you dedicate every day?“ & “if I think I am already there”? – Well, since these are WFH times, I have been able to put to good use the time saved on the daily commute, to put down my thoughts. As for “already being there” ?- I’m mindful of the fact that I’m still far away “from being there”. I know, I still have a lot of ground to cover. But the only way to get there is by writing more and more, trying to learn from reader feedback and improvise as one goes along. In case you still continue to harbour some apprehensions, let me encourage you to check out an excellent online resource on Unlu – Ruskin Bond Teaches you writing which will provide you with the right guidance to pick up courage and get you going on road to become a good writer.
One final tip, to make your blog interesting you can look at grooming it a bit by adding some pictures (preferably clicked by you). Remember, every picture always has a story to tell and invariably brings back nostalgic memories which help draw the readers to the event/place covered. Once you are all done and ready to publish, start by sharing within your F-C-N-R community viz Friends, Colleagues, Neighbours, Relatives. Then slowly expand by posting on your personal Facebook page and then within groups you are members in.
If you aspire to launch a business start blogging!
If you have aspirations of launching a business, blogs are also said to help in bringing clarity to your articulation as well as help you crystallise your thoughts and break them down to their core elements. Famously, as it has been said in this quote attributed to Einstein – “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” It also helps in becoming a good communicator.
Let me share with you a first blog from an eleven year old who only recently took to blogging to share her experiences of life for kids during COVID Times. This will give you some confidence that you too can blog! So go ahead, take the first step, pick up just about the first thing that comes to your mind, conquer your inhibitions first by putting the pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard and then get ready to conquer the world. Cheers!
Acknowledgements: A BIG THANK YOU, for your encouraging feedbacks and egging me on, to make it to my 50th Blog. Special thanks to all my family members for being patient with me and my friend Ashish Parulekar, who has been a solid member of my blog support team.
* Reference: Stephen King – On Writing: A memoir of the Craft
** For those interested in some writing tips for beyond Beginners, please click here for a column by Swanand Kelkar in livemint.
P.S To read my other blogs on Cricketing / Corporate Tales, Start up stories, Covid Times, Friends, Family and Marriages go to the Home Page
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