Sunday, May 19, 2013

Why do I write?

Looking back on my blog of 8 years or more, I wonder what is the point. Or does it matter?

I started blogging as an experiment, and have maintained the frequency more or less as an experiment. Of putting out random ideas and thoughts out there.

Was it in the hope it will at some point, now or future connect with someone? Occasionally it does, but no, that's not why I write.
Even much of my family is not aware I write.

Maybe it is vent to free some of my, perhaps diminished creative energy that otherwise randomly fluctuates between a watercolor, bit of gardening and then an occasional blog post. There must be some point that I keeping coming back to it every now and then.

I was on a flight back from Delhi to London, where I met this well learned gentleman who was travelling to his son's award ceremony in Canada. Conversation followed on a range of subjects including politics in India, Indian history, methods of agricultural irrigation and the likes. Among the key takeaways from his experience he shared with me was that the more one wields the pen, the more influence one attains. I couldn't disagree, pursued as a wholehearted goal and with the right techniques, that is possible.

But I am not sure that could serve me as a motivation for my writing. But several months later and this Sunday afternoon I stumbled along a post by Cristian Mihai about why people write. It resonated with the generally truant, random writer within more than any reason I could find to write.

He writes well and is obviously eminent as well as his blog following shows. But in that post he summarizes to the effect that he writes because his words matter to him, and if they do to someone else that's just a bonus.

Or in a different way if our work matters to us, that is satisfaction in itself. If others find it of interest that is just a bonus. Indeed that is a much better reason to keep coming back to it.

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