The Joys of Writing

My son has been given a school project to complete; he has to write an essay about ‘Aliens in the backyard’, as part of his creative writing course.

He spends an hour writing out a draft and wants to read it out to me.  What hits me is that his eyes are shimmering with the excitement of what he has written.  He stands up for effect.  He reads out his essay, about a grotesque looking alien (boys will be boys), with multiple eyes, ears and long hands, whose battery gets charged by jumping up and down on a bouncing trampoline that’s supposedly in our backyard. Anyone jumping on it automatically charges the alien’s battery, so my son does his bit.  The story has elements of adventure, love, kindness and mystery.  He finishes reading and looks up at me with glittering eyes and an expectant smile.

I tell him that his essay is very well written and hug him.  He is very happy and runs away to make his final draft.  I remain seated, mulling over his essay.

My son’s excitement was palpable because he re-lived the story he had written, as he read it out to me.  I hope, that there’s a writer lurking in him.

Then I ask myself, does my writing give me such unadulterated joy?  Do I enjoy what I have created. Yes, most times yes, but the glee that I saw in my son’s face, I don’t see in mine.  Is it because we are older and can’t think like kids or let do we allow ourselves only limited leeway for enjoyment, because of deadlines and other commitments?

I still remember some of the essays I wrote in high school and in university. They still make me smile. I have not had the heart to throw some of them – handwriting that slants right on yellowed paper, with words and thoughts from another time. I get brief flashes of the person I was, and realize how I have evolved – both as a person, and in my writing.

Writing is an extension of our thoughts, captured and chiseled into manageable sentences.  Once the sentences have been composed, the words don’t meander off the page, like our thoughts do. That’s the beauty of writing. It helps refine our thoughts and articulate them in well-defined forms, giving us joy for years afterward.

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What’s in your Blogging Cupboard?

I am new to blogging, in fact 50-odd days old, a baby blogger if you could call it that. Today, I touched 52 blog posts. Yay!

The urge to write has been there longer than I can remember.  Did I ever feel any other way? Over the years, I’ve written on pieces of paper – words, phrases and articles that simply had to come out of my head, only to make space for other words and phrases that would take over my mind immediately.

Blogging has given me free rein to voice and express, to share and be liked, and the words are now increasing their flow, in bursts or waves, sometimes gently, sometimes in the middle of the night.  But I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Each time I see something I want to write about, the words start forming in my mind, in various permutations and combinations. Sometimes the words do not cooperate with my thought process, they do not lend their meaning to what I want to say.

I look at things and think of them as potential blogs.  And my blogging cupboard is slowly expanding.  Each time I want to blog, I open this cupboard.  A few jars in this cupboard have the staples – staple words that lay out the foundation for grammar and correct language on my blog, there are a few jars, which contain words with emotions, and words related to laughter, anger, sorrow, nostalgia, happiness and humour.

Then again, I have my spice jars of words – words that will add that zing to my writing, that will make people pause and smile. As with real spices, I add these in moderation, a bit of that word, a little bit of that expression, to get the perfect blend of words.

One of these jars contains, ‘freshly pressed’ words and expressions that my brain keeps coming up with, quite often in fact.  These words and expressions are filed away, waiting for the right blog that will host them.

My blogging cupboard has words, and more words, love, emotions and word-spices.  The recipe for every blog is different.  Sometimes, I get it wrong, sometimes I love what I concoct with these words.

My blogging cupboard is well-stocked, waiting to replenish itself each time a few words leave my cupboard to board a new blog.

Blogging times are here!