Dear Readers
I found it really hard to write this week’s issue. Not because I was too busy yesterday to write one (which I was) or I had nothing to say, but because I had too much to say. I had a hard time figuring out what to say and what to leave. Too many topics, each worthy of a full-blown issue but picking one meant leaving the others on the back burner. In the end, I decided to mention them all, in the form of a letter.
I remember the days when letters used to be the chief mode of communication between people in different geographical locations. When I migrated to Australia, back in the late eighties, phones were too expensive. I used to write a letter a week back home. That was inarguably the most enjoyable form of writing I ever did. I would write about the new places I had seen, the new ways of living I was experiencing, and the new people from different cultures I was meeting. I miss that uninhibited form of writing. This is how I want to communicate with you each week. So I have changed the title of this publication from “A Whimsical Writer” to “Letters From A Whimsical Writer.”
Remember I have been wanting to change the name of this publication back in January this year and I toyed with many names but in the end, decided to park the decision because I wasn’t clear on what I wanted to do. Well, that clarity came today. In a flash. A “whim,” if I can add. I do many things on a “whim,” hence the name “A Whimsical Writer.” The word "whimsical" comes from the word "whim." A whim is a sudden desire to do something unusual, or unexpected. I have found, many times, my “whims” take me in the right direction. I am hoping this one will be correct too.
Now, let me get on with what I wanted to talk about today.
I was really touched by How Will You Travel and Find Inspiration in Living the Good Life by
Carol is a retired teacher who lives in a camper van. She wants to inspire people to live a simple life and enjoy the freedom of living in a mobile home. Her mission in life is to help older homeless women. She is “modeling her life for women who seek solutions for making a living and having the best life possible.”Yesterday, she asked me do I feel concerned too. That got me thinking.
Yes, I do feel concerned about homeless women and homelessness in general Carol, but my calling was different. I want my life to matter. I had spent six decades of my life doing what was expected of me. Now, after retirement, I want to do what I always wanted to do. To create. I want to create beautiful things. Things that give me joy. Things that give other people joy. But years of conformity had taken away my ability to be creative. I needed to reignite it somehow.
Then there was the question of what to create.
The answer came to me in the form of a magazine article. It was about Barbara Cartland, the undisputed queen of romance novels. She had written over 700 novels in seven decades. That’s 100 novels each decade, which means she was practically writing a novel a month for 70 years. That was some feat.
I still remember her image from the magazine. She was lying on a bed with a pink canopy in a pink gown, dictating her next novel to her assistant at age 92. I remember saying to myself, “This is what I want to do in my old age. I want to write books.”
That was my calling. The desire to write books came as a lightning bolt and struck my heart, even when I didn’t know how to write. In fact, at one stage in a performance review, my boss said to me, “The only thing standing between you and a senior management role is your written English.”
But I wanted to write and wanted it badly. That was about two decades ago. I joined a life story writing group and started to hone my writing skills. Writing became my passion first and then my obsession. I wanted my writing to be my legacy. Stories are what I want to leave behind more than anything else.
My concern, my driving force is how can I inspire people through my writings? How can I help them solve problems? How can I get them not to sweat the small stuff and live a more fulfilling life? To achieve that I dig out inspiring stories. I pick complex things and try to explain them in simple terms. I collect wisdom and turn it into practical advice. I am nowhere near where I want to be but I know I am on the path. I just need to continue on it.
My heart melts for the homeless people and I support some charities who help them. But I have adopted an 86-year-old lady, my former writing group buddy, who has no one else to look after. I send her food every week. This makes me feel that I am directly making a difference in someone’s life.
I also enjoyed
The Best Books on Creative Productivity. As you know I recently finished writing my fifth book The Productive Writer (it has gone to the editor this week) and in the process read dozens of books on writer’s productivity thinking I may not miss anything on productivity that is already out there. Well, Hurley’s list did mention one book that I hadn’t read - The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. I got to get that and read it too.I have been reading Hurley’s newsletter Lonely Victories for years now and particularly enjoyed her issue about 30 Things I Love About Writing. It inspired me to write my own list. Here is an image from her post.
I have started researching my next book, working title, Storytelling For Non-fiction Writers. For the past few days I have been going through a ton of material I have collected on the subject and also the plethora of books that are available on the topic. I am in the “divergence stage” which is always very exciting. (I explained the concept of divergence and convergence in one of my previous letters)
You learn new things, your knowledge expands, and you make millions of new connections in your brain. But the pain starts in the convergence stage when you have to cut off the fluff and keep the core. Although it sounds easy, cutting off the fluff is hard. That is where skill and perfection are needed. Something Michelangelo so simply put, “I simply carved away everything that was not David.” That carving process is excruciating.
My friend @Carmen Ballesteros wrote a piece Your Best Business Teacher Will Make You Cry where she featured one of my LinkedIn posts about my failed business and the lessons they taught me. It is very humbling to feature in other writers’ newsletters.
That’s all from me this week.
Hi Neera
You're so right about the value of writing letters. Not only are they more personal and exciting to receive when handwritten but they also serve as a permanent collection of life events. My mother kept all may letters to her while I was away at university and they bring back memories that would have disappeared into the past.
“The only thing standing between you and a senior management role is your written English.” - I really relate to that - having just retired this year, I am struggling to connect with my desire to be creative after 42 years in the IT field. I so enjoy your writing- very relatable. Thank you. You inspire me to keep trying to find my creative self.