Thatched House

No one can write a definitive or comprehensive piece on a topic. What one can do is contribute one’s bit in one’s lifetime. Some may contribute more, some less. But no one can put an end to a subject and say, ‘this is all there is to know on this topic’.   I am prevented to blog/write/speak on some topic because I feel I have not done enough research, or thinking. It is important to study and reflect before I speak or publish; but I realized that I must not be afraid if I don’t have the final word. I can never have that. A story may end with ‘and they lived happily ever after’. But we know that is not the end of the story. The story goes on.

my beautiful pfutsero (July 2012) What do you do when you want to write but you have nothing to write? What do you do when you want to write something thoughtful but you can’t think of anything? This is what you can do: You start to write that you want to write but you can’t think of anything to write. And so you keep on writing whatever comes to mind although they may not be making much sense. You don’t pause to think, but you just keep on typing away. No. You don’t stop to think. You just let your fingers roll over the keyboard. Now. What do you have? You already have a paragraph. Wonderful. Now, you press Enter and start the next paragraph. Ok. A new paragraph and nothing yet to write about. Ok. How did you spend your day today? I went to hospital to look after a sick relative who was operated yesterday. Ok. I’m into something. I don’t know if this relative of mine should be called ‘cousin’. I’m really bad at this. I don’t know who to call a cousin, a nephew, a niece. I even...

‘Go forth and blog’. Pope Benedict to his priests Blogging is exciting. You have flexibility and total control over your blog. You can blog about anything, at any time, at any length. So, first, there are no rules on blogging. However, I would like to share some tips that I shared with a friend who was considering to start a blog: 1.    Don’t worry what you should blog about. Don’t worry if a thousand books have already been written on the topic you have in mind. No two people read the same book. No two people see the same thing. 2.    First sentence is so important. You can lose readers with a bad first line. OK, you witnessed a shootout on your way to college and you want to share it. If you start by saying how your day began, what clothes you were wearing that day, or what the definition of a ‘shootout’ is; you can make the gunfight seem boring. Instead, you can start with something like ‘Bang bang!’ (Writing a story doesn’t have to always sta...

Reader’s Digest says that good writing is simple ABC: Accuracy, Brevity, and Clarity. I took that to heart. Another advice is to keep the language as simple as possible. So, I try to write in a language where readers will not need the dictionary. I break down complex words and shorten sentences. I follow certain rules that I learned from other writers, for example: never fall in love with your first draft, break the rules but after having learned the rules, to be a writer there’s no other way but to write, and so on. That’s how I write. I remember how I started writing my thoughts. My dad who was also my headmaster made us write essays. In one class, he decided to read out one essay. He said that one of us wrote it but he won’t tell who. As he started to read the essay titled ‘My Neighbor’, my ears started to warm up. It was mine. Dad might have noticed my discomfort and he made sure that no one knows it’s me and he remarked in the end, ‘It is a good essay’. When other student...

Judge a writer by what he writes But don't ask a writer To practice what he preaches

A writer is first a reader Then...

It’s been a while since I posted anything here. There has been a lot going on in my mind but I’ve not been able to do much: First, I need to write (typing actually) on care for the natural environment. Then, I have a plan to write something on Science and Religion; that they are not antagonistic but are complementary. But before that, I need to read two books. Also it has been on my mind for a long time to write about the need for in-depth knowledge and not simply superficial collection of information… something like someone’s statement that American spirituality is a mile wide but only knee deep. I want to write more newspaper articles on health. I also have a request to write something on epidemic prone diseases for a local radio program reader. I have an audio of a wonderful story I recorded from Pungro about a man who was beaten to death and buried three and half feet underground, but rose again the next day. I need to convert the interview into a story. By the year end, I wa...

OK. I have been keeping aside writing for a while. Good or bad, I now plan to keep this blog running. I say I love writing and think about it constantly; even read about it. But to become a writer, there’s no way to become one but to write . What has been keeping me from writing? First and not the most important, is work . Due to the Scrub Typhus outbreak in Nagaland, I have been very busy: travelling, reading about it, compiling data and analyzing it, and so on. Right now also I’m busy attending a training course in Vellore. But that is not to say that I don’t get time to write. Another reason and a more important one is laziness mixed with restlessness . To write requires a calm mind and a lazy mind strangely is seldom calm . Also why I put off writing is because I always try to write masterpieces, not that I have ever written one. I want my writings to be very good which many times keep me from starting . I think this shouldn’t be.  To keep a writing project on hold in t...