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In our next Writing Story for this month’s As You Write It, Meera Ramanathan tells us how writing empowers her.
As You Write It Writing Theme: Writing Story 3
Meera, in her own words: I am a freelance writer and columnist, dabbling in movies and immigrant challenges. I blog at http://dreamzwild.wordpress.com
Why do I write? To see my thoughts flow seamlessly through words has not only been an achievement but also a journey of self-discovery.
When I started to write, it was in the avatar of an amateur blogger. I merely wanted to maintain a journal to record fascinating stories and cherished moments. But after a forced sabbatical from work, I took to writing as a release of pent up thoughts and ideas. I reviewed movies, books and other mundane stuff. Rarely did I write anything different. But being an immigrant, my writing doubled as an outlet for my queer observations and nostalgic views.
As my writing evolved, I grew passionate about it. I wanted poetry in my prose and symphony in my sentences. I paid more attention to how I wrote than what I wrote. I took to writing with a vengeance and it satiated my long lost creativity. Grammar was relearnt, punctuation revised and tenses revisited. My writing evolved and with that my personality took shape.
Writing made me an avid reader. While I stuck to books before, I read more blogs, articles, columns and online magazines. I jotted down favourite authors and followed their writing. With every piece that was published, my writing and my self esteem grew.
Writing gave me the confidence which I had lost with my job. It has taught me to look for voices and ideas in weird places. I do not ignore people based on how they look but listen more keenly to what they have to say. While I associated a successful career to a fat pay cheque and smartness to a bank balance, now I’m more candid. Not everything in life is measured in terms of money. My writing is not monetarily beneficial but morally invaluable.
There came a time when I realized that this is what I wanted to do. My readers reassured me that my writing was getting better and I wrote with more vigour. While I squirmed uneasily to questions on what I do, now I say with pride that I write. Writing has empowered me in more ways than I thought it would. I’m growing to be a better woman, wife, daughter and mother because I write. This is what I was born to do and and writing is why I wake up every day with a smile. When you love what you do, it’s not a chore anymore, it is love.
Meera wins a gift hamper from Notex, a paper based stationary brand that makes high quality books, diaries, writing pads, 5 subject books and other products! You can check out Notex products at Shopo, Flipkart or Homeshop 18.
*Photo credit: Dave Nicholas (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)
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