It is 20 minute before my work officially starts. I have
been coming in early this week. Jet lag wakes me up at 4:00 in the morning. Why
not come in early and make the most of it. It has also reminded me why I loved
mornings and waking up before anyone else back at home. It used to be about
having time and being productive. The other day, I read a blog, by Tanya Golash-Boza on writing every
day. I have been trying to write regularly for the past a few month; trying and
failing. You see, my PhD journey has made me sceptical and cynical of my
writing style. It makes me question everything I write. It also makes me
question the purpose and validity of my writing, especially when written for leisure,
and personal reasons. Writing has always been cathartic for me. Now I question
the rationale for writing and publishing it online. The world doesn’t needs to know
about my woes or my happiness. Social media has made me more narcissist than I
was; putting up my pictures, status, and notes. Probably because they get likes
and it creates a false sense of being appreciated. Most of us fall into that
trap. We like being liked and hence, the cycle goes on. I have been aiming to
break this cycle (Did I just borrowed from Daenerys Targaryen?). But, it is
difficult and it has affected my writing. I hardly write for anything other
than academic work, because it makes me feel less self -indulgent. So, when I
do try to write stuff like this one, it is really self-centred and includes
lots of ‘I’s’. Anyway, so the blog inspired me to write again. Regardless of
the productive element there, I suppose, I might be able to get on with my
writing once again. This would be great because there are a lot of things that
I want to write about.
I want to write about places that I have travelled to and my
experiences of those journeys. I would like to work on a couple of fictional books,
just because there are a few good stories in my head. I want to write about my
experience as a Post-doc fellow. I also want to work on a couple of research articles
that has nothing to do with my mainstream work right now. So, this writing
every day is the right way to go by. This is actually my day two of writing. Yesterday,
I completed preliminary work on a project that I think is quite important for
me academically. I hope this will continue.
