'Shaping the world' is a collection of essays written by women writers across the country. It gives an insight into their heads revealing the Sorcerer's secrets of how they cook their stories. The book intends to help the aspiring beginners to take a closer look at writing not just as an ambition, but as a process. For those all who had already set their foot into it, the anthology gives a wider perspective about genres, methodologies, etc. But to me, this book from the shelf simply winked and said, "Go ahead, write your essay for this book."
Writing has been quite influential on me, influential to the
extent of making me quit my job. Through my jolly days of college, I never
bothered to think about writing as a career. By the time I realized, I already
had a degree in one hand and a job in another. It was quite a generous balance,
apparently. The reality hit me later, but it was too little, too late to react.
As a software engineer, I trickily persuaded my heart coding too is a kind of
writing. Turned out my heart was not as blind as I.
My interest in writing started during my graduation days. A cousin's idea that directed me to start a blog. The number of page visits was the unsolicited admiration for my work. And it is said, "A person who
feel appreciated will do more than what is expected" not for no reason. So, I wrote. But after a few posts, I ran out of topics. A bitter truth stabbed me
hard, that I can write about something only if I deeply feel about it. I
accepted it was just a fad.
On a boring college morning, a sudden epiphany dawned on me; it was
not writing that I like the most in my life, but it was the English language. Came the passion back! I was not an avid reader when I was a kid; but the only interesting daily chore
for me was to read newspaper. From my childhood I had considered only 'The
Hindu' as a newspaper and rest others a huge heap of words, software-made
sentences and smelly folds of prints. May be the idea of reading was ingrained into me by
my dad, but now at this complete sensible age I still stick to it. And so, delving into my roots helped me surface from the problem.
Though I love writing, I cannot write 24X7; so when I am not
writing, I would be reading. Many times
I wonder, would I ever start writing if I waited for my reading to complete? My
reading would never end, line after line is read, call after call is ignored,
request after request for help is not encouraged, days after days pass, novels
after novels go on. And now, I am in a situation where I cannot survive a
day without reading, writing or learning new words.
And when it comes to my Writing, there are no inklings or planned
timings, it’s a sudden urge. This sentence may nudge you about something else,
but not for me, at least not yet. There is an alarm inside me that pokes me until I reach for
a pen and paper. It makes me irritable, speed-up my all other tasks, leave for a
silent place and scribble. In dire situations like being in someone's
company or lack of paper, a smart phone comes in handy. And if nothing is
available for my rescue, a saggy unenthusiastic face pops up.
