We must understand why people write before I take you through my own journey. Why do people write? “I write in the hope that someone will realize-yes, they are not alone”, says Junot Diaz, a Dominican-American writer, and creative writing professor at MIT (I’ve only known this fact for the last 10 minutes of research). Yet, for some, it’s to face / unmask themselves. “I knew I could write about myself - my emotional state, the narrative of my emotional life”, says Sherman Alexie, a Native American novelist. Oof brave, sir Sherman. For a select few, it’s a way to empty themselves. “It’s your flaws, not your strengths that go down in the depths of your books. You’re exposed, like dreaming you’re naked in a public building”, says Janet Fitch, also an American novelist from LA.
I wrote so much as a kid - writing felt like freeplay mode in GTA. I could pick any topic of interest, and write about it. The dopamine hit would be instant (yet not as instant as short form media), and I’d continue indulging in side missions until a debate would come up. I continued blogging, albeit much less in college, and I would write about bad haircuts, long flights, discovering feminism. Somewhere between then and now, my writing came to a strange standstill. It was abstracted behind walls of texts I’d send to people, journal entries in notebooks everywhere, product docs at work, meeting requests, notes app on my phone, lyrics for my songs, instagram rants and captions. I knew I missed it, and I’d complain about a busy life, yet, I refused to formalize this beautiful, cathartic release.
I have almost as many todo-lists as I have lived days.
I bought so many diaries, and so many notebooks. Each of them are now an amalgamation of journal entries and notes from work/life. And suddenly, one arguably fine day, a faint narcissism-wrapped dilemma surfaced up through it all. I hated writing for myself. Listen, I indulge in self-talk all the time. In showers, before I sleep, breaks, during post-scroll clarity; I was done talking to myself. Writing, suddenly, seemed like a waste of time if it continued to stay inside moleskin notepads lining up the third drawer in my office dresser. I knew that if I really wanted to write regularly, it had to be out there, in a way that someday, someone would felt seen in my words. Writing was always my bat signal. It was a way for me to evaporate my thoughts into a not-so humid world. There was no way I’d let them condense beneath the lid that was my notebook cover. Hence, I decided to do what Anurag would do. Slap accountability on a habit I want to develop. I really am this person, y’all. Welcome to 100 days of writing, where I write a small to medium piece everyday, except weekends, for the next 100 days. I rewrote my website from 9 years to launch this. I really went all in.
These writings will be a portal to my lived experiences
If you’ve ever spoken to me, you’re aware that vulnerability is my outfit of choice everyday. Life is too short to respond to “Hey, what’s up”, with a “Good, how about you?”. Expression to me is a strip-tease, if you respond with revealing a layer, I’ll do the same, until we’re buck naked under the bright skies and have nothing to hide. So a lot of these writing will be personal - nothing that would seem exceptionally triggering or TMI, but it will be about my lived experiences. I will occasionally write well-researched commentary on interesting tech or phenomena, but those wouldn’t be a part of #100daysofwriting. Why 100? It just seemed long enough that I get used to it. Also looks damn clean.
I won’t write on the weekends unless I’m behind. None of you will come at me, but I’m going to use this public blog list as a habit calendar, where every missed day will stick out like a sore thumb. What is life if not a constant fight towards/against normalcy?
If this inspires any one of you reading and you’d like to join this movement, let me know. I can be reached in so many ways, it should concern me. What I’m trying to say is, you know where to find me.
Have a wonderful day.
Edit Aug 1st, 2024: As you might have noticed, I didn't really stick to my promise of writing for 100 days. I'll capture it in detail at some point, but my need to write well-researched longform content was at a constant conflict with the writing process. So, unfortunately, there will be fewer written pieces from me. However, I promise that they'll be worth your time.