I’m visiting Pakistan, Ramzan just ended and it’s Eid holidays.
That alone should be enough to make me throw down my pen and surrender to the lure of long-awaited family gatherings, conversations that end at dawn, excursions with kids, constant infusions of Rooh Afza + Tang, card nights, midnight calls for food delivery…
You get the drift.
…yet here I am writing the weekly blog post at 5:48 am on a holiday when I just went to bed 3 hours ago. And not just this, but I’ve been surprisingly good about keeping up with my writing this vacation. Yes, thank you, I’ll take that medal now.
So how did I get my writing done this holiday season?
SCRIBE’S TIPS:
1 – Mindset
It begins with attitude. I made up my mind that come what may, I WILL be writing this trip. I will find the time, I will make the time. Talking myself into this attitude helped. Any endeavour begins in our head. Make sure, your head recognizes you are committed to writing and brings you to the page when you don’t want to write.
2 – Habit
Writing is a discipline requiring dedication and regularity. You have to cultivate the habit. This holiday, I write when the muezzin gives the Fajr azaan – the pre-dawn call for prayer, possibly because our home’s proximity to the mosque makes it feel like he’s standing by my bedside with the loudspeaker. Either way, once the ringing in my ears fades, I am up to write. Everyday.
3 – Workload
It IS a holiday and not military bootcamp so I do cut myself some slack: I reduce my workload and writing time. For me, taking a complete break from writing and then getting back in the swing of it, is harder. Writing everyday keeps me in practice. During vacations, however, I have a lighter workload and cut my writing time in half.
Plan to finish a poem today. Hope your writing’s going well!
Until next week! 🙂
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