“What does Writing Mean to you?”

I skipped out on the post yesterday because I was preparing the response to selection criteria document for a job- yes, that most pesky activity that one could be engaged in! Having said that, I’m applying for a job in familiar fields so to speak and there would be no more weird questions at interviews as I’ve encountered when I was trying to make a switch.

Anyway, personal life aside, I’ve decided to base today’s post on the question of “What does Writing Mean to you?” I don’t think I explicitly mentioned it here but I was trying my hand at novel writing and was working on the first book of a five book series. But then let’s just say a number of things happened both with the writing itself and my life circumstances such that I just couldn’t continue.with it. That was in February of this year. At that point, I had meant to come back to it, say in a month maybe, but now the status on this novel just ended up being “stalled”.

Now, to be honest, I never really had the ambition to be a published author up to a year ago, except to dream that one day (possibly when I’ve retired) that I would try my hand at novel writing. Now, I can only say that novel writing is much higher up in priority in my life but I can’t really say that I want to be making a living out of writing. Still, I would like to be able to be in a position to produce a high quality fantasy series one day. And note that, I say fantasy series, not just a book, for I’ve found that what I enjoy most out of writing is the creation of a fantasy world and really, as a reader myself, I love the extent of immersion into the fantasy world that only a series can provide. So really I think at this stage I’m just trying to re-affirm what writing means to itself, and hence this post.

So what does writing mean to me? Well, in essence, it is an activity that I immensely enjoy. It provides me with a sense of freedom that no other activity could. When I’m writing, I could live in the moment and not think about anything else (on a good day, that is, I of course encounter Writer’s Block very often etc. etc.) In general, I am very good at self-therapy when I feel down and I’ve just found out that writing is the ultimate form of self therapy available in my hands. For me, it is also a form of self expression, in a format that I feel comfortable with and actually adore (yes, I’m an introvert and I’m the type of person that hate being induced to talk when I don’t feel like talking). So yes, writing for me is purely and simply a leisurely pursuit, much like how I love to watch TV drama and love to read books. Also, I think there is beauty in words, just by individual words necessarily, but definitely when they flow together and create certain effects. At high school, I already know that I enjoy writing but well, I’ve always been very intellectual (nerdy for some), very rational, very practical and I worry about the prospect of earning a living as an author. I’ve always had the impression that earning a living as a writer is some sort of “rich people’s occupation” if you are working age (hence my dream used to be that I would pursue writing in retirement).

Anyway, I think I’ve gone onto a side-track. As I’ve said, my ambition is not to be a published writer. Rather, what I would like to produce one day is a fantasy series that I deem to be high quality. I don’t really care whether it sells or not but I want to produce something that I deem worthwhile, as simple as that.

This post has ended up being random personal musings as I suspected it would but I really feel that it’s time for me to put things down in words somewhere so that I don’t forget about what writing really means for me and then to get side-tracked into a million of other things that do nothing to do with me and the type of writing that I am pursuing. And at the end of this post, I would like to thank any of you who ventured to read (and finish) this which is really a self-therapy that I’ve concocted to move me forwards on my stalled novel and writing in general. So cheers and stay tuned for more posts that are less rambling.