By Nalini Sooknanan Pillay

Why should you write? The truth is that writing is not just a tool to use to inscribe words on a piece of paper.

It can be so much more. You can write:

·         To express yourself,

·         to unfold dreams and desires,

·         unleash your imagination and creativity,

·         to share with others what you believe in.

What you need to remember is that, for whatever reason it is that you choose to write or whatever subject it is that you write about – it will keep you in touch with yourself. In today’s world, there is so much violence and aggression and corruption around us, that it is easy to lose your sense of self, to lose special memories. Writing can help us to hang on to our identities – of who we truly are. If you have dreams which you have lost because your life changed and for that loss, you now feel incomplete and restless – why not capture that experience, on paper, in words?

You don’t have to have a vocabulary of difficult words and complicated sentences – you can write just as well in simple easy sentences. Writing is definitely not about the long and difficult words – its about getting your message across, how easily can we all do it through the sms function on our cellphones? Provided that you can convey your ideas to any reader clearly, everyday language generally suffices.

You don’t have to have a major in English or be a journalist or have 1 or 2 or more degrees. It’s a common misconception that people have, that’s fuelled when we watch television and they screen the successful writer that has a doctorate or is a professor or has lectured at several universities throughout the world. These guys are more the exception to the rule than the norm. No matter how hard you study, it will not provide a higher quality imagination. Fair enough, writing courses can help fine-tune those ideas and help you present your work in a professional way.

The other thing is that you don’t have to be a certain age to write, you can be a junior primary scholar or a housewife or a pensioner – just make a habit of writing each day. You don’t have to write to sell your work or even show it to any other reader – write for yourself. The more you write, the more you learn about yourself.

There’s a story in every one of us – there’s stories all around us. Have you ever heard someone in your family say: “with all the drama that goes on here, I could write a book!”

Why not? Why couldn’t it be you? Our lives are so full of story ideas, we don’t even have to search far.

Sometimes, some people have memories and experiences which they would love to have captured but don’t have the ability to do it – in a case like this, you still don’t have to give up – get someone who can write the story for you – it could open that window to your soul. If you cannot write for some reason, perhaps rheumatism or a physical deformity, you can still record your experiences on a tape recorder – an audio book. Play it back, every few months and listen to how your life has changed without you being aware of it.

My advice to you is, it doesn’t matter who you are - get a little book for yourself. Before you go to bed at night, jot down the things which have happened during the day that made an impact on you, even if its one thing a week. If you’re a housewife, you can also write a simple things whether its that some aunty got a better outfit and you wish you’d thought of that colour – damn her, or that your husband ate at your in-laws house and raved about the food when you know for a fact, that you cook better. Even when we write down interesting recipes which the neighbour gave us, what makes our recipe books inferior to those actually published – certainly not the quality of the food but the way in which we’ve written it. Review your work every year and you will see your life in motion.

If you are a scholar, the dynamics around you are even greater – your records don’t have to be all about boyfriends and girlfriends, it can extend to your moods, your dreams, your goals, your ideas that no-one else would want to listen to.

How many of us have been in emotional situations when we have had life-changing experiences? I think all of us. If you’ve lost a loved one or if you’re life was changed by an accident, or whatever, don’t you think that there would be many others out there who would want to know that they’re feeing the same as you. If you don’t want to write for others, putting your feelings down in words is like releasing the tension, the mixed feelings, the need to say what others may not agree with.

Remember: If you’ve got a full-length novel that you’d like to have published one day, its not always an easy road but there’s no winning if there’s no beginning.

Persist and if you’re truly passionate about what you’re writing about, your addiction is bound to bring out a story that will be explosive.

Remember that you can change the world, one story at a time.

 “I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are;

because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star.

I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been by far;

for a might-have-been has never been, but a has-been was once an are.”

- Milton Berle