I have barely 10 minutes before I have to rush out of my office. Already while typing the first sentence I missed the 'o' of 'out' and had to hit a lot of backspaces to correct it. Yes, I fall in that set of people who do not use the cursor to get back to mistakes. But here, that is not the point. I am making a dash here. A dash to tell something, which if I don't I might never do.
It is about time. Or timing, if you prefer that. I look at the clock on the bottom of the screen and see that three minutes have passed without me making two complete paragraphs.
The thing about writing is a lot about not writing. If you like to write, and a lot of people I know do, it is also a lot about timing. Unless they are the timeless things. Stories, poetry, etc. But then there too the element of time is important. Professional writers might have their own ways, but for the rest of us, what about the thought that consumes you while you are driving? One may hold it, and if it is powerful enough it will stay. Like this story which I thought about sometime in the afternoon while correcting answer papers of an university exam for students of dentistry.
But the holding on becomes difficult after point. Or even if it does not, the form changes. I have given myself 4 more minutes to make the point.
I particularly find myself in desperation when there is an issue to write on, say the current issue of disbanding Medical Council of India and replacing it with National Medical Commission. I have read the whole report, made my observations yet I am falling short of time to write a commentary on it. And I am not even making excuses. The little girl wakes up at unearthly hours and it is taking a huge toll. More about it later.
For someone who loves to write and feels actually irritated for not doing it often, such backlog of issues is only killing. All the sane advices of prioritizing, allocating time, setting aside things, staying away from social media, etc, etc, works but not very often. Now I see I have a minute left.
I will be flying to Bangalore tomorrow, there has to be some last minute shopping done, bags to be brought down the attic and dusted, debate over what to take and what not to engage with. But another thought that bogs me down is this trip will be the end of writing anything for the next 6 days.
For those of you can, keep writing.
Its true that timing matters else it's difficult to express a thought in a manner it strikes a writer at the moment. While the whole composition may not be drafted soon, drafting certain pointers at that instant moment and later revisiting them helps to frame a comprehension (its always about connecting the dots).
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