The Myth of the Messy Creative

We have all heard about how truly creative people are supposedly messy, and its a mark of a creative genius if they live in piles of clutter. I bought into this myth, or rather used it to justify being perennially disorganized and cluttered. Who am I kidding - I continue to use it to justify my being incredibly messy. But unlike before, I no longer buy into the myth. 

I’m not really sure whether there are studies that prove this myth one way or the other. And if you are a messy person who doesn’t want to change how you work, far be it for me to pass judgement. However, as someone who has struggled with being organized and corralling my clutter my whole life, I think there are a lot of benefits to working in a neat space. And this coming from someone who basically used a big plastic box in college to store my clothes in lieu of actually folding them or hanging them up when they came out of the wash. I dumped everything in the box, and rooted around in it every morning when looking for something to wear. Needless to say, that wasn’t a great system. 

And I used only a slightly better system for organizing important paperwork - the put-it-somewhere-and-forget-about-it method. I would dump unopened correspondence, flyers for events I wanted to attend, and even free vouchers for food that I wanted to eat in a pile on my desk, and when that pile grew larger, I would just gently push it all to the back to make more room, ignoring anything that mysteriously fell behind my desk, only to be retrieved months later when I was moving out. Its a miracle that I even managed to hand in anything important on time, and definitely missed out on a lot of great opportunities. I do not recommend this! 

In subsequent years, I have really tried hard to learn how to get better at being neat and organized. I have read books and looked up systems that promise that I will turn into Martha Stewart. While I haven’t become an expert at any of this, I have picked up tons of tips to help the organizationally challenged. 

Firstly, why even bother trying to be neater? Why not just embrace that this isn’t an area of strength and live with it? 

• I often find that even if I let things slide while I am in the midst of a project or unusually busy with many things, neatening up helps me to close out a long and draining project, by putting away the detritus that accumulated while I was in the midst of working on it. 
• I also find that when I’m feeling particularly challenged and a project isn’t going as well as I would like, organizing things helps to get me back on track. This might be because neatening things on the surface helps me achieve a calmer state inside me. Or it could have something to do with the energy or chi of my space. 
• It helps reduce the distractions in my environment - seeing many different projects strewn around makes it harder to focus on the project at hand. 

So how exactly am I going to help you become more organized, at home or in your office? While I am not going to try and change you overnight into a neat freak, I will give you one huge tip that can help you in your organizational efforts: the rule of 80-20.

If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, its an economic term that basically describes a phenomena that often 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In simple English, things aren’t symmetrical or equal - a few people own a large proportion of the wealth, a few actresses get most of the Oscars and you use a few items in your home more often than the others. 

If you take the 80-20 rule and apply it to organizing your home or your office, you will realize that you wear some clothes more often than all the others combined, or some kitchen tools more than all the others, or some files in your office more often than everything else. 

How does knowing this help? It allows you to organize your space in such a way that everything you need regularly can be kept in an easy-to-access space, or kept close to hand. And the gadgets and files and handbags that you need only sometimes, can be put away - maybe in the cabinet that is harder to access, or in the top shelf of your cupboard that you need a step-ladder to get to. 

Ever since I had this epiphany of the 80-20 rule applying to organization, I realized that every room of my home violated it. I had the easiest to access drawers in my kitchen full of spices and utensils I almost never used. I kept files and papers I hadn’t touched in over six months on the table in my study. The most convenient hanging spaces in my cupboard were used for single-occasion dresses that I needed twice a year. No wonder I was disorganized - I hadn’t considered how I used my space. 

Faced with the challenge of keeping a neat dressing table, ask yourself: which items do you use most often? Put those on a pile to the side, and put everything else away. Voila! You’ve just made it easier to keep that dressing table neat. If you have a kitchen counter filled to bursting with gadgets, put away everything that is not used at least once a week. Stationery on your desk: do you really need six boxes of staples? Keep one and put the rest away. 

Why I love this method of keeping things neat - it doesn’t require you to remember complicated rules or buy special label-makers. You just ask yourself - what are my most easily accessed areas, and am I only using them to keep things I use most often?

I have been using this system myself and even converted my mum, who is much, much neater than me but still struggles with keeping everything contained. If you use this method and find it useful, email me or comment below and let me know. Better still, send me a photo! 

New Book Out and General Update

I have been absent from the blog for a while, and that is because, as we sometimes know, life intervenes. 

The short version is that I moved back to India for a while, with a new job, and basically it took me time to adjust to being back in the city I used to call home, but which seems to have changed a lot. I joined a new industry as well, and was basically just to busy getting the hang of things to have the headspace for much else. And I was struggling with being ill almost the whole time, so there is that.

I didn’t however, stop reading, and have read and am reading some great books, that I hope to write about soon. I also finished the book I have been writing since last year or maybe even earlier than that (gosh!), and it is finally out and available to buy on Amazon. 

This book has been a huge challenge. I remember hearing a quote from Neil Gaiman, or it could be that he was quoting someone else, which basically said you learn to write the book you’re writing once it is done. And that’s basically been my experience. I have jumped from one genre to the other and one type of book to the other, and basically struggled through till I figured it out. But this book specifically was the toughest one till date, simply because I was trying to write in a style that doesn’t exactly come naturally to me, and I was working with material that was challenging as well. 

On the face of it, a book about my experiences in college sounds simple to write, but I struggled with it because I wanted to write humorous, Marian Keyes-style essays, and needlessly to say, that was easier said than done. I am not sure the resultant effort is anything like Keyes’ writing (whom I admire very much), but it is definitely a departure in style for me. While I am not sure I can or want to write in this style again, I feel that my writing has improved as a result of this book. 

I am also proud of myself for finishing the book despite the challenges of my new job and adjusting to this new environment. It isn’t easy to juggle work and family and personal time and writing, and while I have given advice regarding this subject before, I didn’t ever have quite such tight time deadlines to face. I have a new-found respect for those who manage to do this on a regular basis and still put books out.

This is why I have also decided to set a new challenge for myself for next year. I love to follow the blogs of authors who publicly post challenges and record their progress; however, I never had the courage to do this myself. I still don’t, but I am willing to try. And perhaps I will do what Dean Wesley Smith keeps saying, I will fail to success. I’ll share more details in another post, but for now, I am excited and nervous.

You can check out my new book at the link below; it is available at the new release price till just after Christmas. It might make a good  gift for the college students and college-bound in your gift list. 

With plenty of self-deprecating remarks and tongue firmly in cheek, Geetanjali writes about her days as an international student at a leading university in England. Although covering the usual topics of academics and crushes and part-time jobs, this isn't your usual "handbook of student life". Geetanjali takes you along on an adventure as she samples her way across a non-traditional college experience, from joining a Rock Gospel choir to singing in a Portuguese band to fending off sword-attacks in the middle of the night. Whether you are a student embarking on your own college adventure, or simply looking to revisit your university antics, you will enjoy this unique collection of essays. 

Buy now at special new release price.

My Foray into Writing Fiction

A few weeks ago I published my first short story. 

This is also the first short story I have ever finished.

I had very low expectations for it, given that I have been writing fiction for a relatively short period of time. I won Nanowrimo in 2015, but that novel is just sitting on my hard drive, waiting for me to edit it or deem it unredeemable. 

People used to me why I don’t write fiction. My mom constantly asked me this, accompanied by ideas for stories. If you’re a writer, you know how annoying that is. Others would say this to me, usually as a hint that I probably should start writing something with a wider appeal.

My response was always - I don’t have any ideas for fiction. I can’t write it. That’s just not me.

But the thing is that it was me. I used to write the beginnings of stories and little sketches when I was in middle school, but chickened out halfway through and never completed anything. My notebooks are filled with conversations and scenes that never went anywhere. 

I always assumed that if I were meant to write fiction, the entire story would come to me in a flash and all I had to do was write it down. I thought the words would pour out smooth and polished. Since that never happened, I just kept waiting. 

But here’s the power of bringing intentionality into your life. I started listening to podcasts on writing, and inevitably most of the authors interviewed were fiction writers. Hearing their origin stories and forays into writing I realized that there would never be a moment when the stars aligned and everything would be perfect. If I wanted to write fiction I would just have to do it. 

Listening to authors talk about work and discipline and tricks for boosting word count I tiptoed into Nanowrimo and managed to write 50,000 words of a novel, although most of it wasn’t even first-reader worthy. But I did it and realized that I could write fiction. Maybe not very well, but it was possible.

And then I started getting ideas - all the time. Everywhere I went I heard stories. I took notes on the ideas when I could, but didn’t develop any of them. Still, I was waiting. For the timing to be right. To finish my current work-in-progress. To take a fiction-writing class. To read more craft books. Listen to more podcasts. 

Until finally one day when I got fed up with my own excuses. And I decided to take my laptop to a coffee shop and write - no matter how badly. Awkward phrases and cliched sentences poured out, but soon I had a draft. And then I revised that draft and pressed publish. 

As I said, I wasn’t expecting anything. I simply wanted to change how I saw myself. I wanted to take that first tentative step along the path of writing stories. 

That first step changed something in me. Not just in how I saw myself, but in how others saw me. I could have talked forever about wanting to write fiction, but I discovered there is power in taking action. My first readers loved the story, even given its flaws. They told me my characterization was my strength, when I had always believed that was my weakness. I got a complimentary review from BookAngel.co.uk. I had an animated conversation with a few friends about the various ideas I had for stories and a series I was thinking about. Previously, I had never even talked about books with these friends, and suddenly we were discussing plot and characterization. It was a shift, that came from my taking that first step and putting my work out there. 

I have a lot more to learn. And lots of stories bursting for me to tell them. I definitely believe those authors who say that creativity begets creativity. If you feel as if you have no ideas, act on something. Create something. You will find there is a river where you thought there wasn’t even a rivulet. 

And if you’re interested, you can read my story (and maybe leave a review 😀): The Brooch

New Translated Book Update: Albert Speer Out Now in Portuguese!

My book on Albert Speer "Will The Real Albert Speer Please Stand Up? The Many Faces of Hitler's Architect" is out now in Portuguese! 

Translated by Juliana Maria Mendes, who did a fabulous job, the Portuguese version is titled "Será que o verdadeiro Albert Speer vai se revelar? As muitas faces do arquiteto de Hitler". The book is available here: https://books2read.com/portuguesealbertspeer 

I am really excited to have my book translated now into three languages! If anyone is interested in getting a review copy, get in touch with me and I will get one to you. 

In other news: the Italian translation of this book, available here, will be on promotion at $0.99 from 24th to 27th April. 

On Taking Care of Your Health

I am writing this while battling a cold and flu. It is mild, and I am not so sick that I need to go to a doctor, but sick enough to derail me from working or functioning at anything other than a slow pace. Not that there is ever a good time to fall sick, but now is a particularly bad time, as I have deadlines and owe work to people at the end of the week. As a result, I am wracked with guilt, trying unsuccessfully to work even though I feel like crap and just want to crawl into bed and stay there, and am worried that my work won’t be any good because basically my brain has gone to sleep. 

And only because I am sick and unable to work and this is affecting my productivity, I realize how important it is to look after one’s health before one falls sick. Cliched I know, but still true. 

Lately I have been obsessed with productivity and efficiency and lists - partly because I really enjoy that kind of thing and partly because I have a lot more to do than before and need to find a way to juggle it all. Having more work and more opportunities is always a good thing, but then again, we aren’t meant to be machines, and need to schedule time for maintenance. Despite knowing all this intellectually, I didn’t follow through practically. I keep skimping on workouts, squeezing in a couple of walks only under duress, even though I immediately felt better after each one. I kept promising that I would eat better, and then promptly skipped the salad and fruit smoothies for food that felt good in the moment, reducing my stress or giving me an artificial sugar or caffeine high so I could go back to work re-charged. I kept telling myself that at the end of the week, or just after this project, I would focus more on my health. I would take the time to eat right, I would exercise more. And before I could make good on these promises, I fell ill. And now I am taking the time to make soups and buy fruit, but it’s like the cliche of shutting the barn door after the horse escaped. 

We all know this - our bodies need maintenance. We need to take care of our health. But we sacrifice the currency of good health in the short term for more productivity, or so we think at any rate. We send more emails, do more busy work, execute on projects we already agreed to. But at what cost? Do we tell the car that now is not a good time to stop for gas when its running low? Why do we perform the same gamble with our bodies?

I think that taking the time to reset helps us gain more than just energy and better health. I think that pausing and reflecting, building the time for renewal also lets us evaluate - are all the things on my plate truly necessary or am I running around in circles? How can I accomplish more while doing less in certain areas? Where has inefficiency crept in? Asking these questions might actually allow us to get more done while being less stressed and having more down time. After all its the results we achieve that matter, not whether we maintained an empty inbox. 

I’m still struggling to implement a lot of these lessons myself. I have been looking at my to-do list, and as each new project comes along, instead of wondering what I can bump off or downgrade in importance to include it, I try to see how many more hours I can work to get it all done. The fact is that there are finite hours in the day and there are limits to my energy, especially if I don’t take adequate steps to replenish it. It is more productive to be healthy, to walk more, to buy flowers or light a scented candle or watch the sunset. The work will still be here when we get back, and maybe we can look at it from a completely different perspective. 

Deliberate Practice and Becoming a Successful Writer

The Myth of Talent

I have been reading a book by noted psychologist Anders Ericsson called Peak: Secrets From The New Science of Expertise, and I had lots of insights, especially applicable to writers and other creatives. 

While the book focuses a lot on elite athletes and performers, and the techniques that help them get to that level and beyond, I think it is equally helpful for anyone wanting to be a writer or painter or film director, starting out and wondering how to achieve their dream.

I don't discount the role of luck and fortune and timing in achieving success for those in the arts. Not every talented person will make it. Not every book will be a bestseller, or every deserving movie get an award. But what about all those people whose heart is set on writing a novel and getting it published, but they keep getting rejected? Or those who want to paint or learn a musical instrument, perhaps just as a hobby, but fear that since they didn't start as a child, it is too late for them to pick it up? Or maybe they just believe they lack the "talent" for whatever pursuit they aim for?

The word "talent" actually really bothers me. It has ever since I read the book The Talent Code and realized how much of what we think as miraculous, innate ability, is simply the result of hours of hard work and practice. Peak underscores this. The skills of elite musicians and athletes and mathematicians can be attributed to years of focused practice that honed their skills and abilities, which an outsider seeing what they can do, often tends to attribute to some magical quality that they must have been born with. But there is no gene that selected people come into the world with, that enables them to become chess grandmasters or golf pros or tennis champions. Even Mozart practiced for years before he became a truly original composer of classical music. 

But What About Twilight?

Unfortunately, the world of publishing is quite different, at least from the outside, from the world of Olympic athletes and Carnegie Hall concert pianists. While you wouldn’t expect someone who started playing the piano three months ago to perform at the world’s best venues, or a gymnast with six months of training to make the Olympic team, we routinely hear of debut authors whose book hit the New York Times list or has sold a million copies. 

Which is why, whenever I read research that debunks the myth of talent, a small voice in my head would pipe up - “But what about Twilight? And 50 Shades of Grey? And the Harry Potter series?”

There may be debate about some of the books that make it to bestseller status, but I am quite clear that J.K. Rowling’s bestseller series are some of the best books I have read, with obvious mastery of the craft of storytelling. How did they do so well then?

I have been doing some research, and many of the authors whose books I admire actually did write for years before their most famous work hit the bestseller lists - either with previously published books that went under the radar, or writing for years before being published. In other cases, the first book showed promise, but subsequent books in the series or by the same author actually improved, showing that the author got better with each novel under her belt. 

And of course there is a whole host of other factors, such as timing, savvy marketing, and the reverse effect - that many really good books don’t get the spotlight they deserve. That is a suppose the problem of the arts, you can’t exactly rank every author or painter in the way you can athletes or chess players. 

But there is one lesson that stood out in all my reading, and the primary take-away from Peak. No matter where your talent level currently lies, you can get better with practice. With the right kind of practice. 

The Promise of Deliberate Practice

Without giving a lecture on the subject, the definition of deliberate practice or the kind of practice that Ericsson claims improves skill at a fast pace, is that you work on improving specific aspects of the skill, with full concentration, working just outside your comfort zone. The essential components are that you identify your weaknesses, find ways to practice to improve them, and get feedback so that you know whether you are getting better or closer to the desired outcome. 

For writing fiction, that might mean choosing a specific aspect of craft to hone, such as writing more compelling characters, and revising your manuscript or writing a fresh story where you specifically aim to improve your characterization. You read craft books and take writing courses that help you get to the next level. 

While this is generally something most authors aspire to anyway, a student of deliberate practice might make it an integral part of their approach. They might constantly seek feedback (from teachers, trusted readers, other authors) to hone in on their weaker areas, and seek to address them one at a time in each upcoming story. They might take courses specifically targeted to whichever aspects of storytelling they feel they need to beef up. They never get comfortable, always taking on a harder and harder challenge, pushing the boundaries of what they are capable of. 

And I believe that this approach can help a veteran author of 10 novels as much as a beginner thinking about their first. Many more people want to write fiction that actually attempt it, and I think a big part of it is due to this myth about talent. As a fledgling writer, when I tell people that I am working on a book, most people wistfully tell me they would love to write, if only they had the talent. For many this wish might be on par with me wishing I could sing better, even though I am not ready to sign up for singing lessons and devote 3 evenings a week to practicing scales. But for others, many like me, they might be harboring a strong, secret desire to write, but are held back by the belief that they don’t have the talent. 

No matter where you are as a writer, you can improve. Authors like Dean Wesley Smith say this in every blog post, others believe it because they have experienced it. Sometimes when we see amazing art out in the world, in the form of incredibly made movies or books that stay with you long after you close the page or plays that bring those who never watched a play into the theatre, we think that that person who created this couldn’t possibly be someone like me. I couldn’t possibly do anything as beautiful as this. As I watched the Academy Awards last night with tears streaming down my face, I was inspired by the diverse range and strength of talent on display. But I reminded myself that all of them had started out, nervous and unsure, facing the camera or the blank page for the first time, and put in years of dedicated effort to get where they are today. And while yours and my efforts may not guarantee us an Oscar, my new understanding of deliberate practice convinced me that steady effort at my craft would guarantee that I too could look back years later, and be amazed at the difference in the quality of my work. The years go by one way or the other. I would rather that I spent them aiming for something just outside my grasp, even if I never quite reached it, than wishing that I had had the courage to try.

So in the words of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul ( La La Land):

“Here’s to the ones who dream,

Foolish as they may seem”. 

Italian Translation of "Will The Real Albert Speer Please Stand Up?" and a Book Giveaway

I was waiting till the book was up at all retailers, but the process is a bit slow and I am impatient, so I will go ahead and make the announcement. My book “Will The Real Albert Speer Please Stand Up? The Many Faces of Hitler’s Architect” is now available in Italian! Yay!

I am really excited about this. The book has been translated by Cristina Ventrella and it is now up at several retailers, including the iBookstore, B&N, Kobo and Google Play, as well as some of the others like Scribd, Inktera and Thalia. Here’s the link to the book, and you can navigate to your favorite retailer from there (as it appears on more retailer pages, I will update the link): books2read.com/albertspeeritalian

Also, to celebrate the launch of the book, I have set up a Goodreads giveaway for the English version of the book. It is open to residents in the United States, and I am giving away one paperback copy of the book. The giveaway is live right now, and will be open to entries till February 28^th. Here’s the link for that: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/222221-will-the-real-albert-speer-please-stand-up-the-many-faces-of-hitler-s-a

I also want to announce that a Spanish version of the book is also on the way, as well as maybe a Portuguese edition. Looking forward to having readers in other languages reading my words. I love that all these things are possible because of technology. The publishing industry is going through lots of changes, and while I don’t write about that kind of thing here (although that may change), one thing I am very excited about is being part of the industry and I am looking forward to going along for the ride. 

Taking Yourself Too Seriously

Writing and finishing books is really important to me. But sometimes, it becomes more important than everything else, and I lose sight of what really matters. 

I have been struggling with completing a project I thought would take just a few days, and I have been really behind on some other projects - things I am working on on my own and some that I need to deliver to others. I have been feeling a lot of pressure to finish everything quickly. But at the same time, I have really high standards, and the projects I am working on are all ones that are difficult because they are in areas that are new to me. I am taking risks and moving out of my comfort zone. 

Bottomline - I am working on things that are hard, they are taking time and I am not making progress as quickly or as easily as I would like, and I am getting frustrated. 

And sometimes I take that frustration out on others. 

Lately, I have been cranky on the phone with my parents, or calling them up and sounding out my problems, but not having the patience or time to listen to anything going on with them. I have been feeling very irritable, and even things out of my control, like the weather, is getting to me. I chalked all this up to just the stress of getting things done and perfectly normal. 

Till it occurred to me that working on books and large projects was a choice I made. I love working on books. I love doing research and putting something together. And being cranky and crabby all the time isn’t a price I want to pay, and its not a way to work. I know many people who work that way, in jobs they can’t bear, hanging on by looking at the size of their paycheck. I might be in that position one day, but I don’t have to be now, not when I am my own boss. 

And I realized that I was taking everything too seriously. It is important to do good work. I do believe that high standards are important. But I can’t make progress, or take on difficult challenges by being afraid to make a mistake, by being afraid to just play, to do the work and see where it takes me. And I can’t do that if I am tense, if I am watching the clock and trying to hit somebody else’s measure of productivity. I just have to do the best I can each day, and that’s it.

Besides, I am writing a book. It is meant to be informative or entertaining, not supposed to save lives. No need to get so serious here. It is ok if I make a decision that doesn’t work so well. It is ok if I just rush through this draft and fix what I can. It is ok if some small mistakes pass me by. I am not advocating shoddy work, but it is always possible to go back and fix things.

This lesson was underscored even more because I spent a little bit of time the last couple of days doing a copy-edit on a book I had already published and edited several times. I am working on a companion workbook to my book on study skills, and I found many little typos and errors, so I spent some time going over the draft again and fixing what I could. And that felt good, but also made me realize that no matter how perfect I try to make something, many errors will slip by. Some I will catch, others I won’t. But it isn’t so bad. This is a book that everyone who has read has really liked, and obviously they did so despite the few remaining grammatical and spelling errors (mostly differences between British and American spellings). The best thing about publishing it myself is that I can change my manuscript when I find something that needs fixing. 

So anyway, I realized that it doesn’t hurt to take a bit of time out to be present in the lives of my family, to read a book or just cut myself some slack. I still have a lot to do, I still have obligations and projects that need completing, but maybe I can do them with a lighter touch - on my work and on myself. 

To Live or To Create

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes an ideal day, and by extension, an ideal life. If you have noticed, I haven’t updated my blog or posted anything personal in a while, although I have been posting the author interviews on schedule. The reason is that a lot has been going on in my personal life, and the blog took a bit of a backseat. Besides, I was trying to be productive and complete many projects that I had promised myself I would. 

I also recently moved to a new place, and had all the attendant hassles that go with that. But the move has done something else - it forced me to confront how I was scheduling my days, simply by changing my surroundings so drastically. I work from home, so as my home office changed, the patterns of work changed, and I have been asking myself what is the best way to plan the day. Maybe it is also to do with the ending of a year, beginning of another one. I have been trying to complete as quickly as I can projects that I had hoped to be done with in 2016. And in other ways I am recalibrating, and assessing how much I did do, what I can realistically plan for the next few months, and all of that wonderful end of year planning that one tends to do but can be depressing, or at the very least, sobering. 

And in all this, I have been asking myself - if I could craft my day any way that I chose, what would I do? Sometimes I feel that I obsess about productivity for its own sake, without looking at the bigger picture. That is actually a theme I have been thinking a lot about, and some conclusions I came to will impact the kind of work I take on, and even the blog, from next year. But in the meantime, it is a question that I want to have an immediate answer to at present - if I could work on a project, what would it be? Should I keep working, or take advantage of the lovely weather and go for a walk? Should I meet my friend or hole myself up in a cafe and get a couple thousand words written? 

Maybe these aren’t such big important questions? But taken another way, they are a lens with which to view life, and even to decide your philosophy on what makes for a good life. Is it better to spend hours at a desk hammering away, missing out on friends and family and even fresh air, but then finally completing that novel or that symphony or writing an important scientific paper? Or would it be better to look back on the past few months and recall the many times you went out with a friend, cooked a meal for a loved one, took long walks and read a few good books? I know it may not be the case for everyone that life choices are so stark as these, but this isn’t as far-fetched as you may think. I listen to a lot of podcasts where successful authors come on and discuss their strategies, and one thing I took away from many of these sessions is how hard the authors worked in the initial years - when the money wasn’t coming, when the work was hard, when they were toiling away for hours at their manuscripts. And then I go on Instagram and Facebook and see my friends eating at lovely restaurants, and going on holidays and posting fab pictures. Paradoxically, so do some of these writers, actors, celebs who are successful and have the time and money to go on holiday to exotic places and post pictures. 

But the question I ask myself is this - would it better for me to enjoy my youth and the sun and the good times now? Or work hard, toil away so that I could do that in the future - although there are no guarantees and not everyone achieves success? Maybe these are even the wrong questions to ask. Maybe the real question is what do you most love to do with your time? If you love to create, then you should, regardless of the reward. 

Then again, is it that simple? I love to write, when the writing is going well. But then as I start a new project, maybe something harder, more ambitious than my last one, the writing doesn’t go well. I don’t think I will be able to do it. I feel frustrated. I definitely don’t love it at that point. I would much prefer to go watch a movie or read a good book. And sometimes I do. But then the challenge of the book beckons, at least it beckons enough to ruin the experience of the movie or the book. Eventually I know that I couldn’t be in peace till I tried at least to write it. 

And maybe that really is the answer. That balance doesn’t come from writing for 3 hours in the morning, going for a walk in the afternoon and then going to bed early. That kind of schedule might work for some (many famous writers in fact follow this routine), and for others it might be something they have built up to after years of struggling. But balance in life doesn’t always have to be the same as symmetry, or doing the same thing every day at the same time. Laura Vanderkam wrote in her book 168 Hours that balance could happen over a week, and I would go so far as to give an even bigger timeframe. It is okay if while you’re writing the last four chapters of your PhD thesis you eat Chinese food and only occasionally hit the gym, as long as you get the chapters done, and get back to a healthier lifestyle once those chapters have been handed in. It is okay to be a hermit while you write a draft of your novel for 3 months, working after work and on weekends, as long as you emerge, catch up with friends, and don’t place all your hopes and dreams on one manuscript. 

Perhaps balance looks different for different people, and what matters more than crafting the perfect day is crafting a mindful one, where you make choose how you spend your time. 

Hiding in Plain Sight

Sometimes we miss even the most wonderful things just because we aren’t looking in the right place. Sometimes there is great beauty or amazing experiences to be had, but we can’t see them because we fail to venture just a few steps outside our comfort zone.

I have lived for the last few years incredibly close to the sea, and went for many walks by the beach and on the promenade. I believed I knew this area well, and was grateful for the incredibly scenic route to walk in. However, recently due to some construction, barriers were put up at certain points, restricting movement in the area, especially across a small bridge that formed part of my usual route. I found myself restricted to a short loop, which quickly grew boring, and I almost gave up on walks along that route.

There was a longer route past the promenade of restaurants, that led to an area popular for camping and barbecues. I had been there a few times and while the path was popular with many runners, I hadn’t ventured beyond a point and didn’t think it was particularly interesting. Perhaps I was a little intimidated by the large crowds gathered around the various barbecue pits I encountered at each occasion I ventured that far inside the park area.

A few weeks ago, frustrated at the short loop that I thought I was forced to walk, I ventured towards the campgrounds, and finding the paths relatively empty and interesting, I kept walking, right past the crowd of barbecue pits. I walked past the built-up area and found a scenic spot with some benches, and a particularly scenic view. I took some pictures, admired the view, and turned around. It was a pleasant walk. Later in the week, I went just a bit further.

Then a few days later, I decided to walk around - and re-discovered a pond I had seen in the area some years ago on a brief picnic with some visiting relatives. On that occasion we had simply walked past it. On this day I decided to explore it, walking around its perimeter till it grew dark.

I returned a few days later, walking straight towards the pond. It was earlier in the evening, so instead of floundering around in the dark, I could explore freely. The pond was beautiful. A little wild, a little unkempt. And I noticed several paths converging by the pond. I took one of these paths and explored.

And I found secret walking trails. A network of narrow paths with forest on both sides. A short gravelly trail strewn with fallen leaves and canopied by converging trees. Rich vegetation growing abundantly, marking the edges of the walking paths. I had stumbled upon one of the nature parks of Singapore.

I had no idea something this beautiful and undiscovered existed so close to where I lived, so close to the trail I had walked regularly for the past few years. This particular area was shaded and cool even on hot, sunny late afternoons. While there were a few cyclists and one or two lone runners, for the most part, the trails were secluded, and I had the feeling of being transported to a Disney movie, where I had discovered a parallel dimension, or walked into a secret fairy world.

Since the day I made my first discovery of this beautiful wooded area, I have gone on many long walks by myself, marveling in the serenity and peace I feel as soon as I step onto the now-familiar trail. And I started to think, how was it that this beauty existed so close, and yet I had never seen it before? And what else was I not seeing? What else was hiding in plain sight?

Part of being a writer is seeing something that everyone else sees, but seeing it differently. Seeing with beginner’s mind, as the Zen Buddhists would say. But in this case it wasn’t that I was seeing something familiar differently. It’s that I was seeing something for the first time, that should be familiar.

I had restricted myself to the same short circular walk for years, without venturing beyond a set route. I had grown comfortable in my comfort zone. And isn’t that what many of us do without realizing? We walk the same set path, stick to the same actions, without realizing that there may be breathtaking beauty just steps away, if only we would venture down a different road for once.