Write to Connect
wow
that was a tough act to follow i’ve got
three excellent speakers ahead of me
and i’m the last speaker so i’m going to
do my best
and what i’m going to talk to you today
about is
what i am most passionate about
writing writing is
not just something that some people do
writing is something that all of us can
do
you sit before me in masks you sit
a meter apart they’ve got the speakers
completely far apart in fact and
for this is the first time that’s
happened to us this is the first time
that i’ve seen this happen in my
lifetime i can’t get off the stage after
this and do what i usually do
i can’t shake your hands i want to all
30 of you
who are here today i i want to pet you
on your back and say hey
you know i hope you had fun i you know
and i want to talk to you but i can’t
get too close
we live right now in trouble times
it won’t last but while it but despite
all of that
there is something that we can do
we can put our fingers to the keyboard
we can pick up a pen
and write now when i tell people
that i write um or when people
talk to me about my books or talk to all
you know people come to my classes on
writing
they say oh you’re right
oh you’re talented that’s why you’re
right you know
that really isn’t what it is
writing is not constrained by
age nor education or anything
in fact all of us can do it let me share
with you
an incident that occurred several years
ago
um i think about seven eight years ago
in my home
right i had come back from one of my
usual writers retreats
and you know when you go over these
writers retreats you you learn
a lot a lot of new strategies you get to
try out new things
right so i came back home to my 10 year
old
who was bent over doing his homework
something important i think math or
science you know those songs those sorts
of things
so i go over and i thought you know you
know and i’ll tell you guys
all your parents experiment on you so
this was my moment and i go
hey buddy he goes yes i’m a math of
science
and i said you want to play a game with
amma and he was like
yes you know chucked aside turns around
what are we doing
um so i take out two notebooks and i
show it to him
his eyes start narrowing already and
then i said
you know we’re going to do something
okay we’re going to make lists of things
that are precious to us he’s like
are you going to mark this you can’t
blame that child he’s the only child
of an english teacher what he has
written so many essays that i’ve tricked
him into writing
so i was like no this is going to be
private
you are going to write a list and so
will mummy
i’ll write a list as well so what are we
writing about
write about five things that are that’s
precious to you
we set the timer but we’re going to set
the timer i said three minutes let’s
make a list
we start writing we stopped timer burst
we stopped
and i said okay great now circle the one
thing that you may wish to share with me
that is
not private that i may know about so
he circles that this sounds fun right i
mean for once i tell him he can have his
privacy
so for once i say you know it’s only
what you want to tell me so you know sir
he said
he said yes i’m ready i said great this
is what we’re going to do next the next
part of the game is
you and i are going to write you should
have seen the look on his face
are you tricking me into writing another
essay i was like
no darling you write what you want write
whatever you want
just write just write i said yes so yes
we set the timer and i said look it
can’t be a trick if mummy is writing too
right
he thought about it and he said you’re
going to write about what’s precious to
you i said yes yes yes
is it me uh i’m not telling you yet so
then we start writing we set the alarm
uh we set the timer on and we started
writing
15 minutes buzzer goes off
um not you know despite my best
intentions i went into the buzzer goes
all right and what do i do
okay put down your pan and make sure you
finish that sentence last sentence
right and he gives he turns around
stares at me
and finishes it and he too is you know
cute to finish that little
essay or you know the little text that
he had written
then it was time to share and he looks
over at my
notebook and he was what
i was like why you that’s all you wrote
i was like yeah i mean like i had a page
i had i mean it wasn’t the best
handwriting i
i type all the all my essays and i type
a lot
i spent the bulk of the time doing that
right rather than handwriting so i don’t
have the best handwriting right now
i looked over to his work two-finger
spacing good boy
all right neat paragraphs he had thought
through what he wanted to write and here
i was you know
some sometimes i had a full sentence
sometimes i had half a clause
and and i had written i written from my
heart and i had just written
and it wasn’t as complete as his so
he was shocked and he turned to me and
he said
amma i’m only 10 you have a phd
and that’s all you wrote
it struck me then i mean it was
hilarious right i mean it was it was
really hilarious because he was truly
truly modified
it was hilarious because you know
it doesn’t matter how old you are i mean
it’s only physically possible to write a
certain amount
it doesn’t matter what your education is
it’s the first draft
and we what mattered is that we wrote
what would matter later on is if we
would revise it if we were to work on it
if we were to work on the craft
so really writing
is not a gift that’s missed out on just
a few
writing is for all of us especially
during these times
right to connect with your inner voice
because writing can put you in a better
frame of mind
writing can take you to a different
place now
as aaron said no talk is complete on the
humanities without shakespeare right
so certainly did you know that
shakespeare had written king lear during
the quarantine
now i know shakespeare we all can’t be i
have certainly have more hair
what can we then do well
for a start why don’t you make a list of
things
when you’re happy when you’re troubled
especially when you’re troubled
why don’t you make a list of things a
list of things that’s troubling you
when you need to make a decision why
don’t you make a list of things
list of possibilities don’t just stop
with the list you know
that’s what most people do stop
pause circle the one thing that matters
the most
and then start writing about it
just write now you are writing for
yourself you’re not writing for your
teachers you’re not writing for an
examination
you are writing for yourself you are
writing to discover your inner voice
so just write and as you write
you will discover because writing
will reveal writing is liberating
and writing will show you what
is truly in your heart
now if anne frank hadn’t written her
diary
would we know what we know today
her work i mean she was a child she
wrote a diary i mean how many of us have
not read anne frank’s diary
and one of the things she says is and
one of the quotes is that
i can shake off everything as i write my
sorrows disappear my courage is reborn
writing is cathartic writing helps
writing puts your thoughts your words
your emotions your
you know your heart out there and it’s
okay because it’s a safe space it’s you
and the paper and the pen or
two days ago i read that priyanka chopra
a very successful bollywood and
hollywood actress
had just finished her memoir during the
quarantine period
titled unfinished
now where do we start then
we want to write first and foremost
be a voracious reader
now this isn’t my library right though i
wish it was
i love books i i absolutely love books i
i walk into i i walk into airports
i walk into book shops i walk into
shopping malls
and if there’s a bookshop there and i
come back with lots of books
and these days of course with social
media i see lots of posts of books and
people you know
talking about books and i buy all of
that you have good reads as well and i
go and buy all of that as well you get
good
you could get good reviews you get to
learn about a lot more books
why each book is a little world
each book is a voice each book
is a piece of art it brings you to a
different place
it takes you where you could have never
gone
in this lifetime each book tells
many stories if you read a thousand
books you would have lived a thousand
lives i’m sure you would have heard that
if you don’t read anything at all you
would have just lived this one life
you would have only met the people that
you know in this lifetime
you wouldn’t face the different
circumstances you wouldn’t face the
different dialogues you wouldn’t see the
way different people react
you wouldn’t be able to see the world
the way you can if you start
reading widely if you don’t start
reading widely
now famous writer
author horror lots of people love his
books
and what has he got to say said if you
don’t have time to read then you
really don’t have the tools to write so
read widely read widely
read different things you are on social
media
read voraciously
now i was quite intrigued by this
challenge
that dr shashi there took um the 365
books a year
challenge right um so what he did was he
read
a book a day and he’s a
prolific writer he writes quickly he
writes you know he’s got
he’s famous for his in a command of
vocabulary he wasn’t he was an
international diplomat
he is a current indian politician he’s
an amazing writer
now but he has admitted that it wasn’t
perhaps the best thing
that he did because he didn’t get to
savor the book so you don’t have to do
that
right you don’t have to read 365 books a
year
that it’s not a challenge enjoy what you
read
pick only what you like because that’s
when
it’ll speak to your heart
now i want to talk to you about you know
i want to end with
telling you about what happened uh
recently with me
and talk to you about how i discovered
something so the circuit breaker came
arrived
and um i was i i remember the the
announcement coming in at the university
i was delivering my last tutorial lesson
it was a writing class mind you and um
and then we were told that you know
we’re going to be working from home and
there were no
classes et cetera i was
in the midst of finishing up my novel my
latest novel i had just translated it
i’d been working on it for two years
i was in the midst of finishing it up so
i thought oh great so now i can work
you know through the night and you know
what that’s what works best for me
draft after draft i went through
everything i worked on it
it was done
27 july 2 am
i remember that distinctly because my my
editor texted me remember the date
and i submitted it right i’m like okay
final set of proofs
let me submit it now i submit it and i
and i get up
and i think okay 2am i need to sleep
but i just couldn’t move i was
a bundle of emotions and i
couldn’t put my finger on it i mean
don’t get me wrong
i love writing i loved working on this
project it was demanding
it was you know it was exciting it got
me up at night i was thinking what is
the right word for it how did i get it
right did i get the new answers right so
it it was an exciting thing
but i i felt uplifted
i my heart was heavy my pulse was racing
but i just couldn’t move i thought oh
do i have more coffee in me than i
should but that wasn’t just
it so i did what i
have always advocated to all my students
and my friends and what i’ve always gone
back to
i set the timer and i said babe
you’re gonna write i started making
notes three minutes right so
i find that it works very well when you
do these these timed activities you know
to get you in otherwise you get stuck
with this
writer’s block so that okay babe you’re
gonna do this you’ve got this
so i started making notes um and it’s
all you know
little words and little phrases and like
i feel this i feel this i feel this and
then and like and then and then slowly
the words became
sentences and then three minutes was up
and i said okay time to put on the 15
minute
buzzer the timer i put that on and then
i started writing
and this is what came out from me
so please allow me to read it to you
and you will see what i discovered
eleven drafts later you arrived
fully formed in many ways for my
editor’s
red pen to shape and coax
you into the light i see she dressed you
in a ball gown too
you lucky girl the next time i see you
i’ll be able to pick you up and hold you
in my hands
inhale the woodsy pop scent and trace my
name on your cover
the next time i see you you’ll be real
you were made to live in other homes to
be held
by other hands to be loved and cherished
by others
i pray they be kind to you my love i
will think of you every day
for you were carved out of my soul and
fashioned in my mind
i’ll bet for nameless others
that gave me an insight into what was
troubling me
now right to connect it is
your right to connect with yourself and
with
others and with the society
even in troubling times even
during a long time locked down writing
is liberating thank you
you