Owning it! - By Atul Singh

One of the hardest things for me in this writing journey has been to call myself a writer. I can easily identify with all the other roles I play, such as being a professional, a parent, a brother and even being a runner, which I do as a hobby. But to call myself a writer was always a stretch. Hemingway was a writer, Munshi Premchand was a writer.. other folks whose books are published are writers, people who write for a living are writers.. but me? someone who plucks on the keyboard on and off.. with no direction or agenda, how do I put myself in the category of serious people, as those mentioned before? 

But I was missing the point. To call oneself a good writer is a privilege that only readers can assign us, but to call oneself a writer is an obligation and a duty if we want to move ahead in this field. All we need have, to accord ourselves that status, is to have written one essay, poem.. what have you, which all of us have done, and many times over. 

The point is that we never wax a rented car, do we? Unless we own something, we don’t quite take care of it in full earnest. As a writer, we will never buy the right equipment, engage with other writers toe to toe, give the room and space to build our skills, network, invest in ourselves unless we have the mental switch flipped to “on”status. To the staus of “Yes, I am a writer”. 

Another good reason to “own” our writing by owning the title of a “writer”, right away, this moment, is because of the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room of our lives, albeit unseen, is the subconcious mind. That is the force that creates works of art. That is the force that literally is driving the bus of our lives. That is where all inputs get assimilated and outputs generated. It is the true seat of our personalities and our true productive partner, where intuition, creativity, fears and anxieties lie. This part of the Iceberg of our mind is where vast majority of our faculties, capabilities lie, with the concious mind contributing only 5-10 percent of the outcomes according to psychologists and thinkers who are in the know. So 90 percent of the Iceberg, that is hidden underwater, the one that matters, needs to know what we own and what we are renting in our lives. There is a co-relation between whether we really ever become successful writers, and whether we ever “own” it. So today is a good day to do that. 

The Art and Craft of writing:

I have often wondered what really is the difference between Art and Craft, of writing as well as in other art forms, beyond the cursory play of words. 

What really is the Art in in art? Isn’t sketching the perfect line at the perfect place, mixing the colors just right, chipping and polishing the stone with the right tools to have to the statue’s curves come alive just right, the craft of the trade. Then what is art? More importantly, what is the art in writing? 

To me, being available to see the beauty in things, that we then get to reflect in our chosen craft is the Art, in art. To pick up a dry leaf and be available to wonder at its veins, to want to feel the moss on a stone, it’s texture, appreciate the magnificent symmetry in that small world, is the Art in art. To see two people interacting and connect that with the love that undergirds it, seeing beyond the banter, is the Art in art. This is because all of the above will come through in our work, whichever our chosen craft is. In short, to be available to see, appreciate and even find beauty in the mundane is the core skill of any artist. Craft then translates that observation, and subsequent assimilation which happens in our sub-concious mind, into a piece of poem, painting or music. That is perhaps the creative process. 

So why am I deliberating on all this. Well, it’s about the first idea discussed about ownership. We don’t really question our own capability quite as much in the “craft” of writing. Due to our work, education and backgrounds, most people feel comfortable in piecing together a thought, in the language of their choice. But, it’s the Art in the art of writing that we find ourselves not so generously endowed with. That is untill we try to decode that word itself. So, if being an artist is being available to the beauty in our surroundings, as I believe it is, then that is a switch easily made, is it not? that therefore gives us courage to call ourselves writers, owning the full spectrum of the Art and Craft of it. 

So let’s do it. Let’s begin our journey in earnest, right this moment, by getting ordained in our own eyes as a Writer.