New Challenge

I almost gave up on writing today, I just thought to myself, that I probably need a break for a day as I have already been working on my writing projects. But I read something interesting, I saw this routine that called for three things to do, for improving writing namely, writing everyday (I think we have that covered, to some extent I suppose) and counting the number of written words, keeping track of the time spent in writing and the third, is reading. Just yesterday, I was thinking that I should probably include reading as part of my routine too, as I felt it would help me open up my mind and give me some insights as to how to improve what I am writing. I have been writing something or the other for the past few days, some good, some bad and some average, so I feel it probably is time to take it to the next step, increase the number of words I am writing. My initial challenge was to write just 250 words, but most days I am writing more than that and some days I exceed that as well. Having been able to touch that mark, I felt I should aim for 500+ everyday. I also really want to try writing my blog everyday, even if I am writing something else. Second thing I want to include is to read, I don't know to what extent I am going to be able to accomplish this task, but I want to push myself and see how far I can go. 

As part of the reading challenge, I have decided to read Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence. This book keeps coming up every now and then, and I had a strong inclination to read it, but never really picked it up even though it was gathering dust on my bookshelf. I first came across Age of Innocence on this series I used to watch at one point and ever since it has piqued my interest. Perhaps now is a good time to delve into it and see what the fuss is all about. 

The idea is to read as much as I can of the book and write a small review of what I have read that day, this will help me keep track of reading and give me something to write about, especially on days where I don't know what to write about.  I have a feeling it may be a good exercise if I actually follow through. 

This reminds me of the time we used to read novels as part of our curriculum, and had to write lengthy answers about them in our exams. I am so thankful that we did that, in my opinion, it has helped me a lot with my writing. I started writing my first novel when I was in 11th standard. I remember telling my English teacher Mrs. D'Souza about it, and she was thrilled to hear it. I feel embarrassed at what I may have forced her to read at that time, I do wish I could show her some of what I have written now, she probably would feel proud of how far I have come from then. (Not implying I am excelling now, but I can see I have definitely improved). When I was in 11th we had Charles Dickens' Great Expectations as part of our curriculum. So when I told Mrs. D'Souza about my interest in writing a novel, she gave me a lot of encouragement, I recall her telling me that I would be able to do a good job especially because we have to study a novel now so it will help me in framing the plot for my novel and so on. I thought about this yesterday when I was writing. And coincidentally Amma told me today that it was part of her reading list this month, and she came across my copy of great expectations and found that I had made notes all over the book and underlined a lot of passages, it made me smile. It took me back to the time I was this over excited teenager who loved reading literature. I think one of the things I have always felt very happy about is having studied literature, it is part of the reason why I want to be a writer, a writer who can make a difference through her writings. I think the conversation with Amma came at the right time because it reminded me of how much I wanted to write even then. I am proud of myself for taking the courage to put pen to paper, even though it amounted to nothing. 

Here is the best part, I am actually re-writing that novel. I had abandoned the project because I felt like my content lacked maturity, anyone could tell it was a child writing this, I ended up burning the book in which I wrote, because I was so embarrassed to see how poorly it was written. It had great vocabulary, but it lacked depth. Looking back now I regret burning it, it was my first project after all, nevertheless I am happy that I remember the plot so I have been able to rework it and rewrite it. I had made an attempt to rewrite it once in 2015, but I stopped after two chapters. I think the 16 year old me did a better job, at least I was able to get through 6 chapters back then. After abandoning it the last time, I never thought I will ever take it up again, but here I am enthusiastic about writing it once more. I now have a clearer vision of how I want to develop the story, what are the important elements I want to add and so on. I must admit it has been quite slow, I have been rewriting the same chapters again and again to refine it, wrote some new content to it that I am really excited about. I have a good feeling about this one, if I follow through my plan this may end up being my first novel. That thought puts a smile on my face. Perhaps I should hold onto that thought and continue typing and let the words flow from the stream of conscious that is my mind. I probably should revisit this post if I feel like abandoning it again, perhaps it will give me a push to finally finish it.

Who knows, maybe third time is the charm!