Week 50 – 2020

This is another post from the series “I tried something new this week”.

I have written a few blog posts about trying something new each week and they were mostly about food but last week was a bit different. I wanted to start focusing on something that I wanted to do for a long time – learning how to write short stories.

I am a big fan of short stories, I read anything that I can my hands on. From Chekhov to Neil Gaiman. I recently re-read some of the Grimm stories. I am particularly passionate about mythology and folklore stories. And I always wanted to learn how to write my own.

In all honesty, I am not sure I am good at it, I have started to write and develop quite a few ideas, from stories that I heard as a child from my grandmother to fantasy stories that I came up with during my travels. There is only one way to find out if I am any good at it – do classes that teach me techniques and push me to write frequently. Then write. Then write some more.

This is not the only class that I am taking at the moment. Almost every week I have yoga, golf and Swedish classes. I do invest a lot of time in learning and growing, is one of the things that motivates me and keeps me way above the water even in those times when isolation keeps most of us confined to a form of existence that we are simply not used to. The moments that I value a lot – spending time with family and friends – are simply not possible to realise in those times. So I invest a lot of time in developing and making the best out of a difficult year.

The writing class that I am doing is online, I have classes that I can do in my own time and writing exercises that I can revisit over and over to improve. Is difficult! I have so much to learn, but I am willing to dedicate the time to learn how to feed the process of creation with my own words.

The act of writing makes me tap into some inner energy that I didn’t even know I have, it’s stopping the time and it makes me remember things that were long forgotten. It makes me be very present! If you find something that makes you feel this way go for it! It doesn’t really matter if the work that you will produce is accepted or liked by others but if it creates something for you then it should be good enough. If your work, no matter what that is – cooking, writing, coding – has a good effect on others and it makes them happier or safer or better, then that is great news. But you need to start with yourself. Your own work should have a positive reflection on you. If you start from there you are in for a wonderful journey!