Returning after the first quarter!

Thank you readers & friends for the inquiries on new blog posts rather no blog posts!   

My blogging journey started in 2008 with no serious plan to be a blogger. 2008, 09 and 10 were early years where I was learning what to write and how to write; I would not count them for my reflection now. Though I have written 173 articles so far, intermittent silence is not new!! I had  two breaks in 2011 and one in 2013. But after that there were no months without at least one article!!  But, 2017 has been an interesting year in my blogging career! The number of posts touched a new low - just 14 for 12 months! 2018 is even more special that one whole quarter (forgive me for the "whole-quarter" oxymoron) has gone without any article!! This is the longest break after my interest in writing picked up and my reader circle started increasing… Looks like I am in a reflection point!!

In end of 2016, I declared that I will not be able to write during the rest of the year in "எழுதாமல் போவேனோ" (How could I go without writing) expressing the time pressure and my conflicting need to write so many topics but ended up writing two more articles before the close of the year. 2017 started well with decent number of articles in Jan and then started limping along! I replayed 2017 & 2018 in my mind to see any relationship between blogs and the other potential influencers - my emotions, time pressure, access to input for blogs (or my triggers), discussions with my readers (I realise that my discussions with you are always - at least 99% of the time - offline and not thru the blogger site, hmm… interesting…)  and my writing in other forums / forms. 

Here are my discoveries or lessons that may be useful to you

• Though 2016 made certain parts of my brain/heart dead, early 2017 took me to extreme anger!! I felt insulted, awkward and ugly by what was happening around.Typically, anger or dissatisfaction pushes one to action or writing; but extreme anger makes one completely numb with no action and dampens the urge to write looks like!! So it is better to bring down the dissatisfaction levels to be within creative discontent thresholds :-)
• After getting exposed to very strong triggers, the usual ones lose their ability to be triggers. After "இனியொரு விதி செய்வோம்" and what followed, it took greater effort to start writing again
• Categorising the thought process as positive or negative can be restricting / constraining! A tough/hard article may push people to take action whereas a feel-good article make them feel nice but may not make them think or act! To make people think or act or feel good are all the writer's responsibilities but not necessarily by the same article. So, there is nothing positive or negative about an article!!
• Sometimes, life could be hard with a little or no time for what you like to do. In spite of that, it is better to allocate a few hours a month for the things you like. If not, you may even forget what you like to do :-) and you may even feel that you are not good at what you like :-) :-) After all, சித்திரமும் கைப்பழக்கம் செந்தமிழும் நாப்பழக்கம்! Practice makes one perfect - at least feel perfect ;-)
• Irrespective your life situation, there are people who look up to you. Your output could be one of the few things they are counting on in their lives!! Satisfaction comes when you serve them!!
• On the contrary, there will be readers to bash you :-) Satisfaction in such situations is from their attention & lessons from their inputs and not from their expression :-) :-)
• Sharing the backlog (of blogs to be written) with others may not be the best strategy! Sometimes, not speaking about the product features before making them results in better products!! hmm… interesting…
• On the contrary, some blogs are write-ups of profound conversations. It is important to be surrounded by thought leaders and more importantly have intellectually provoking conversations with them. It is called "Sat-Sang". Sat-Sang need not be spiritual - what matters is the "Sat"!!

With these reflection, I am hoping to be more regular with writing… being an introvert interested in sharing/giving, writing is a better option for me… with readers from India, USA, Russia, Canada, France, Ukraine, Germany, UK, Indonesia, Australia and a few other countries interested in my blogs, it is better for me to respect their interest…