“I write because I love writing. I mean I love it in a way that makes the question ‘Why do you write?’ seem strange and incomprehensible to me.”
“My Experience With Writing,” Radwa Ashour
For me, writing isn’t only a way to express myself and share my experiences with others; it’s therapeutic and healing at the same time. I’ve never been verbally articulate, and I frequently struggle to speak my mind. Writing is my solace and the refuge that I run to in order to get all suppressed thoughts off my chest. It’s simultaneously satisfying, rewarding, and challenging.
Writing doesn’t come when I need it. It comes on its own whenever the words are ready to be typed out. At times, I keep staring at the ceiling, hoping for some inspiration, like those days with no wind on the beach for kitesurfers. Other times, I talk to myself out loud. Like that moment when I was talking to myself and my brother came into the room with a worried expression on his face and asked, “Are you losing your mind?”
It’s said that writing every day makes it a habit. Recently, I’ve been on the struggle bus with that. Sometimes, I start writing about a specific idea, then I quickly abandon it to write something totally different. A long hiatus later comes up. On some occasions, words flow spontaneously as if they were caged in my mind and finally found a way out. An idea sparkles out of nowhere. I write it down. Some of these ideas make it to a post, while others are still simmering, waiting for more enthusiasm to show up.
There are a few things that have never failed to inspire me to write.
Translation always represented a good source for writing to me. I often learn a new word, an expression, or a topic, dwell on it, and use it in a blog post. My posts with Pro Bono were all inspired by translations or situations I faced while translating.
Reading is like opening windows into magical worlds. It's a key source of inputs to ensure a steady stream of output from writing.
Virtual pen palling is a good technique to tighten my grip on writing. It’s an effective exercise to reflect on what’s going on in my life through exchanging online letters with real people instead of talking to myself. It offers me a glimpse into different aspects of people’s lives on the other side of the world.
Baking is another incredible solution that helps release my negative emotions and, consequently, helps with writing. Yes, you read that right, BAKING. Let me explain how.
While kneading, manually of course, not using a kneading machine, I imagine someone I'm angry at while saying everything I couldn’t say or didn’t get a chance to. “Why did you treat me like that? How could you have been so thoughtless? Answer me!” A knock, a slap, a punch… into the dough.
Believe me, it does work. It makes the dough tighter and springy and as a result, I feel more tranquil and relaxed afterwards. This helps me organize all the chaotic ideas in my mind and turn them into elegantly structured posts. How relieved I feel when I get my bread, or freska, out of the oven.
The last few days were like dry days without rain. I wasn’t persistent at writing regularly. Now that I’m finished baking, I’m writing this post, which I’m not sure makes any sense to you.
But maybe I can engage your interest by asking you something:
What is writing to you? What helps you to keep writing? Is there any trick or tip you use?
What is writing to me? It is a way to be seen, heard, and help people. It is also a way to tell life stories with problems and many solutions. Indeed, writing is learning and growing for me.
What help you to keep writing? Life experiences, bad and good moments, and serving to people.
Is there any trick or tip you use? Asking questions to yourself, for example, do you remember your first days working as a translator? What were your problems? How did you solve them? Could your stories help or inspire someone in the world?
I love writing too. What really helps me is silencing my inner criticism by planning a whole calendar, and keep writing. And I observe how people react to every single piece I write. Comments fuel me up.
It’s about time to write my next blog post. Thank you, Zeinab!
My answer to your question: I read ;-)