Aslam's Writing Lab

It is 7:00 P.M. and I am in the Alexander Library at Rutgers University where I go for my Ph.D. My carrel overlooks the busy highway and the river past that to my right. I am looking out the window and thinking about what to do, as I have a million things on my mind. By the way, I came here to read and take notes for the class that I will be teaching in the spring semester, which is around the corner.

I enjoy school and reading for my classes. I really do. But, sometimes it gets meaningless and monotonous. Tonight seems to be one such moment. When I get these moments, I want to leave school work aside and do the things I like. I want to take long, endless walks and get lost in the mist and cold of the day and the darkness of the night.

I enjoy looking at the passing cars, running river, students walking, the buildings and the horizon on a bright and sunny day. But, if you give me a choice, I prefer a cloudy day. There is something about the dark and damp that elevates my energy, albeit not in a  pleasant manner.

But, for some reason I enjoy it. On such days, I love my walks even more. The walk from home to the coffee shop is filled with excitement. I had hardly tasted coffee in Pakistan until I came to the States five years ago. Now I have become addicted to it. Associated with influence from the West, coffee drinking in local parlance back home is a fashionable thing to do.

However, I am far from being a coffee aficionado, as my love for Dunkin’ Donuts to some is one of the poorest of coffee tastes one could have. But, hey! You know what, as the German playwright Bertolt Brecht said, “Sometimes it is more important to be a human, than to have good taste.”

Or as Franco Moschino, the Italian fashion designer, said, “Good taste does not exist. It is our taste. We have to be proud of it.” Anyways, with a cup of coffee in my hand and walking and wandering seem to be the most banal thing, but it brings me joy and meaning.

The meaning of being alive and feeling my existence, as I ponder over life within and without in the expanse of the seeable and imaginable universes, or as the British philosopher Bryan Magee said the “phenomenal” and “noumenal” worlds.

The thing I love the most about Dunkin’ Donuts is its styrofoam cup. It does not burn my hand, and I can open and close it as and when I want to take a sip. It keeps the coffee warm and my hands cool. But, I am afraid that I won’t have that privilege by 2020, as the chain has officially committed to phasing out the cups and replacing it with paper.

Good for the environmentalist but bad for my happy walks and long library sit-ins made possible mostly by coffee cups to my left or right on the desk. But I guess I will have to compromise, as living longer and healthier and with everyone seems better than living just happier, momentarily. Meanwhile, I will figure out something else that can elevate my spirit.

Describing my love for coffee took more time than I had planned to spend on it. But that is the beauty of writing for me. It brings to existence the most banal elements of life. Elements that get ignored and buried under what most of us commonly accept to be essential: Pleasure, sex, money, career, status, etc. You sit to type and words begin to appear one after another on the page. It seems as if writing writes itself.

Anyways, during my boring moments, I read writers that I enjoy. Last week, I started Albert Camus’ novel, The Stranger. Camus, an existentialist philosopher, is a brilliant writer. His style is quite simple but descriptive and captivating, capturing everyday life’s details in a way that fascinates the mind. For example, looking at the main street of a district in Algeria from his balcony, he says, “Next came a group of young fellows, the local “bloods,” with sleek oiled hair, red ties, coats cut very tight at the waist, braided pockets, and “square-toed shoes.”

I love this description. Only these two lines tell me a lot about the Algerians of the time. “Red ties,” tight coats, “braided pockets” and “square-toed shoes” show that they were fashionable and perhaps under the influence of the West as Algeria was a French colony until 1962. I may be wrong but the description is exquisite and gives a way to speculate about the lifestyle and culture of Algeria. Camus died in 1960, before the independence.

The square-toed shoes reminds me of my childhood and the fashion wave of the shoes that once engulfed the village. It was so much in vogue that we wanted them at any cost for Eid (a Muslim holiday), even if that meant fighting our uncle inside the shop and on the busy streets of the city.

Camus does to his reader exactly what E.L. Doctorow says good writing should: “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader – not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

At another place, while describing the funeral procession of his deceased mother, Camus says, “I also had a look at the warden. He was walking with carefully measured steps, economizing every gesture. Beads of perspiration glistened on his forehead, but he didn’t wipe them off.” “Beads of perspiration” on the Warden’s “forehead”—  are’t you fascinated by this? I love the level of attention. What James Salter said about writing explains why I love Camus’ style. Salter believed that “writing was greater than other things” in life.

He says: “Call it a delusion if you like, but within me was an insistence that whatever we did, the things that were said, the dawns, the cities, the lives, all of it had to be drawn together, made into pages, or it was in danger of not existing, of never having been. There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real.”

Perhaps, it is the same belief, or delusion if you will, that seduced me to write than read tonight. I fear that if I don’t write about certain moments of my life, they would be in “danger of not existing, of never having been,” as Salter so beautifully puts. But the company of coffee, long walks and Camus may help me to preserve them.

You may be fed up with the oft-repeated proverb, where there is a will there is way, but to me, it rings true every minute of the day.

In 2015, I graduated with a master’s degree in Peace and Justice Studies from the University of San Diego. I spent two years looking for a job but could not find one apart from part-time gigs here and there.

For those years, I worked side jobs at a gas station and in restaurants. I washed dishes, cleaned toilets, worked as a server and delivered sandwiches on a bicycle.

This may be something normal for many, especially first generation immigrants, in the West, but I think it is not easy to go through this after obtaining a graduate degree with a prestigious Fulbright scholarship.

There are many reasons why getting a job was so difficult but I don’t want to dwell on that here. What I would like to share is my attitude during these tough moments of my life.

These side jobs shattered my confidence, for sure. I felt disappointed and heartbroken. It becomes especially painful when you have no one to depend on. Many immigrant fellows will relate to this better.

However, there were a few things that I did to save myself against losing completely to this adversity. I kept a positive attitude. It is easier said than done but if you set your mind to it, it is doable. What helped me the most in keeping an optimistic view of my world were books.

I have mentioned in my previous posts on this blog the books that kept me going and emotionally alive. Thanks to Victor Frankl for his masterpiece, Man’s Search for Meaning. This book gave me the kind of optimism and perseverance that I perhaps would not be able to have on my own.

I read many other books and started writing during this time. I used to read at the gas station and in the restaurant whenever it was convenient. I remember at one point the only thing that gave me energy was the six books on the shelf in my room in Metuchen, a town bordering the Thomas Edison’s hometown in Central New Jersey.

I knew from the beginning that if I didn’t get a job, I would apply for a Ph.D. It was just about whichever comes first. Getting into a Ph.D. program was not easy either. In 2016, I applied to seven schools in the United States but was not accepted in any.

The applications cost me a lot of money, left me broke and shattered my confidence again. But I did not give up. In 2017, I applied again to six schools including two in Canada. This time, I was accepted at Rutgers University in New Jersey and at the University of Manitoba in Canada.

I chose to pursue a Ph.D. in Global Affairs at Rutgers University. When I started my Ph.D. at Rutgers, I also started teaching as a part-time lecturer of English writing there.

Lest I forget, let me say that my point is not to recount my accomplishments, but to share with you this recent journey of my life. It has been a difficult ride but totally worth it. Life is still a struggle and will always be but some moments are easier to bear than others.

Perhaps, I am in a phase now where the most difficult hurdles may be over, but life can bring surprises of all sorts anytime. In difficult circumstances, I remind myself of the little accomplishments I achieve every day while keeping my eyes on big aims.

I finished the third semester of my Ph.D. this month and passed the Quantitative Methods, which was one of the hardest classes, thanks to the support of my dear and close people. I am excited for beginning the new semester and new year, and for teaching a class as a teaching assistant, which is another huge milestone of the year.

Lastly, there are many other wonderful things that happened this year, but I will leave it at that. The lesson that I wanted to leave for you, the readers, is that don’t give up. There will be hardships in life, but always remember, “where there is a will there is a way.”

Happy New Year!

James Allen says,

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”

Ideas or sparks are the bedrock of your character. You are who you think you are. Earl Nightingale says, “We become what we think about.”

Take a moment and reflect on what you think about on most days. Then reflect on whether what you think about determines in any way what you do most of the time.

If you think about becoming a writer, you will write. But if you think about becoming the best basketball player, you will find yourself on the court most of the day.

The good news is that ideas are free. We all get them. The rich and the poor alike. But, the challenge is to get them right and at the right time, and then translate them into action.

Keep in mind that ideas require time, deliberation and action to have a practical value.  

This Summer, I was a part of a 30-day Sparks challenge initiated by Darren Rowse of the Problogger. I would like to share some insights from this wonderful exercise. Hope it lights up the sparks of your work and life.

During the challenge, Darren asked the participants these two questions every day: What are the most common things that give you energy? What are the most common things that you do that give other people energy?

He also asked some bonus questions to reflect on. Here are ten examples of the bonus questions:

Bonus Questions/Prompts:

• What made you feel most alive as a 10-year old?
• What do you want to be known for?
• What sparks have you had in the past that fizzled?
• When has a tiny spark led to something big for you in the past?
• What question do you often have?
• What problems do you observe?
• What are you curious about?
• What dreams and ambitions do you have?
• What kind of life experiences have you had?
• What skills and strengths do you have?

Now take a moment and think if you ask yourself these questions. I am sure, if not all, you may ask a few of them.

These questions are meant to stimulate positive energy or sparks in you. They invite you to deliberate on your everyday thoughts and experiences in the past.

Once you identify the sparks in your life, the next step is to figure out what to do with them. I get it can be difficult but if you ask yourself these questions everyday, you will see the change in the way you think about life and your career.

Robin Williams says,

“No matter what people tell you words and ideas can change the world.”

1. Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl

I spotted this masterwork in a bookstore almost five years ago in San Diego. The title made me curious, so I bought the book. In the book, the Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor, Victor Frankl talks about his experience in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. He narrates the stories of prisoners and explores the meaning of life amidst suffering and pain. Frankl developed the term “logotherapy,” a form of psychotherapy, which can also be described as “existential analysis.” I learned that we are borne to bear all that life brings upon us.

This quote from the book stays with me forever:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”    

2. The Untethered Soul, Michael Singer

The Untethered Soul is a profound perceptive study of the mind. Singer untangles the knots of the human mind and sheds light on the dark side of the psyche. He describes the processes of disturbing thoughts so clearly that it feels as if he is inside the mind and is watching over all that happens there. Singer provides a deep understanding of the constant chatter, the noise that worries many. It is the chatter that you can hear right now somewhere in your head while reading this post. It is the chatter that many feel stuck in while the big life passes by. Singer says, don’t engage with what I call “the beast.” Let it slide while you take charge. You are the subject and the chatter the object.

3. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius  

I read Meditations this year. The book comprises of the personal reflections of the Greek Emperor Marcus Aurelius about life, death, sadness, happiness, and numerous other subjects. Aurelius’ thoughts are so deep and truly reflective of the human mind that it is impossible not to feel moved by the book. This is my favorite quote from the book:

“Today I escaped from all bothering circumstances – or rather I threw them out. They were nothing external, but inside me, just my own judgments.” 

4. As You Think, James Allen

Earl Nightingale said, “We become what we think about.” This is precisely the philosophy of James Allen’s book. It is the key to unimaginable success. If one thinks about it, the logic of his philosophy is pretty straightforward. We become what we imagine ourselves to be. Of course, it is not easy. Sometimes we think and work hard but still don’t get what we want. But that does not mean the hard work will go to waste. The habit of positive thinking can be useful in so many different ways. Most importantly, what is the use of negative thinking even if positive thinking will not bear fruit, which it more often than not will?

Aslam Kakar

I am a strange creature who thinks ceaselessly. The buzz does not stop. I wait for the night for it to calm down, but that is when it actually stimulates. Sometimes it feels like some sort of a disorder that needs to be fixed. But, on the other hand, it has become the routine, the home that I don’t want to leave. It feels good to be at home even if it is not one’s own.

The current state I am in is that to no think and not wonder is to leave the home, which is to cease to exist, emotionally at least. But think and wonder about what though? About everything. The people on the street. Their lives and stories. Happiness and sadness. What they think about the moment I see them. What do they think about me? The questions get harder and the answers difficult to find. And then I lose interest, but keep wondering.

What I realize is that I can’t know them, or know them enough. Perhaps, I will never. I also realize that to know them is to maybe dig deeper within and find out a word or two about myself first. The maze of my inner world appears to be even a bigger, tangled mess. I discover that the different parts of the mind are extremely unfriendly at coordination. Trying to focus on a singular thought requires cutting through the irrelevant, bossy hodgepodge. The noise, the chatter that is there to prevent you from thinking clearly and purposefully.

This futile exercise in clear thinking sometimes feels like the untying of the kite’s line from the shrubs in the village where I used to fly. The line used to get stuck at countless corner, and so the kite flying adventure more often turned out to be untying the knots than flying. This is strange stuff but I am trying to make sense of it myself.

But untying these very knots of the mind, if one pays a close attention to, gives them some perspective, if not a full view of the picture about others and the world. One comes to know that to think is to get across the ceaseless and disruptive patch of noise. Sadly, many of us get stuck in the patch and never make it across because to dare to go through it is to confront the beast of fear and anxiety that for many is so rampant.

The beast becomes rambunctious if you argue with it. It feels important if you pay attention to it. It gets competitive if you try to beat it. If you try to quash it, it will come at you full of fear and fury. Let it glide on the fringes of the mind while you take control. Don’t advertise it to the beast that you are in control because the one thing it hates the most is the challenge. Don’t challenge. But be aware that you are in control because you are in the driving seat of consciousness. You are the subject and the beast the object because you can see what it does and not the other way around.

P.S.

Frankly, I have no clue what direction this blog is taking. My initial aim was to write and teach how to write. That aim still remains the same, but as I continue to think, I also feel to write about things other than writing. And I have a hunch that some of you may be interested in reading what I have to say about some random and “strange” thoughts.

Aslam Kakar

We are often more interested in the destination than the journey to get somewhere. Many of us pay less attention to how one makes a successful career —as a blogger, writer, politician, professor, etc.—than their current position. But here is the thing: Unless you understand what it takes to succeed in your career, getting to the desired destination would be very challenging.

It is important to know this because life for many of us, especially students, can be rough. Economic hardships and lack of time deprive many young men and women of their dreams. It is difficult to devote your time to something you love to do when you have to work to survive.

This is why it is important to understand what identity capital is. To define it simply, it is the things that we do to invest in ourselves. Put another way; it is the tools, skills and knowledge you collect over time so that you can use them to land your dream job, start your own business or pursue a degree in higher education.

Having the gift of genius like Srinivasa Ramanujan’s is rare.

So, if you are a twentysomething college student or just anyone broke and disappointed and in search of your next best move, here is how you can build your identity capital, one thing at a time.

1. Read books: Read books relevant to your field and expertise to get new insights and knowledge. Be a specialist in an area of your interest. However, it is also important to diversify your reading interests. A basic understanding of psychology, philosophy, sociology, culture, politics and other everyday phenomena is a big plus. If you are going through hardships of life, adding books on positive psychology to your library would be beneficial.

Check out Man’s Search for Meaning, Meditations and The Four Agreements. I am sure you can find plenty of other books. In life, nothing is more powerful than awareness of your predicament and finding a way to reconcile with it. A persistent interest and habit of reading great books do that precisely.

2. Get practical experience: Reading alone is not enough, of course. Get some practical experience in a relevant field. If you want to be a writer, find a writing internship or tutoring at a writing center. If possible, find a volunteer position at a local newspaper. If you are interested in politics, get a paid or an unpaid position with the Mayor or Senator of your constituency. Unfortunately, these positions are usually unpaid but they are worth your time.

I know you may find plenty of unpaid or low-paid opportunities but it is tricky to fit them in your schedule, sometimes. For example, if you are in college and have to choose between an unpaid writing internship and a pizza delivery job, it can be daunting. However, you have to think what is right for you in the long-run. If you can manage, maybe you should take both.

You may have to sacrifice some of your time, but in the long run, the writing internship can be beneficial if you want to build a career as a writer. Pizza delivery, on the other hand, does not give you hard skills like writing, communication and organization which most jobs in the market require. However, you can still gain valuable experience of hard work, cooperation and communication  in addition to financial help to get by.

These experiences may seem insignificant, but keep in mind that it is the little drops that make the ocean. These foundational experiences may eventually turn into bigger and rewarding careers. They will equip you with the life skills of interpersonal communication and living a purposeful life. For instance, if you tutor for some time, you may get a job as a teacher, and the pay and experience both can be very rewarding.

3. Learn every day/Take courses: Another way to build your identity capital is to take courses at your college, university or even online. These courses may not land you a job, but they will undoubtedly provide you with new knowledge and skills essential for the job market. Coursera offers plenty of courses in numerous fields. You can also take free online courses on Coursera. There are many opportunities if you look for them, and this brings me to my next point —curiosity and the desire to ask for help.

4. Be curious and ask for help: Look for opportunities. Ask for help. Network with the right people. If you don’t, no one will care because why should they. However, when you ask for help, be genuine, kind and have a real reason for why someone should help you. Show why you deserve it: Whether it is financial assistance for your Ph.D. or application for a free course at Coursera. Tell them what you will give back in return. If you do this, you will be surprised at the opening doors of opportunities.

5. Dress professionally: Dressing professionally may not be important to many, but quite honestly your choice of clothes does matter. It matters to the people around you and employers. To dress well, you need to buy stuff, which can be expensive but you need to be smart at it —visit the mall or a local store once in a while to search for bargains, wait for sales and get pieces that can be worn for multiple outfits. I am sure you can find a way to do that wherever you are in the world.

However, don’t get me wrong. Good clothes are not going to do much if you lack these other qualities.

6. Be trustworthy: Trust and credibility are great qualities. Your family and friends and employers will admire you for it. So be credible. Don’t just disappear from a job which you don’t want to continue. Face your boss and tell them the truth even if it is unpleasant. Be courageous and don’t hide from the harsh realities of life because the way out sometimes is through it not around.

7. Be humble but confident: Humility is a great asset. Be humble as a person. Be kind to friends and people in general. Intellectually, be humble but autonomous and confident in your knowledge. The best way to do so is to be curious and skeptical. Always be doubtful  about the world but take commitment on issues when you are sure you are right. One way to do it is by finding out the right way of thinking about things —in other words, doing philosophy. Check out this great course on Introduction to Philosophy.

8. Listen more, talk less: Many people don’t listen anymore. One of the worst implications of mobile phones is that it has worsened people’s listening habit. Their attention deficit is remarkable. Look around if you have not noticed. I don’t find many who pay attention.

So, listen to people and talk less. However, talk where you feel like you need to and avoid saying unnecessary things. This does not mean you should keep listening for hours because you will run into folks who would not stop talking. Just be respectful when you engage in a normal conversation. Don’t talk over others.

These habits may not promise immediate rewards but if you practice them enough, you will surely see positive changes in your life. They can be challenging but are worth trying.

Let me know what helps you in your every day life in the comments below.

Aslam Kakar

MOOCs and Coursera

Massive open online courses or MOOCs is an excellent resource for education worldwide. Coursera, an online learning platform, hosts thousands of courses with certificates, specializations and even degrees. To take an online course, all you need is a computer and access to the Internet. It is especially useful for those learners who don’t have direct access to higher education, or their universities don’t offer courses in advanced and diverse fields of study.

Create your profile here today if you don’t have one yet.

Refugees and students in other underprivileged parts of the world can benefit greatly from it. If you are a refugee student or just someone with a desire for learning new skills and knowledge and developing your career, Coursera is the place.

This summer, I completed three courses with certificates. Coursera charges about $49 per certificate although for specialization you have to pay extra. The specialization includes more than a course–—three to five depending on the type of specialization.

For instance, the creative writing specialization has five courses, which means you will get a certificate for each course you complete. However, you have to pay separately for each course.

You can find courses offered by professors from Harvard and Princeton to the University of Edinburgh on almost any subject you choose to take. The courses I took were hard to find at Rutgers University where I study for my Ph.D. Thus, online education is an excellent addition to classroom education.

How to enroll FREE for a course?

You may be wondering why the word “free” in the headline if you have to pay to take a course? Wait! The great news is yet to come.

Yes! The good news is you can take most courses for free. Generally, Coursera charges a fee, but it also offers financial aid. If you want to get a full waiver or agree to pay $10 (or whatever you decide) for a course, you need to apply for it.

Keep in mind that it is better to pay something like $5 or $10 per course than nothing. Even a humble contribution will make your application look more credible. Coursera has accepted all my requests —seven in total.

The application usually asks two questions:

1. Why are you applying for Financial Aid?
2. How will taking this course help you achieve your career goals?

You need to answer these two questions. In answer to the first question, tell them why you deserve financial assistance. Explain why you can not pay. Your reasons should be believable. Tie the need for help to your academic or professional goals.

The response to the second question should explain step by step your interest in the course and how it will help you achieve your career goals. For example, if you want to take a course on writing, show them your interest in writing and how the course will help you learn new writing skills. If you teach writing, say it will equip you with advanced capabilities to better prepare your students.

You have to answer each question in 250 words. Once you submit your application, you will get a notification on your profile. You will get the final decision in about two weeks. Keep an eye on the Updates option on the left side of the page.

How to get started on the course?

Once you receive acceptance, get started on the course. Depending on the course and your hard work and commitment to it, it should not take more than three weeks or a month from you to finish. It is ok if it takes longer than a month, but you should keep an eye on the deadline, new enrollment and any costs that may occur with it.

Each course will provide extensive guidelines on how to work through it. Make sure you read the material and complete all your assignments on time, so that other learners can give you feedback. You will get plenty of opportunities to partake in discussions and learn from other participants. The best thing with coursera certificates is that they are shareable to LinkedIn for your future employers to see.

With that, best of luck. Leave any thoughts or questions in the comments.

Aslam Kakar 

A research statement is similar in many ways to a personal statement, but this is an essay mainly about your research goals and career objectives. Universities and scholarship entities may evaluate your application for Master or Ph.D. program admissions based on your research statement among other documents.

Keep in mind that if required, this is one of the most critical components of your application. You should show that you are genuinely interested in studying an issue and that you are worth their time and money.

Writing an excellent research statement is indeed tricky, but there are things that can help you prepare your statement. In this post, we are sharing pointers that have helped us in writing our study research objectives for our respective Fulbright scholarships, graduate school and research grants.

The following are some tips you should keep in mind while writing your research statement:

Define your broader area of interest with a focus on some specialization: Define from the outset your more general field of study. Remember, don’t make it too broad as to include everything in the world in it. For example, if you want to study human rights in your Master, don’t say international relations.

Once you define your broad area of interest, you should specify your specialization. For instance, what is it that you want to focus on in Human Rights? it could be gender rights, women rights, etc. The more specific you are, the better. The problem with many research statements is that they are too broad and overgeneralized. Keep in mind that you can’t study everything in your field. Be focused on one single issue or a question.

Is there a puzzle/question that remains unresolved? Say what problem or puzzle in your study is understudied. However, support your claim with evidence from the literature. Sometimes, the admission or scholarship committee get hundreds of thousands of applications. Those who say something unique, stand out from the crowd. If you don’t want to waste your time on writing dozens of statements, consider this tip.

Structure of the essay: A clean essay is easy to go through. State your broad and specific interest in the first couple of paragraphs—this will be considered the introduction to your essay. Briefly give reasons for your interest.  Depending on the word limit, each body paragraph should address a specific point. The end should wrap up and explain the impact of the study on your country, the world, and you academically and professionally.

Include relevant research/work experience: Don’t forget to talk about your relevant work experience. What you studied, what you liked and what you did not. If something didn’t go well for you, explain why. This is important to mention because the point of this essay is also for the selection committee to know you better.

Impact of the study: Mention how your research will impact the broader field of study, your community or country, or even the world. Don’t just make assumptions, but state your claim carefully and with supporting evidence. Here you can also tell briefly how this particular study will impact you professionally.

For a scholarship, give valid reasons to fund you, including your post-study expectations. Of course, it is hard to know where you are going to be, but you should have a broad idea of what you want to do after getting your degree. Hopefully, your future goals will align with the interests of the scholarship.

Why is the program good for you and what would be your contribution? Tell them why does the program fit your objectives. Also, briefly state what you would bring to the program. This may range from increasing the diversity of campus and community life to contributing new perspectives to the classroom.

Keep to the word limit and other requirements: Although there is a standard format for a research statement, different institutions may have different requirements. Don’t disregard the rules. You don’t want your essay to be ignored for something as silly as the number of words.

Good luck!

Paulina A. Arancibia & Aslam Kakar: Paulina is a Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology and Evolution and Aslam a Ph.D. Student in Global Affairs, Rutgers University  

The following ten questions apply to all writers, but some may be more relevant to you than others.

1. Are you challenging yourself continually to search for new ideas and write about them? Without search and curiosity, it is difficult to bring innovation and creativity to writing. If you are keen, ideas are everywhere to find. John Steinbeck said, “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
2. Are you thinking about what it takes to serve or inspire a change in the world through writing? It is essential to have a goal and a strategy in mind for why you write and how it serves the desired purpose. Martin Luther said, “If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” Anaïs Nin wrote, “The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.”
3. Are you finding ways to stand out among the humungous crowd of writers? And where are you looking? Skillful and successful writers always look for creative ways to stand out among other writers. E.L. Doctorow said, “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader – not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”
4. Are you thinking about influencing a thousand people through your writing? Also, how can this be possible? Capturing anything in words in the way that people can relate to requires an exceptional talent. If you can write in a way that influences, at least, a couple hundred people, it means you are doing something right. Find more ways to sharpen your skills to affect a thousand and more people positively.
5. Are you reading some of the top writers and bloggers? Are you reading at least a page or two every day about topics unrelated to your work? Reading and learning every day is the key to productive and creative writing. New researches and findings surface quite frequently. You should keep yourself abreast of the new knowledge in your field and in related disciplines. Stephen King writes, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
6. Is your desire for writing driven by some purpose such as effecting a change in the world, or is it a means to a financial end? The French-Algerian writer Albert Camus said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” In Why I Write, George Orwell enumerates four desires or motives for why we write: sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse and political purpose. Orwell wrote, “They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living.” One can also add financial motive to the list. You should be aware of your motive.
7. Is your desire to become an excellent writer keeping you awake at night? Are you losing sleep over it? Ambitious writers have big dreams. Realizing them requires much thinking, hard work, discipline and commitment to it. However, it does not mean that you should not sleep at all. It just means that your ambition to become a better writer concerns you more than anything else in the world.
8. Are you carrying a notebook and a pen with you at all time? Most experienced writers keep a notebook and a pen to write their thoughts. They know that ideas, no matter how insignificant, are precious and disappear right away if you don’t note them. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” You should fall in the habit of writing your ideas if you have not done so yet.
9. Are you keeping yourself healthy in solitude? Writing can be a lonely career, so it is good if you are ok with being on your own for a while or find a way to have some peace and quiet during your family routine.
10. Are you writing every day? Will you write even if no one cared? Most importantly, you should write every day. You should write even if no one cared. Libba Bray says, “Write like it matters and it will.” If you are not writing, none of the above matters.

I would love to know in the comments about what questions inspire you to write.

Aslam Kakar