Topics to write

Given the time we have in hand due to this Pandemic COVID-19, it is an opportunity to write; as we are mostly struck inside the house. There are many topics we come across to write, I was searching online to identify those for my blog. Some of them are pending from my-side, such as the list of characters from Mahabharata, (a Mythological story which I love). The major hurdle becomes the inspiration to start the topic and, in some cases, reading material at your disposal seems to be not good enough.

However, in order to keep yourself disciplined, I read, one must finish the task started. This goes well with the pending list of Characters which I need to focus on. Apart from that, the topics which a blogger or writer can focus on can vary, will try to list them down below. I hope it helps fellow bloggers too.

1. Current affairs – Opinions related to the latest occurring
2. Places – Traveled and in Bucket List
3. Food
4. Movie/Web Series Reviews – Actors, addressing good scripts or movie clips
5. Mythology – I enjoy mythology, I guess being Indian it is part of our daily life. DevDutt Patnaik is a good teacher for me. Netflix has got a good show DevLok.
6. Romanticism
7. Renaissance
8. Gadget reviews
9. History – Indian, European, Middle Eastern and Asian fascinates me
10. Music – Genre which I Enjoyed or essay on an artist
11. Blog – How to improve the blogging experience
12. Psychology – Usually one needs to go through some magazines such as Psychology today or books associated with topics, which may excite you.
13. Book Review – I have done a few in the past, but I can start on them again
14. Space – Items related to recent discovery, space exploration or space technologies
15.  Genetics – I am a massive fan of genetics study, although I never studied Biology but this field inspires me tremendously and I wish to enhance my knowledge.
16. Poetry – Although this is an English blog, but one can try and feature poetry from various languages
17. Teaching – Many thinkers of past, would certainly inspire future generations, their ideas or views can become a source of teaching.
18. Writing – Tips to improve writing, it is a fun activity. Allows one to focus on writing style or specific use of words, to make it more impactful.
19. Mahabharata – The Quotes, Characters, storyline etc, everything is just amazing.
20. Sufism – Music, Literature, Thoughts, lifestyle, thinkers. Sub-continent is heavy influenced by Chisti and Qadari Sufism.
21. Leadership – Considering our world has become a small place owing to technology, we can connect to many people and know about many forms of leadership. Writing about those who inspire you to be a better version of yourself, would be fun and step in the right direction.
22. Satire – If a person has a knack of raising serious topics with a pinch of comedy then, one must try this. I allow one to put across topics and issue which may not be generally be discussed.
23. Video Blog – Last 5-6 years the trend has shifted from writing the blog to rather just recording the video and putting to on social media platforms. Writing about them would be fun.
24. Things to do, before you die – I think everyone must a bucket-list of the things one would do, before they die. This helps one keep motivated and focused towards our goals.
25. Language one is learning or like – The new words or sentences one can try. (Have a new dedicated blog for it)
26. Photography – For this too, I believe one should have a dedicated blog, use a good camera and post it.
27. Technology – The field that one works on, one can write about it and enhance work profile.
28. Bullying/cyber bullying – A major occurrence in this digital age
29. Sports
30. Politics – Although I think this also needs a separate dedicated blog. I really like people Video Blogging on these issues on YouTube. It is more interactive, I think few people like to read nowadays.
31. Economics – Reviewing Economics books and occurring in market will be fun.

If I missed out on any point, please feel free to add them or give recommendations. Writing is form of a meditation, when you are alone with your thoughts and allows you organize your mind and focus on the tasks which needs attention.

Blue Bird – Charles Bukowski

https://www.guideposts.org/better-living/health-and-wellness/why-the-bluebird-of-happiness-might-actually-be-real

Today marks a personal milestone for me, which I dreamed of 9 Years back, wanted to commemorate it with one of my favorite poems in recent times. 

It has been 4 years since, I last wrote/blogged, it is not as if I had stopped thinking, reading or writing but felt my priorities changed. We do live in this notion that this particular act or that event will seal it for us. I am safe now or set for life, or now it is going to be easy from here on. This lifelong journey however, holds many ups and downs, and unless you become complacent or callous in your outlook (which I seem to be,before I get kicked in the butt), you will be able to learn,grow and enjoy from it (Just keep on documenting it along, so that your older version can look back and reflect/Smile on the things you did, analyze the reasons or external forces which enabled it 🙂 ).

Charles Bukowski’s Blue Bird made me think, and as I read it and then went through my timeline again, I realized that one should not have stopped writing or recording my thoughts for so long on the blog. Although, we have many new things in life to do and share but few things, no matter how old, do hold on to you.

I hope the reader enjoys the poem as much as I did, I have added the narration by Charles Bukowski also.

https://pleasekillme.com/charles-bukowski/

there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.

.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he’s
in there.

.

there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep.

.
I say, I know that you’re there,
so don’t be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he’s singing a little
in there, I haven’t quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don’t
weep, do
you?

Writer’s Block

I am sure every writer goes through this. It is like you are unable to write or in my case do not have the mood to write. During this time every writer has varying thoughts as to the list of the things that he/she would write about. In my case, these are the things which I have mentioned that I will write and somethings(or topics) which come to my mind while traveling,walking or even observing people. Writing as we know is an art of expressing what you think, what you believe and what you want to convey.

When that communication aspect stops, even though the writer’s mind might be full of thoughts he/she wishes to express but is someway unable to express. This in my view is the writer’s block.  Dictionary provides us with the definition that

A usually temporary psychological inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing.

I have even read that it is the inability to get inspired, possibly that might be true for some people. I however can assure reader, I donot have such problem. Therefore, should I conclude that it is just plan laziness and too much dependance on the dopamine in my mind (some people have fixation for such things) ?

The writer’s job as such is to get inspired, read stuff and create something which inspires others, preferably the future generations.

Writers to take a note of :

• Leo Tolstoy   (Morals guy)
• Rumi   (Sufi)
• Mark Twain     (A true teacher and an American literary great)
• J.K.Rowling   (ain’t she a pretty one)
• Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez    (what ever books I have read of his I am impressed)
• Orhan Pamuk
• Ayn Rand    (The one initiated the philosophy of  Objectivism)
• Aristotle    (Teacher of Alexander the Great)
• Charles Dickens
• Will Durant    ( Civilizations all the way)
• Premchand    (moral wielder)
• Jean-Paul Sartre
• Jack London
• Enid Blyton   (Read alot of her books)
• Nikolai Gogol
• Maya Angelou
• Noam Chomsky
• VS Naipaul
• Emily Dickinson
• Homer   (Inspirational stuff)
• Vyasa    (Author of Mahabharat)
• Kabir    (sufi)
• Bulleh Shah   (sufi)
• Ghalib
• Khan Abdul Ghani Khan   (A pashtun nationalist)
• William Wordsworth    (Born on 7 April 1770, awesome poet)
• Shakespear
• Christopher Hitchens   (electrifying)
• Bhagat Singh ( Some may contest him being mentioned a writer, he died young at 23 but whatever he wrote till that age is still inspirational stuff for a lot of people in south-Asia)
• Allama Iqbal  ( A great poet respected in South-Asia)
• Faiz ahmed Faiz
• Khalil Gibran  (American Lebanese writer, Prophet is awesome piece)

The above writers in their own ways have tried to make stories or poems which would inspire people, inculcate values in them, make then question things and norms. I however wonder how these men and women did when they went through writer’s block. I read that few writers just use to fill their pages with gibberish (even though those words might be full of spelling errors 🙂 ) and some go into wild antics which can be termed plain crazy stuff. However when these guys bounce back they put in inspirational stuff, so is their NOT writing a part of writing good, a silence before the storm.

The best quote I found while thinking about it was by Charles Bukowski , who states

“writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all” .

Though I found another one, very interesting but maybe not much appropriate for high-nose polished beings.

Stated by the great Hank Moody that when you are not able to write anything,just say

Madafakaaaaa.

.