Bringing Benefit and Food for Thoughts for the Readers

Earlier today, I wrote a long entry in South Asia Blog titled, Starting a Business with $10,000: What to Do?. What happened is that a reader emailed me and wanted to get my advice about opening a business with that amount of money. It was an around 900 word long entry and writing it brought some satisfaction. I know that this would not bring a lot of visitors but I got a lot of happiness from writing it. I got happy because I felt that I was writing well and I was giving good advice. Even if it is read by just 100 persons from South Asia, I am sure that there is something to think about for all of them.

What made me happy was the idea that I could write in a way that would surely touch the mind of some readers. I wanted to be a writer only for this reason- to touch the heart and mind of people. Of course, I admit that I could not do it well because most of the time I have to think of earning money rather than touching the heart of the readers. Still, I know very well that I have this dream in my heart and I always wanted to do it.

For the last 10 years, most of the time, I had to write for earning money and often it was like some kind of infomercial which surely brought some money for me but most of the time it took away my mental peace. Of course, you cannot be always ideal and upto to some stage in life, you have to struggle a lot and take whatever comes in your way.

When I get sad then I think of Charles Dickens who started his career in a warehouse. He had to do physical labor for 10 hours a day when he was a child. At the age of 15, he worked as a clerk in a law office and then most probably, at the age of 16, he became a freelance reporter. He could publish his first novel at the age of 21 and the reality was that all the time, he was trying to earn some money by selling his writing.

Compared to Dickens, I am a very lucky man indeed. There is still the rush for going after money in me but at the same time, my skill as a writer has improved a lot. At least, I have become much faster. I can write many more words in a day compared to a year or two. I also touch that I have become sharper. This is natural. When you are doing something day after day then you become faster, sharper and better in doing it.

Thus, I can make a balance at last. I can think of going after quality writing while at the same earning money. I am not talking about infomercial type of writing. I am talking about touching with heart of the people with whatever I write. I am talking about writing for helping others even if it is about technology or banking. I am talking about writing with a lot of care so that the entries I write can bring some kind of benefit or interest among readers. They just do not arrive to my blogs randomly from search engine results. Instead, when they arrive, they find something useful and some food for thought.

Thus, two ideas have come to my mind. My writing should bring some kind of benefit for the readers. For example, suppose a reader is searching information about something, say, for example about ten very good English novels to read. He or she finds the information in this blog: Ten Novels of English Literature that I enjoy a Lot

This list can save them some time and if they get happy from reading the novels that I suggested then surely there is some benefit and entertainment both.

When I was a teacher, my main focus was how to make my lectures interesting to the students. I wish that I could get the same skill as a writer or blogger. As a writer, I find that my tone is a bit serious and it really lacks humor. May be the main reason is that English is not my mother tongue and I do not have good skill in this language.

The second idea is that even if my entries do not bring any benefit but they make the reader interested about the topic and the reader thinks about it.

So, from now, I will try to remember these two things when I write. It is now 5 AM and again I am suffering from insomnia. Well, I am not that much concerned about it now because I have found my mental peace at last. This is the most important thing.