A few days ago I was approached and asked to write an article. I was not given a deadline, I was not given a subject, I was given absolute freedom. “Write about whatever you want” is what was said to me that day, and at that time, it seemed perfect. I thought to myself, “I have so many things I want to write about! What should I start with? What should I submit? This is great!”
Therein lay the problem, for I had no guidelines to follow, I had nothing to point me in even the vaguest direction of what to write, and so I waited until inspiration struck me. As the days slowly passed I realised that maybe inspiration would never hit, because it isn’t exactly a tap that I can turn on and off as I please (but wouldn’t that be a marvellous thing, to be able to inspire yourself at will) and so, it got me thinking how difficult it must be for bloggers, whose blogs don’t have a set subject. At first, to them it’ll seem great that they can write about whatever they please, but now I realise that it is much easier to be told what to write than it is to conjure up a subject out of the crevices of your mind that you hope will please the people who are asking you to write it.
So basically, it’s easy to write a 500 word descriptive essay on your favourite animal, but not so easy to write about whatever it is that you want to write about. To prove it to you, I’ll tell you a little something about the backstory that made me write this blog post.
Initially, I was going to write about Education, because I had been thinking about how “education” has just boiled down to “passing exams” and how that’s an important factor. Then, my mind wandered, thinking about all the marvellous things I could talk about: health, poverty, religion, and so much more. All pressing matters, all problems that need addressing, but am I really the one who could truly bring to light the severity of these problems? Am I the right person for this job? Maybe I should just write about something else. (Spoiler alert: I still haven’t) That got me here, writing this blog post about creativity and inspiration. And to think that when I’m older I want to be a part time blogger. Journalists have it easier.
Trust me when I say that when you get told what to do, and you think it’s soul sucking or demeaning, it is still a thousand times easier than having to write your own content whenever you please.
P.S. This article also doubles as an excuse for why I haven’t been posting. I’m not even sorry.
As always, read on,
Ahmed
10B2 Insider 