Blogging Break: Putting Things in Perspective

Take a break! (Photo Credit)

So, it’s another come back of sorts to my blog. Does that bother me - the long break? No, it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit quietly and watch the world go by. This time, I also watched the madness of other bloggers go by. This break also proves that one can’t rest on one’s past laurels. And that, one is never invincible after overcoming a challenge (the #NaBloPoMo, in my case) unless one continues to put in efforts. So, I am back with no promises of coming back often. To me, it’s ok to flow with the flow once in a while. It’s ok not to push things to do the way it should be done to conform to some arbitrary rule I did not make. 

Breaks are good. From whatever one does in life. Surprisingly, looking at others go about their frenetic activities while you are on a break makes them appear even more fast paced. So when I think back about blogging related activity that I noticed around me during my hiatus is - there’s just too much of it. Could be because of the effect I told you earlier. But I also felt that everyone is so much in a hurry to blog. To blog more. To blog everyday. To write for every weekly theme. There are so many conversations around how to just keep posting no matter what. I am honestly astounded at how fellow bloggers can not just churn out posts everyday but also share them on various blogging platforms for others to read!! I constantly wonder - how do they manage! I figured that maybe I am not just that hardworking or it’s not in me to be able to do that or just plain ‘don’t care’ attitude! Any which way, I realized that not being in the rat race works for me. 

And I think the more I saw that happening on social media, the more I savoured my luxury of not blogging when I did not want to. To choose to stop typing just because I don’t feel like. And to be ok with it. As I have mentioned earlier, I write for the passion of writing. I write because I feel strongly about something. I don’t know how to write to increase page views (I don’t even know that for my professional blog! “What a fool!”, you say? Well!). I don’t know how to write to drive traffic. (I think this means the same as what I said before). Yes, my professional blog has some semblance of planning for the posts of a month. But that’s about it. Blogging is not the central thing in my life. I am sure avid bloggers reading my post - if anyone’s reading this post at all - might gasp in incredulity at this assertion. But that’s just how blogging works in my life. (Though, hats off to people to who manage all the blogging with kids and full time jobs)

Another reason for the hiatus has been probably a common thing that all of us go through - life takes over and it’s hard to find the time. With some personal issues and the rush of keeping up with my professional blogging, I has to compromise on a few things. And my personal blog is usually the casualty. Plus, once you stop, the languor sets in making it even harder to begin again. You know, you’ve been there! But after avoiding looking straight in the eye of my neglect of this blog, even when I could begin writing, here I am fighting through my lassitude. 

While I was pondering about blogging sitting on the periphery of the blogosphere, I figured what might work for my blog here. I need to work on what works for me. Daily blogging doesn’t. I need to go back to my reasons for writing - the love of it and improving the craft of writing. So consistency through well thought of posts seems to be my kind of plan. I am outright incapable of writing a good post every single day. Maybe, if that was my only profession. So, I need to find a rhythm that keeps me going and the blog too. And I think I have kinda figured what that rhythm could be.

If you have made it all the way here through my rant, thank you so much! Your free gift of good karma should reach you soon! And while you are here, have you been through a phase where you just took a break even from something you love? It could be a hobby or a (weekly) ritual that you followed for a long time. Tell me about it. I’d love to hear about it. 

#NaBloPoMo Day 2: #BNLF: My Review Of The Most Disruptive Blogging Event Of The Year

Blog Now Live Forever, the blogging event by Indiblogger was a 2 day mega fest with an impressive line up of Indian and international speakers. Learning, knowledge, networking, food, catching up - it was a great place to be a part of the blogger community this weekend. This was my second Indiblogger meet and third blogger meet in all.

The venue was close to where I live and there's nothing like a cool Mumbai morning to look forward to an event like this. 15 minutes and I was there. There were serpentine queues to register but the efficient Indiblogger crew took charge of the situation and the lines vanished in minutes.

Ready for Day 1 of BNLF, Mumbai

As I got in and registered, I instantly recognised Purba Ray chatting up with people. It was my fan girl moment! And I was surprised that she remembered me and many others from Twitter. Now that's called being down to earth! And it goes without saying that a selfie is mandatory!

Selfie with ace blogger, Purba Ray

After all this excitement, it was a damp squib to find out that not only was there no breakfast but we had to wait for 2 keynote speeches to be over before we even got coffee! It seemed like a repeat of Karva Chauth for many women who fasted the day before and had an early start even the next day. Pushing our hunger pangs away, my friend Ankita and I found seats for ourselves and started milling about. The rocking start to the day was with a live rock concert - just the kind of energy we wanted!

And then started the key note speeches by the impressive line up of speakers for the day. The first session by Purba Ray who spoke about the hilarious responses one gets on telling people that we are bloggers. And Purba brought in all her trademark humour and we were in splits by the end of it. Arnab Ray was next, talking about how blogging changed his life. He traced back his journey of blogging from a time when it was a lesser known concept. Anshul Tewari's speech, though uninspiring was relevant in driving home the power of blogging and the difference it can make to the society. On the other hand, Kanan Gill seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to talk about content in videos. We all kept waiting but he never got to it. Jeff Bullas and Christoph Trappe were at their professional best with useful insights on social media and story telling, respectively. (Although Jeff's session seemed to drag along and people got a little tired since it was post lunch too). Preeti Shenoy's session seemed like her standard marketing presentation which dutifully ended with - ps: please buy my books (!) and did not add anything new to my knowledge of blogging. Or publishing after blogging. I think the highlight of the day was Bruce Dickinson, the former lead singer of the rock band Iron Maiden but then also a successful business man and commercial pilot. The sheer volume of things this guy has managed to pack into his life is beyond inspiring!

Selfie with Ankita (@LifestyleProBlog)

In between the sessions, we had our much awaited and looked forward to lunch. We caught up with people we knew on Twitter but now got to meet them in person. My friend, Ankita introduced me to bloggers she knew and was in touch with. I met a lot of new people and it was inspiring to know the their stories of blogging. We also stayed back for a quick peek into the back stage party. The speakers were all so down to earth that we caught up again with Purba, Arnab and Jeff. Day 2, likewise, had masterclasses from the best! Christoph had great points on how one could use story telling to make an impact on others and get a buy in. His session was particularly interesting since drove home most of his points through stories. So it was like actually looking at how stories work. It kept us all riveted to the session. It was also inspiring to hear him share personal stories of how he makes time to do all that he does and still ensures he has time with his kids. (I missed Jeff's session since I had to leave early)

Day 1: Backstage party - with Ankita, Sahana, Puneet and Arnab

The event was definitely a winner for networking and learning, which I will get to in a bit, from the brilliant minds of blogging and social media. However, I found glaring gaps that dented the impact of the great event this could have been. To begin with, there wasn't anything disruptive about it. There weren't any path breaking ideas that would disrupt our way of thinking about blogging. No talk about bending rules of blogging or a revolutionary, thought provoking insight of how blogging can be newly approached post the event. It was a series of experts offering insights into how blogging should be done, which is informative at best, definitely not 'disruptive'.

The event sorely missed an energetic MC/host/compere that could have kept the event together and the crown energised. The energy was flat right from the start. Not that we weren't excited but there's only so much energy we can muster during an 8 hour event without some boost from the hosts. We had a semblance of a compere who introduced a few speakers and then we were told that she hadn't prepared the introduction of the next speaker! That came across as so casual and unprepared on the part of Indiblogger. Technically too, the clicker kept getting stuck and the guests had to check for the slides to come on to continue speaking. The audience was seated such that people in the front had more chances of getting noticed and asking questions.

I may be overly critical but that's because an event that includes esteemed speakers from other countries is expected to be glitch free. It's the reputation of the organisers at stake. With the kind of speakers Indiblogger managed to get, this could have been the best and the biggest of the blogging events.

Not robbing Indiblogger of the credit for organising an event like this, I think all of us had something to learn and take home. And when you have the best brains on stage, I guess there are some personal meaningful lessons which speak only to you. Since I have been blogging and active on social media, it wasn't the basics that interested me. The valuable lessons for me were:

1. Jeff Bullas' "Done is better than perfect". And this applies to so many other aspects of my life. And also, as bloggers, we wait for that elusive bout of inspiration and creativity to hit us so that we can come up with that perfect post which we secretly wish will go viral. When that does not happen, we come out with half hearted posts we aren't happy about. So, getting things done as a goal is a valuable lesson for me. If we just went ahead and did things, we'd probably have much better results too.

2. Christoph's session was about story telling but I learnt valuable lessons on time management from him. During the masterclass, he shared his routine which involves waking up at 4.30 am so that he can hit the gym in then morning to be able to spend time with his girls in the evening after office. His story of how he has blogged typing with one hand while his other hand held his one year old while she slept on his shoulder left an indelible imprint on my mind. So, it's all about really making time for things you really want to do. And I was quick to apply this lesson too. I ran into a blog chat as I looked at Twitter first thing this morning. I found myself browsing through it along with making my bed and brushing my teeth. At other times, I would have just ignored that chat as being too early in the day!

3. Bruce Dickinson's prolific career as a musician, commercial pilot and businessman takes the cake in inspiration. While Christoph inspired me to use every minute and every opportunity to do what I love, Bruce showed how much we can pack in one life! We are never too short of time to pursue things we really want to do.

To sum it up, #BNLF was a power packed event with something for freshers and experienced bloggers alike. It did add to strengthening community bonds through meeting and learning from each other. More power to you guys and more support from the blogging community.

Why this is the best time to be alive!

This is the best time to be alive! Photo Credit

This is the best time to be alive!

The prevalent zeitgeist is so full of positive affirmation. The vibe is favourable and promising to engage and indulge in whatever you feel like. The profession you want to be in. Or the person you don’t want to be. No, I am not brimming with misplaced exuberance. I know there are still rapes, murders and other atrocities. We do not live in a perfect world. But the world seems to have changed for the better in a lot of ways and in unprecedented leaps and bounds in the last 5 years or so. And, to me, most of it is change for the better. Seriously, my generation seems pretty anachronistic in today’s times if we don’t catch up with the times. 

The change is evident everywhere. Let’s look at the most common thing to affect all our lives - gadgets. The sheer number and variety for every possible need is mind boggling! The shapes, sizes and sleekness is a testimony to how far we have moved. When I think of my first cellphone, I am reminded of a thick, black brick! I am sure kids in their 20s today would refuse to even touch it. We no longer have to carry heavy laptops around. PC is a relic of the past. Ipads, kindles and their ilk have made browsing, reading easier. There are devices just to indulge in the pleasure of gaming. There are better headphones and bigger televisions. 

And to complement it all, there’s internet in the air, literally! Connectivity is the buzzword! And the kind of connectivity we have today blows my mind away. When I sent my first SMS to my friend more than a decade ago, it seemed no short of a miracle that she could read it instantly. And why not! We were, so far, used to writing reams of pages and waiting for days for the letter to arrive. (And STD calls cost an arm and a leg)

Even though, 24/7 internet is a more recent thing in my life, I sometimes wonder how I lived without it for so long. Google is my friend, guide, mentor, decision maker and what not! And when people ask what something is, I judge them! You shouldn’t ask for objective information when you have Google! And as I discover the new treats of connectivity, my belief about living in the best time ever gets stronger. I have ordered food online! I call for a cab online. And Google Maps ensures I am never lost in any part of the country! I have booked office space for just 3 hours online. I have bought onions and potatoes online! 

Thanks to connectivity, no one is too far away. You can see your grand kids grow through your computer screen. You can download apps for travel, to share pictures - even add filters to make you look more beautiful - and videos instantly, music, shopping, weather and the list is endless. 

But what I find the most fascinating about our times now - and which has had the most impact on the fabric of our society today - is the liberty to be exactly who you want to be. Gender and age no bar. Pursue your dreams. Follow your heart. Love cooking? Be a chef. Even if you are man. Love music? Grow your hair and make independent music. Stuck at home with an infant? Start a blog and tell the world about your passion. Want to change the world? Start a revolution on social media. Can’t find a job? Be an entrepreneur. 

We live in times when people get free food and are paid to write reviews about it. Food bloggers! People make money out of telling you what colours to wear. Image consultants! You can just sit home and write full time to make money. Bloggers! No matter what you want to do, you’ll find support. And it’s easier to connect with like minded people, thanks to social media. No place is too far and no information inaccessible. 

Have I missed out on something. Go ahead and add it in your comments. Would love to hear your ideas on what makes these the best times for you!