Habit of Writing Without Publishing

Writing is a pleasurable hobby. It's an easy job. A cup of tea. It gets difficult only when we plan to publish it. Suddenly. Then we spend hours watching the cursor blinking (like I'm doing right now). Writing a line. Deleting it. Editing even before anything is written at all. I ambush my own thoughts and words before they come out. I stop myself from writing. 

My Old Journal Notebooks

The following anecdotal story from Atomic Habit opened my eyes;

The Danger of Aiming for Perfection

On the first day of class, Jerry Uelsmann, a professor at the University of Florida, divided his film photography students into two groups.

Everyone on the left side of the classroom, he explained, would be in the “quantity” group. They would be graded solely on the amount of work they produced. On the final day of class, he would tally the number of photos submitted by each student. One hundred photos would rate an A, ninety photos a B, eighty photos a C, and so on.

Meanwhile, everyone on the right side of the room would be in the “quality” group. They would be graded only on the excellence of their work. They would only need to produce one photo during the semester, but to get an A, it had to be a nearly perfect image.

At the end of the term, he was surprised to find that all the best photos were produced by the quantity group. During the semester, these students were busy taking photos, experimenting with composition and lighting, testing out various methods in the darkroom, and learning from their mistakes. In the process of creating hundreds of photos, they honed their skills. Meanwhile, the quality group sat around speculating about perfection. In the end, they had little to show for their efforts other than unverified theories and one mediocre photo.

This story revealed to me where I got messed. I was expecting too much from every piece I was attempting to write. I was not allowing myself to enjoy the process of writing because I was too focused on publishing it. I needed to start writing for the love of writing without the nagging pressure of publishing on my blog or anywhere on social media. I needed to do some private writings, ones that are not to be made public in any form. 

When I finally did that I found it extremely liberating. The spontaneity of my thoughts surprised me. The flow was smooth and beautiful. I rediscovered my ability to writing.  Like the 'quantity group' in the story, I began writing more. And the more I wrote the more I loved the process. I felt my confidence coming back to me. I could see myself getting better at writing. 

Besides improving my writing, I revived my habit of daily journaling. I had made a mistake of confusing journaling with writing articles for my blog. Now I know that I should never put the burden of publishing on private journal writing. 

By the way, daily Journaling helps you organize your thoughts and give you clarity. It can help you in self-reflection, goal setting and driving personal development. It's said to relieve stress, boost memory and unleashes creativity. I am taking it more seriously than I ever did. 

Nothing beats the experience of writing physically in a notebook with a smooth fountain pen, but if you want to make it exciting and revealing, try writing on 750Words.com. It's an online platform to write privately, exactly the kind I explained. 

What's exciting is the way you are tempted to come back every day to write your 750 words because you are awarded points, and you will get beautiful stats that analyze the feelings, themes, and mindset of your words. You discover a lot about yourself more from your writing. The platform makes you a disciplined writer, you need to be on time, and your speed is tracked, even your distractions. You can write more than 750 words, which is approximately three pages. Your daily quota is only counted if you have crossed the 750 words mark. You cannot be lazy.

The site was created by Buster Benson and his wife Kellianne. 

Stats on 750Words

The mindset of your words

Feelings

In helping find my way back to writing I want to thank three people; Dr Adrian Chan for inspiring me to write daily journals, Nawang Phuntsho for introducing me to 750words.com, and Bjob Ganchu for taking me to Audibles where I listen to Atomic Habits. 

Ending 2015 with a Bhutanese Audiobook

Every year on this day and about this time of the day I open my blog and recount the year when the rest of the world go to party. I would take great pride in the number of articles I have written and but this year I can't do that because I have underperformed. Somewhere among great people I lost my confidence to write in my own style because they wanted me to write like scholars. I failed. I need to get back soon.

But looking beyond my blog I think 2015 has been the best year of my life so far. Perhaps I have matured enough to find happiness outside my blog. Earlier no matter what I have achieved during the day my happiness always depended on what I wrote on my blog at night but this is different now. I am happy looking back on what I have achieved.

I will always remember 2015 as the year I solved Rubik's Cube. Over the months I have bettered my time and now I can do it in less than two minutes. It's only matter of time before I master it but I have gift my cube to my nephew who has already beaten my record.

The other things I would like to remember from 2015 are Yangthang READ Centre, which READ Bhutan opened in my village in the spring. This I am sure will change the quality of life in my village and therefore the future of it. To sustain the activities of the centre and engage our youth meaningfully I have founded Yangthang Village Youth Club. This club will compliment and give wings to the facilities in the centre.

My dream to see clean toilets in Bhutan was shared by a group of very close friends and we made a big beginning this year with Bhutan Toilet Organization's Nation wide campaign that involved over 300 volunteers from across the country. We have set up our office with support from many people and now we are ready for more than just cleaning.

And finally before the year ended I had one last thing to take care of which began in 2014, the production of an audiobook. With permission from author Kunzang Choden I and my 12 year old student Sonam Chuki began recording the novel Dawa-The Story of a Stray Dog in Bhutan last year. M-Studio did four days of recording with the little girl and took months to put together the three hours audiobook. iBest Institute took from there and helped in producing 50 CD. From the author to the recording studio to the CD producer and the cover designer Che Dorji, none of them bothered about a penny, it was all labour of love.

It was launched last week at Camp RUF during Karma Choden's reading session, and later the book was played every night as bedtime story. While this first Bhutanese audiobook could be a great educational material for all students and especially the ninth graders who have the novel in their syllabus I saw that it's a priceless gift to the visually impaired students. Therefore I have asked Sonam Chuki to send a copy to Khaling Munseling School as gift from her side among other schools.

I am yet to present a copy to author herself. We are meeting in January and I will let her listen to Sonam Chuki reading her book. If she finds it worth I am going to gift the recording to her.

Dreams Come True at M-Studio

M-Studio is a place where musical talent finds its home. I have witnessed the studio give purpose to lives of many young people, to whom music mean everything. I could hardly imagine what would have happened to so many dreams if M-Studio hadn't come along. Thank you Choeying Jatsho, for dreaming a dream that would drive so many dreams.

One day, few years ago I wrote to M-Studio asking them to do the nation a favour of recording country’s first audio book. I got a reply expressing their interest but they were in the midst of musical revolution and had so many things going on. Then it was some months ago I wrote to them about Sonam Chuki and our plan to record Kuenzang Choden’s masterpiece “Dawa-The Story of a Stray Dog in Bhutan”.

Sonam Chuki at M-Studio

Sonam Chuki is just another eleven year old who has but read a lot. There are many like her and many better than her in reading, but what makes her special is how she kept pushing me ever since the first time we talked about it. She must be the only class VII kid who has read “Dawa-The Story of a Stray Dog in Bhutan” countless times in preparation for recording. She made me believe that we could do it. And what made it more possible is the powerful energy we received from her parents. Her parents are with her every day at the studio and they didn't hesitate once in letting her do this. And thanks to them for all the books they have always gift their daughter.

We are so indebted to the living legend, the author of the book, Kuenzang Choden for not just permitting us to record her book but also offering to help us if we ever need her assistance. I am hoping to arrange Sonam Chuki to meet the author and launch the audio book.

I could never imagine how tedious it is to record hundred over pages with a little girl, but Choeying Jatsho has all it takes to make it easy. The first trial recording of chapter 1 took 25 minutes, and I was already feeling very sorry because there were 13 chapters, but to my amazement Choeying did the first chapter three times. He gave the little girl all the time to make her comfortable with the whole process. Two days on and he has done seven chapters. There are over a hundred of sentences repeated and I have seen him note down the time periods of every mistakes, which means he has to work endlessly on it after we are done with the recording.

Sitting there in his studio and watching this young man do his work so passionately inspired me beyond words. My respect and admiration for M-Studio has grown greater than ever. I still can’t believe Choeying is doing this for Chuki and me unconditionally. I am so guilty of making a young entrepreneur do so much amount of work for free. I can never thank the man enough.

One day when his work reaches to thousands of students across the country, some of whom will be visually impaired, then we shall know the true essence of Choeying’s service. 

Stars Born in M-Studio

Sonam Choki- The Story of a Girl Who Reads "Dawa- The Story of a Stray Dog"

I met Sonam Choki on her first day in school. I am usually very forgetful but I still remember about that meeting because she left a lasting impression on me. She came to me to ask if she and her friends could go home because she had seen people leaving. The fineness of the language with which she asked me took by the pleasantest surprise. I couldn't believe a little class VII girl could own such beautiful language. I even asked her father if she had studied overseas but the secret to her amazing language was her habit of reading endlessly. Reading surely does magic, she proved it to me.

After a few weeks my school started forming clubs and I had to leave my old eLearning club to take up School Museum club but I had some unfinished dreams with the old club. So I called back all the old members of my former club to rebuilt the team and carry on. I then went looking for Sonam Choki. She was already into another club. I asked her if she would like to join my former club and read for audiobook recordings. She happily accepted.

I handed her over to a senior member, Chidananda who was the technical operator of the club and asked him to try some recordings with her. One day he came running to me to express his appreciation for her skill. He agreed that she is the best we have had. They have tried several poems, and short stories over time, and our ultimate goal is to record Kuenzang Choden's "Dawa- The Story of a Stray Dog".
Please listen to the following piece of recording they have done with minimal technology.


If forward looking companies like M-Studio would agree to help we are ready to record the book, so that the book, which is studied as textbook can be loaded onto mobile phones and any student can listen to it for free. Of course books are to be read but when it's a textbook you have to read it over and over, therefore listening alternative can be a great help.

If you like her reading, know that it's the magic of her reading habit therefore encourage, inspire and motivate children around you to read. Reading not only makes one a good reader but also shapes the soul and changes one into a cultured young fellow. Sonam is that.