Blog on Blogs: The Day I Became A Writer! Not Today Blog 18

These three legendary blog posts sparked a fire in me to start writing.

Rambling Days: “BE HERE NOW: NOTES FROM A TEN DAY SILENT VIPASSANA RETREAT”

In March 2019 I came back from my first marathon in Tokyo. I started to think of new items to put on my bucket list. The plan was to put it all on a vision board. Space on my wall was soon covered with Google images of my dreams and goals.

I had always wanted to go on a Vipassana Meditation Retreat. Eid Al-Fitr holidays were coming up in a few months. This was a good time to take 10 days off.

Myanmar sounded like a good location. I Googled “Vipassana Meditation Myanmar” and found this intriguing photo of a child meditating side by side with a monk. It caught my attention. I clicked on the link to find out more about the photo and meditation in Myanmar.

I discovered a blog post written by Kaja Šeruga. In her post, she walks the reader through a 10-day meditation retreat. What blew me away was how many emotions you can put in 1500 words. She finished off by saying that this was her last time going through 10 days of suffering, but for me, it was clearer than ever – I need to try this.

"DAY 7
Gut-wrenchingly awful morning. Exhausted, fed up, everything hurts.

Empty mats in the meditation hall leave us guessing who's left - no tearful goodbyes around here. Dale, the American that arrived on the same bus as me, vanished around day 5. French girl that looks like pocket-sized Demi Moore gone today. Smart girl.

Note to self: NEVER DO THIS AGAIN"

- Kaja Šeruga

This blog entry was my motivation to start writing. I wanted to write about my marathon, about living in Asia, about life.

“10 weird things that happen when you row the Atlantic solo”

I have been following the YouTube channel “Sailing La Vagabonde” for a long time. In the video series, an Australian couple is sailing around the world and has been doing so for the past five years.

I vaguely recall one video where they interviewed this 70-year-old lady about crossing the Atlantic on a rowing boat. The thought of rowing across the Atlantic has been stuck in the back of my head ever since.

In late 2019 I was working on the second version of my vision board, again thinking about future goals and dreams. Somehow, I remembered about the Atlantic Row. Again, I got lost in Google images of people crossing oceans on rowing boats.

I was hooked. Again, it was a blog entry that would scare most people away, but it convinced me even more of one thing.

In this article, Katie Campbell Spyrka tells the story of Kiko Matthews who has set a record for rowing the Atlantic solo.

"All the waves were about 40ft high, like walls of water. And then two huge ones came along. I say they were 80ft but they could have been 100ft. So I was at the bottom of them. There was no point worrying about the fact that I was potentially going to be smashed to pieces […].

So then you get to the top of the wave. You look around and you can see for miles. And you can also see the massive pit of doom that you’re about to head into. But you can’t fear anything." 

- Katie Campbell Spyrka

Scott Adams: The day you became a better writer

I had no idea about writing. My first three blog posts had zero structure. Then, I listened to Naval Ravikant’s interview on the Tim Ferriss Show. He mentioned a short blog post that he copies to all his document drafts to remind himself how to write.

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert Blog, explains in his blog post the very few points that determine a good text.

I understood that good writing is persuasive. It is not about showing off with complex sentence structures. In school, I always thought sounding smart is the way. It is not. Writing is about getting your point across without too many detours.

My approach to writing has changed dramatically. It took me some time to realise that readers have their own imaginations. I like to keep things short and leave occasional gaps so that my readers can imagine their own part.

A simple but impressive blog post that opened my eyes.

Why Not Today

This is my vision board.

Why not start making your own? There is something about bringing your goals and dreams to life in pictures. Find photos that inspire you, print them out and put them on your wall.

If you can see it in your mind you can hold it in your hand.

Steve Harvey

D

Thanks Mon for your help! x