As a writer, I must confess that I have reached a stage where finding a topic to write on has become a pain, a nightmare. Having been at it for over 10 years, with nearly 150 blog posts in that period, the landscape seems to have turned sterile in terms of subject matter. And then, I have very clear expectations from readers that serious writing is taboo - everybody and his uncle is doing just that. Multiple subjects which are topical today deselect themselves for one reason or the other - like Farmers' Protest (nothing to be joking about, even though it has the looks of a horror comedy); Covid (has been rehashed so much that one is more afraid of reading anything about Covid than Covid itself); Congress (the party is so good at making a mockery of itself, there is no scope left for others to compete); Indian Cricket team (I abhor the idea of writing about something on which there are billion experts shredding the subject to bits daily). Choosing a subject has always been a challenge, but earlier that task has never left me feeling like a moron , who cannot see ten feet around him. These days I spend more time raking my brains - whatever is left of that - about what to write than actually writing the blog once the title is nailed.
I wonder if this inability to latch on to something as a topic has something to do with the serious matter of ageing, with the faculties not taking cognizance of readily available opportunities. But, actually I have known some extraordinarily acidic, decrepit individuals become sharper and better entertainers with their trenchant cynicism and no-holds-barred assaults on anything within sight. Such people become so wonderfully unpredictable that they could turn on their best friends without provocation and reduce them to tears with their barbs. Such oldies never pause to scan the horizon for any subject, they just thrive on whatever comes into focus. Should one take a leaf out of such specimens and move like a bulldozer to overcome the perceived paucity of topics?? But unlike such cynics who are beyond the pale in most respects, I need friends and goodwill, so cannot just ride roughshod over my immediate periphery without worrying about consequences. Not yet. Anyway, my dear wife demurs that the current struggle of mine has anything to do with age because if she agrees that would mean she is ageing too.
If the subject and the treatment are not light hearted and breezy some readers are disappointed, with good reason. There is a multitude of writers who take upon themselves the role of gurus, to advise the world how to behave, chastising people for all types of errors of omission and commission. `Why do you want to join that horde' is the question they pose to me and I have no intention of wandering there because pontificating is not for me. So, even if it is an inviting subject laden with potent possibilities, unless one can treat it with humour, distilling any sign of seriousness out, it seems to fall outside my assigned domain and I eschew them automatically. Thus the pool of topics available to me is further shrunk.
I had to be abreast of times, perforce look at my supply side carefully and add WhatsApp to my channels, bowing to demands from a set of readers. This, I erroneously presumed, is an one time effort and it seemed so at first. But, as we went along, requests started coming, saying `I don't like WhatsApp, so send by email' or `I forward your blogs to other friends and this is easier done on WhatsApp, so send me the blogposts both by email and WhatsApp', This process involved some chipping and chopping until it settled to everyone's satisfaction. Thus the maintenance activity on the delivery channels has become an added dimension of work. Am waiting for someone to ask blogposts to be delivered by SMS or by courier - there are people with all kinds of preferences supported by their own sound logic, right?
During Covid, any logical person would conclude readership of anything reasonable will increase, due to the perception that people have additional time on hand at home. I thought so about my blogposts too, but surprisingly, it looks like somewhat fewer people seem to be reading the blogs. Is it possible that with WFH and a lot more time at their disposal, people have started reading other things they have identified recently and are ignoring old pests like me?? Or is it because people are so peeved with the distressing state of affairs, they don't want to read anything at all and just want to sulk?? Or there are other, more enjoyable activities to engage in, like spending time with kids, grandkids, so reading a blogpost is not priority? Hard to tell from my end. Is it likely that because of Covid many more writers have sprouted, for want of any other work, with diverse subjects and styles and readers' time is distributed among all of them?
One activity that has increased with the blog is readers providing feedback to the blogs. This is a conundrum I would like to sit and untangle - fewer readers but more feedback; I am trying to link this also to Covid, but logically am not able to.
I am glad I made a topic of this and got one more blogpost out. Now I will start squeezing my brain for the next topic for the blog. All said and done, for me it is a labour of love and I will have to find something to write on. I guess I will.
