11 : 11 - A Year Of Writing

 By Sai Kumkala | Story teller • Tech • Life • Experience 

To be frank, I didn't really follow the plan I made for myself. And it been an year .

A year ago, when I started writing, I thought I'd post something every weekend.

Every weekend.

Well… that didn't exactly happen.

One year later, I have written around 30 posts.

Not a huge number, But honestly, not bad either.

Because somewhere between those 30 posts, something changed.

I became a writer.

Actually, I became a recognised and certified author.

And that still feels a little strange to say.

Because becoming an author was never really a plan. It was a dream.

I've loved writing since I was a kid. I've said that to so many people. Writing was always something I genuinely enjoyed doing.

Different themes , topics , thoughts.

Some pieces I loved more than others. Some of them my readers loved too.

There were appreciations. There were encouraging messages. There were people who actually took the time to tell me that they liked what I wrote.

And I'll be honest about something:

I crave that encouragement. Maybe every writer does , in same way.

You spend hours putting a piece of yourself into words, and somewhere in the back of your mind, you hope someone reads it and says,

"Hey, this meant something to me."

You know what - One of my posts was read by 271 people. 271. 

And then there is something even more meaningful.

I have a published book under my name.

It might look like just a number on a screen. But to me, it isn't ordinary.

And perhaps the thing that makes me happiest isn't even the number. It's the fact that I reached something I wanted as a kid.

I became an author.

And somewhere along the way, the dream became real.

There's another funny thing writing did for me.

It made me visible .

Google me now - You'll find me.

And honestly, that's something I never expected when I wrote my first few pieces.

I've been trying to figure out what to write for quite a few days now.

I had no topic. No big idea. Nothing that felt worth writing about.

And then tonight, at 11:11, I thought—

Why not write about the journey itself?

They say 11:11 is the time to make a wish.

So I made mine.

Maybe not by closing my eyes and asking for something.

Maybe by opening my laptop and writing about something I once wished for.

A year.

Around 30 posts.

A book.

An author dream.

A few hundred readers.

A lot of words.

A lot of encouragement.

And a version of me who started writing simply because he loved it.

Maybe that's enough for one year.

I'll just keep writing.