My Hundredth OS.ME Post

This is my hundredth post on os.me. When I posted my first article on November 18th 2020, it didn’t remotely cross my mind that I would be writing 100 posts within a year (for that matter, 100 posts, period). It has been a gratifying and satisfying experience. Here are some eclectic thoughts on my writing experiences and my journey so far.

The significance of a milestone

Back in the day, a movie’s 100th day in the theater would mark its success. In cricket, scoring a century has special appeal – players are celebrated and lauded for scoring a century. I’ve wondered – what is the big deal behind a milestone – does it have any special significance apart from being an arbitrary number? Upon reflection, I arrived at an answer: achieving a milestone is a demonstration of consistency. Scoring 100 runs in cricket means that the player stuck around for a long period of time without getting out, thereby contributing to his team’s score. Compare this to scoring three quick boundaries and getting out. Consequently, I’m going to celebrate my 100th post to acknowledge that I have pressed the gorgeous blue ‘Publish’ button 100 times.

A further reflection: 100 is indeed an arbitrary number that has achieved significance due to social acceptance. Logically, 99 and 101 are arguably as important milestones as 100 – they too signify consistent performance. The cricket player who takes a risk on 99 for the team’s cause and gets out is more of a hero than the player who prioritizes his milestone over the team’s needs. 

Is this an OS.ME article?

After I started writing os.me articles, one question constantly ran in the background: Is this an os.me article? This question came up in various spheres – new situations, reflections on lessons/wisdom, books that I read, memories of past events… Most of the time, the answer would be ‘No’, this is not an os.me article. But thanks to this question, several ideas and thoughts which otherwise would have gone unnoticed have made their way into an os.me article.

Two approaches to prolific writing

I see two approaches to writing a lot of articles. One is to schedule them at regular intervals – e.g., twice a week, once a week, and maintain the discipline to push out articles by this deadline. The other is to write in bursts – write a lot in a short time, taking advantage of momentum. Most of my articles are a result of the latter approach – thanks to the two Write Challenge opportunities. Going forward, I look forward to employing both approaches – scheduling some time and writing a lot of articles in bursts, as well as writing/scheduling articles in regular intervals. 

Thoughts on writing

The more I write, the more I realize that I have some distance to travel towards becoming a good writer. Reading material on writing has opened my eyes to possibilities and techniques that I hadn’t been aware of. Two resources that impacted me in recent times are William Zinsser’s On Writing Well and the Creative Writing course by Swamiji and Sadhvi Vrinda ji. Zinsser impressed upon me that I write for myself and not an audience. Swamiji issued a cardinal rule of not boring the reader. I love the combined takeaway of writing for myself while simultaneously engaging the reader.

A sense of community

Writing articles helped me interact with the beautiful people who comprise this community – and made me feel belonged as a part of this community. Interacting with beautiful people is truly a privilege, and I offer my gratitude to everybody on this community for the opportunity to exchange thoughts, ideas, kind words, and much more. 

The beginning

I am hoping this is just the beginning, and that I continue writing more. I offer my thanks to everybody behind the os.me platform – Medhaji and the editorial team, the software engineers who conjured such a complex platform and made it look simple, the designers who make the website look gorgeous, the beautiful people who make up the community, everyone who I am supposed to mention but I missed, and of course, Swamiji, for His kindness in opening the gates of os.me for all to write.

Image Credit: Ylanite Koppens from Pexels