My first encounter with a Greetings-of-the-day email was at 16. I read it on Fufs’ laptop. And mocked him a lot – I thought wasn’t cool, wasn’t ✨ giving. ✨

Today at 12:18 AM of October 27, 2023, I think it is the most rational choice. A blanket wish. The only problem is – it is too old and almost every other boring buffoon uses it. No, this is not a comment on Fufs, please.

I started this piece with a Good Evening. But it is literally midnight. So that’s disconnect #1. And #2 that most people would read during the days. But also not. The point is – I can’t tell. I need to think of better, more interesting, wittier ways to open my blogs with.

So that.

A lot of conversation around being good at writing today. Here’s a report.

Thought 1: Prak was at some fest where she heard Salman Rushdie talk about what makes for good writing. And I am paraphrasing the paraphrased advice: Either write every. single. detail. Or keep it real crisp. Being succinct – but also saying what needs to be said – is not my forte. Everything I have to say comes with a long, winding, often full of not-the-most relevant details. I tried writing these really smart, woman-of-few-words kind of Ginchy Threads last year. Each thread took me an hour to put together. I am not shying away from wracking my brain to craft a perfect 140-character tweet that explains the Markov Cycle. I love the process, believe you me. But given the choice, I’d choose for my writing voice to be full of details. Paint the perfect picture. Lively. Like Daffodils.

Thought 2: I gifted me this fancy akforthevibe.com domain as activation energy for writing more frequently. The deal was that I’d write every single day – without fail. This was in Jan 2023. Ten months later, this blog has some 40 published posts. At this rate, by the end of this year I’d have been presented with 365 chances to write something – something nice, something worth reading, anything at all – and I’d have taken only 50 of those chances.

I’d be presented with 365 chances and I’d have only taken 50-60 of them. 60/365.

I know better than that.

I dropped a mini-sad-rant voice note to @saurabh about it. And here’s the reply: Don’t be harsh on yourself and write 50 more. So I’ll do exactly that. And not be sad about it.

Thought 3: I noticed how I use vegetative writing to escape the big stuff on my to-do list. (vegetative writing: Very low effort, ranty. Low value output creation. Could do with a hangover.) I don’t want to do that anymore. I tried a little today. A little more tomorrow. And so on.

Thought 4: @saurabh also told me to write at one particular time every day. I don’t do that. Probably an hour in the morning? 8:30?

Bye now. I’ve to join Chandni’s Art Sesh in the morning <3

Warmest (soup),

AK.