A to Z Challenge participant
Vidya Sury was part of
#TeamDamyanti this year, and she did an excellent job of providing social media tips (
A Must-Read Guide now that
we're taking a relaxed Road Trip!)
and a hundred other things that go into running the challenge.
Today she is the Featured Guest on this blog, and talks to us about her passion for writing.
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I worship the written word and the spoken word. I owe my love for writing to my Mom and one of my Uncles, who always encouraged me to express myself on paper.
And of course, to all the people who enjoy what I write, inspiring me to continue to write.
Writing is more or less like breathing to me, and today, I am glad to say, it is my bread and butter. Okay, also flavored cheese, sometimes.
Writing is a wonderful outlet, liberating, opening up new perspectives and teaching tolerance. When I go back and read something I wrote years ago, I enjoy seeing how I have learned and grown, and changed. Sometimes, I am proud of what I wrote and sometimes, I feel like I could have done a better job of it.
One of my earliest writing exercises was diary-writing. My Mom always encouraged me to keep a journal. It improved my language, my vocabulary and my confidence. It also helped me learn better at school. Above all, it kept my mind well-ventilated, stress-free and positive. It improved my memory and fed my creativity.
I remember, each time we went on a trip, my Mom would make sure I had packed my notebook and pencils. Oh yes, not only did I write about the trip as it happened; I also sketched in those pages. Sometimes, sketching helped me get my thoughts on paper far quicker than words to describe the scene.
Another writing exercise that helped me grow as a writer was letter-writing. Ours was a large family that believed in keeping in touch with relatives who lived in various cities. Letter-writing was a weekly chore. On Thursdays, which was a school holiday, my Mom and I would settle down with a stack of post cards and postage covers. I would love writing the addresses on these covers. Then, she let me add a couple of lines to each letter. Eventually, I took over the letter-writing and felt so happy when they were lovingly acknowledged. Some of my family still have my letters and read them with pleasure.
My love for writing paid off during my school years and beyond, making me a better student and a better person in life. At work, I was rewarded with the remark “excellent communication skills” on my performance report and not surprisingly, I made a career in sales, marketing and training, before I quit the corporate world to become a stay at home Mom.
Today, I am excited to have a regular outlet for my writing via my blogs. My reward is my community, meeting other fabulous writers and exploring different writing styles via writing challenges and blog hops. Most of all, I am filled with gratitude to know that I make a difference with my words in peoples’ lives, bringing me closer to wonderful human beings.
Writing is like oxygen.
Most of all, I am especially grateful that today, it is my chosen profession. Thanks to my writing skills, I earn my bread, butter and jam as a freelance writer and blogger, helping businesses, professionals and individuals.
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Vidya Sury is a professional copywriter, editor and blogger. In a previous life, she was a corporate powerhouse. She now works from home crafting connections between businesses and their target markets, but prefers to focus on collecting smiles, playing with her dust bunnies, showing her diabetes who's boss and celebrating the little things.
She loves coffee, people, cooking, reading, writing, photography and travel. Vidya blogs at
Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles , Coffee with Mi and
Your Medical Guide.
Dear Bloggers, why do you write? Do you blog for passion as well as remuneration? Did you participate in the A to Z Challenge? What do you think of guest blogging? Would you like to be a Featured Guest on this blog? Hit us up using the contact tab!
Why do you Blog? Do you ever take blogging breaks? How does that work? I remember the days when I didn't care about whether or not I blogged on a schedule or what I actually blogged about. I blogged whenever I found something to write about. It was MY blog, right? Now, going on my third year of blogging more diligently, I find other bloggers talking about frustration with their blogs. Numbers aren't high enough, or it's too difficult to find something to blog about, or it takes up too much time, and the like. Why do you blog? Have you questioned whether or not it is time well spent, or just a waste of it? I think that, as with anything done regularly, we all question the why of what we are doing and whether we're doing it because we have to, or choose to. I understand blogging burn out. I've been there. It isn't fun. But neither is feeling cut off from my perceived communication with a larger world. I regularly participate in at least five blog hops. I do this because each of these offers me something I like having in my life (and schedules I can keep up with!). I feel that each blog hop speaks to different parts of me, who I am and what I'm interested in. Plus I'm always finding out new things and "meeting" new people. How about you? What's in it for you?
