Lekhak – Smita

Writing is my liberation

I still remember the essay I wrote in 9th grade, named “The Writer.” In this essay, I portrayed writers as amazing creatures which can not only create a world with their imagination, but can also teleport you in it. And books are not just a collection of pages filled with words, but a teleportation device that has the capability to transport you to alluring places. 

Let me explain you how it works. Do you remember reading Twilight or Harry Potter and wishing to exchange places with any of those characters? Do you remember how effortlessly you became a part of their story with every chapter you read?

Isn’t intriguing and crazy how easily we get invested in a story written by a stranger? And to be honest I am still waiting for my Hogwarts letter. 

Writers are amazing, aren’t they? They write stories, poetries, and even a line so beautifully that it triggers hundreds of feelings and memories inside you. I have always been amazed by the beauty of words and of course by their masters, aka writers. 

I wanted to create the same magic, and as long as I remember, I always wanted to be a writer. 

My very first inspiration was Durjoy Dutta as he published his first bestseller when he was just 21 years old….. Inspirational right? I was 15 years old when I read his book and decided to follow in his footsteps.

However, my life had different plans. My dream of becoming a writer slowly faded away after 10th grade. I became a science student, and later took forestry as my major.

But, life is funny, isn’t it? My dream came back to life when I landed my first internship as a content writer right after my graduation.

I was surprised that how can someone hire me as I had almost zero skills at that time. But I am grateful that someone decided to trust me when even I didn’t trust myself. 

This was the very first lesson writing career taught me…… that sometimes others are able to see the potential, the magic, and the spark in you that you don’t see in yourself. 

We often underestimate ourselves by telling us that we are not enough. But in someone else’s perspective you are more than enough, for them you are someone who is capable of creating magical things. I know it is hard to accept, but it is true.

So, the next time someone tells you that you can do amazing things, believe them.

Just know that no one would have given you an opportunity if you weren’t capable of doing it. Take that leap of faith, trust yourself…just like I did.

Writing is not easy

The internship started off well as initially everything felt like a fairytale, but soon enough reality decided to knock at my door. It felt like a punch in the gut as I wasn’t expecting writing to be so difficult.

For me, writing was sitting beside a window overlooking a lake, and writing beautiful things in a gorgeous diary. I know it sounds stupid…..but isn’t this how we all imagined our writing life to be?

Anyway, in reality, writing is sitting on a laptop for 12 hours a day trying to make a sensible article that has to be witty, concise, readable, constricted in a word limit, and SEO-friendly. It has to be equipped with so many things like keywords, SEO, references, plagiarism checks, tonality, and so much more. Writing is not a child’s play and within a month I realized that I don’t know ANYTHING about ANYTHING. 

This was the second lesson writing taught me…… that no amount of knowledge will ever be enough. You need to keep learning, growing, and adapting every day as knowledge is not a destination but a journey. 

I realized it when they asked me to write in multiple domains like finance, marketing, cosmetics, stocks, medical, games, etc.

Writing in different genres helped me improve my research skills, and helped me gain knowledge about different things. I realized that knowing something about everything is a useful trait. It allowed me to have conversations with anyone and literally about anything.

Research also taught me that there is so much more in this world than meets the eye……I used to believe that reading was my escape from reality. But in turn, it brought me close to the reality. It made me understand the world around me, and helped me realize the beauty of being in the present. Reading and writing about different things gave me an insight of different industries, and helped me understand the mindset of people around me.

Everyone has a story

Reading fiction taught me how people think, act, and how every action has a reason, a backstory, and a past. Humans are not just living beings, but they are a collection of stories. Everyone has multiple characters in their life which belong to different chapters of their story. Some chapters are their favorite, some are forgotten, some are hated, some are sad, some are beautiful, and so on. There are also some chapters which are ripped apart from the book as they no longer serve any meaning to their story. But, each of these chapters represent their story, their mindset, their dreams, their fears, and basically their existence.

Books helped me become curious about everyone around me. It helped me to get out of my comfort zone, and talk to different people. I wanted to listen to them, their ambitions, their fears, their goals, and I started finding the beauty of individuality. It’s amazing how each human has a world of their own. Each life represents a whole universe.  The curiosity of knowing their story helped me become a better listener and improved my conversation skills.

Slowly, I started picking up from the experiences of the characters I read about or the people I talked to. Listening to stories helped me to understand human psychology, and it helped me structure my content in a way they would like to read.

As writers we are supposed to know what our readers perceive, believe, see, feel, and specially want. Writing forced me to into learning about human minds, and it helped me to make a better connection with people and specially my readers.

The third lesson writing taught me was…..stories are important. People are driven by emotions and not by facts. If they can’t relate to you, they won’t listen to you (or read your content in this case).

How writing improved my self-esteem

I was an introvert and being a part of a startup pushed me into situations where I was supposed to interact with multiple people. Initially, there were just fellow writers and managers. Then soon enough they promoted me to the position of project manager. This is where my anxiety peaked at the highest level.

They asked me to not only handle the clients, but also to hire, train, and manage other writers. Trust me it was a nightmare. I remember practicing my speech for hours in front of a mirror just to call and interview a few applicants. 

Slowly and gradually I got used to it, and in about six months I became good at it. The clients started praising my work, and my team liked me. For the first time in my life, people wanted to know my views, they cared about my opinions, and sometimes they enjoyed my company. I know it is a small thing, but for me, it was a big deal.

My self-doubt started fading away, and I started gaining more and more confidence. The fourth and the most important lesson writing taught me is…..that nobody cares and nobody judges you on the basis of your insecurities. They don’t see you as someone who is dark, weak, dumb, shy, fat, or whatever you are insecure about. People see you as someone they can talk to, laugh with, take help from, and feel safe around.  People remember you as a feeling rather than a physical form.

Nobody in this world thinks about you as much as you think they do. Everyone is so busy in their own life that they barely notice you, let alone your insecurities. So, just be you and people are going to love you for the real you.

Journaling became my best friend

I am still not used to the idea of sharing my problems with others, but I have developed the habit of journaling my feelings. It allows me to introspect and gain self-awareness about how I feel and why things bother me.

It helps me to express my feelings in a better way. I know it’s not exactly related to content writing, but it is still writing.

This is the fifth lesson I learned from writing….that writing gives you clarity.

Writing various articles and blogs helped me arrange my thoughts in a more structured way. It gave clarity to my thoughts, and taught me how to weave my thoughts into words.

This is why I ask everyone to practice writing. It doesn’t matter if you are not a content writer or even if you don’t want to make a career in this field. Writing will help you to discover yourself, to know yourself better, and gain clarity in your thoughts.  Trust me it is the best remedy for overthinking.

In the end, writing is not just a profession for me; it is my salvation. It is something that has liberated me from all my demons, and helped me become the person I wanted to be. I hope you liked reading about my journey, and thank you so much for reading it till end.

Now, let me tell you how I can help you with the things I have learnt so far. Things I can help you with:

  • Illustrations
  • Content writing
  • SEO
  • Content strategy
  • Storytelling
  • Digital marketing

For detailed information, you can check out my portfolio:  https://docs.google.com/document/

If you liked my portfolio or this blog then let’s connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smitavrma/ 

If you want to hire me, then please mail me at: smitaverma1114@gmail.com Let’s work together and convert your visions into reality. Thank you so much for reading my journey, and have a nice day J

5 thoughts on “Lekhak – Smita”

  1. Arun Kumar Yadav

    Your journey, shared with such depth, resonated deeply. Your liberation and transformation through “me” is palpable. The way you conveying your skills, understanding the lesson learnt throughout your journey and offer to help others is commendable. Thank you for sharing your story; it touched me profoundly, and your talents shine brightly.

  2. This was a captivating read.
    It’s impressive how you rediscovered your passion, wrote amidst hectic and fast-paced routines, and embraced your unique path.
    You’ve presented a compelling argument in favor of writing, continuous learning, maintaining a journal, and keenly observing others, learning from their diverse stories.
    Looking forward to seeing more of your future works; keep inspiring others with your words!

  3. It’s to long u should make it little bit short and interesting most of the people who didn’t have time and don’t like reading feels it’s not useful and boring so think about it

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