They say life is what
you make of it and when all is said and done, most is said and very little
done!
But without getting
all melodramatic on this, every year I look back at the last 12 months and what
I have achieved, what I have accomplished and what fun I had along the way. But
I’m going to make an exception this year. So much happened in the last 365 days
(actually less as there are still 10 days left of 2013) that it would take 300
pages to write it all down. So instead I want to share a lesson I learn this
year; don’t leave for tomorrow what you should have done today. Bear with me
and you will see what I mean.
If you were a regular
follower of my blog (or if you have bothered to read at least one of them) you would
know that I enjoy writing. And I often write based on my observations and what
I encounter in my life. I like to share wisdom and ideas with those who follow
my writing and some times offer valuable advice based on my experience. I also
express some of these experiences and observations in my script writing. But I
have not captured everything I’ve seen this year, and that is where my fault
lays. So I’ve decided to start writing my blog on a weekly as of 2014.
I get to see so much
in my travels and interact with so many people that often by the time I get
down to write I have forgotten most of what I’ve experienced. This year I
managed to take 123 flights where I encountered endless tales of the
“unexpected” human behaviour. And I regrettably have not recorded all incidents
I have come across over thousands of miles travelled. So as part of my lesson
learned, from 2014 I will write weekly, shorter blogs that will allow me to
share with you more entertaining observations of a traveller. These may also
serve as memoirs for the future in case one day I get down to writing a book
about my life!
And this idea of
capturing everything I see came from a quote I saw in Facebook today from a
page I follow called “Freedom With Writing”. They publish quotes to inspire
writers to sit down and write and today they place a quote by Burton Rascoe
that says “A writer is working when he is staring out of the window” and I thought,
“yes it is true but many writers, like myself, have a much bigger privileged
window called travel”.
I have often said I am
blessed that my job allows me to travel every week. This may sound like a nightmare
for those who hate the thought of being away from home, but in my case it is a
great opportunity to “stare” out of the window, the window of the world! And
please don’t get me wrong, I do miss my family and not being at home, but
thankfully I have a very understanding wife and kids who support me in my job.
However as I have to travel as part of my work, I might as well make the most
of it.
So I sit and stare,
stare at the world in front of me. I often get my inspiration through the
observation of what I see as I travel, people I meet or situations I find my
self in. Artist will often tell you that the best way to get inspired is to
observe. Actors learn more about how to play a characters in a bar or a bus
than the script they’ve been given. Landmarks or models have inspired all great
paintings. The best songs ever written have probably been composed in a park.
The most powerful way to get inspired is by taking that time to observe, to
look, to stare out of the window, that’s where the hard work is.
But I believe we all
have that opportunity to sit and stare out of the window. We all have to get
somewhere every day. Whether it is to the shops to buy milk, to work by bus or
car, or just simply go out and walk the dog, we all have that chance to take time
and watch the world go by. My advice? Take a small notebook with you, your
phone, or anything you can quickly make a note of what you have seen. Once you
see it, it inspires you and you need to write it down. Then when you get home
or to work look at it again and start to develop your idea. And I am not
talking just about writing, acting or painting; this idea serves all aspects of
life. If you run your own business and want to continue to innovate your
product or establishment, if you are working on a project for work or college
and need to get that extra edge to it to make it stand up or just simply
looking for inspiration to write a card for someone special in your life,
everything around you can give you that inspiration you need to make it more
special, more inspiring.
This is why I am
making this my focus for 2014; I want to write more often to capture even more
of what I see. I will also continue to capture some of those inspiring moments
in my script writing to bring to life those characters out there waiting to be born.
I also want to take
the time here to thank you all for supporting me in my passion and taking the
time to read what I write, I promise to continue to provide you all with what I
see out there in the world!
Someone once asked me
why I liked to write so much and I replied; “I write because someone out there
reads”. Have a great 2014 and keep on “staring out of the window”
