As I sat on a winter morning to read the latest book by Ruskin Bond, memories flooded into my head. ‘Why did I chose this book?’, was the first question that came to my mind. I then realized that this was exactly the kind of book I was waiting from my favorite author, our little Rusty, Ruskin Bond. I have always been an avid reader since my school days and I have always dreamt about how the lives of writers play out – how do they live, how do they write, how do they come up with ideas – an endless list of questions I had for myself. For writers are a secret lot. Except for few writers, most writers keep themselves away from the limelight. They prefer the mist around them. They want to mystify us readers about their lives – and this is what drew me to writers. When I happen to read an author’s work, I automatically imagine how their lifestyle is, what is it that they do to become such good writers. What does it take? Not many writers would come around and reveal these secrets to us. But, at 86 years and after five decades of writing and being reader’s favorite, Ruskin Bond now brings out this book to guide aspiring writers on how to get head-on started with writing and more so – how to continue on a writing journey.
The book is written in the trademark style of Ruskin Bond – free flow language, witty, simple and engaging. I have always wondered how writers choose the perfect words and weeds out the unnecessary ones. The answer to that is simple yet difficult to follow – consistency and practice. The book begins with simple ways to begin to writer, to enjoy the process of writing, preparing to write and how to weave thoughts and ideas into words. The 126 page book concisely covers elements of writing drawing from Bond’s own experience of writing and consistently keeping at it over the last five decades.
The book gives out few important tips such as:
- Writing is a lonely profession – to succeed in this profession, one need to shut themselves from the rest of the world and write, alone, without any interference or disturbance. There are examples of Bond himself as well as Khuswant Singh who close themselves behind the door while they write.
- Read you must – to be a good writer, one has to be a voracious reader as well. Without reading other writer’s works, one can never create their own work. Read, read and read – only this can help you to be a good writer. The more you read, the more ideas will flow to your mind and you will be able to express.
- Write something everyday – this is about consistency. It is not only Ruskin Bond, but any article or book I have read about writing profession, there is one thing in common – consistency. It doesn’t matter if you are writing good stuff or bad stuff. What matters is that you write regularly. One must write at least a page or two everyday to hone their skills of writing. It is possible that a large amount of it will end up in garbage, but still write you must daily. This will eventually become a practice and with practice you will perfect your skill.
- The book ends with a book list recommended by Ruskin Bond which an aspiring writer should read. This list includes books such as Alice in Wonderland to A Writer’s Notebook to JK Rowling. The list consists of not one, but a plethora of authors and their works which should be read as a part of developing writing skills. Only Ruskind Bond could give out names of other writers so openly to read in his own book, without the fear of his popularity being overridden by others. Such is his mastery, humility, love and most importantly, honesty towards his readers.
Ruskin Bond also in this book writes about the qualities of becoming a good writer. These are as follows:
- A love of books
- A love of language
- A love of life
- An observant eye
- A good memory
- Enthusiasm
- Optimism
- Persistence
Now, if you, like me, are an aspiring writer, get yourself up, and read this book. The physical copy of this book is available in many e-commerce portals. I have although bought the e-book from Google Books. You can too, as the price there is less compared to the physical one.
As Ruskin Bond beautifully says in the book which sums up the juices for writing:
"There are so many lovely things to see, there is so much to do, so much fun to be had, and so many charming and interesting people to meet. How can my pen ever run dry?"
