Intentions
Is 30th January too late to wish a Happy New Year?
Hello!
It’s been a minute since I’ve graced your inbox.
I should start by writing happy new year but after 30 days is it still new? And the bigger question: is it still happy?
I must apologise for the break from last December. Life got a little too chaotic and I needed time to focus and hone in on what I want to do. Which hasn’t changed — the thing I want to do most of all is write.
Writing to you though, writing to anyone had to take a backseat as I had to write to myself. I got lost in the island of the self. And I used that to relook at myself and find out who I am.
I am still a work in progress.
But I’ve found enough nuggets to keep plugging away at my keyboard. To write. And to write to you, again. Thank you for being here. It means more to me than I express.
In 2024, I interviewed Christopher Paolini. He’s the author of Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle. His books urged me to be a writer so you can only imagine how grand I felt to get a chance to talk to him. Out of all the things we spoke about (including discussing Bollywood movies) one thing continues to stay with me is the Intentionality behind his written work.
AG: Has your writing process evolved because of how well received Inheritance is or do you still stick to the same bones?
CP: Well, it become more structured. The way I approach each story is a lot more organised and I try to be a lot more organised with my thoughts, my intentions. I suppose that’s a good word. Intention. There’s a lot more intentionality behind everything I do because this is my life. This is my career and that’s important to me and I want to write good books. So you’re never gonna go wrong by putting more thought into a book.
You can read the whole Interview here.
What is intentionality?
Conceptions formed by directing a mind toward an object.
I have, for the most part, always written without a plan. Without an end goal. I’m writing to please myself, telling myself the story first. If I know the ending, it becomes very difficult for me to keep going. While working toward that end, I feel like I’m the reader who doesn’t know what will happen. I can only guess. And it’s this sense of suspense that I hope my readers will have too as they read my work.
If I already know the ending, what’s the point of reaching it?
But not having a plan makes it difficult to know when a project is complete. Is it really? It also makes making changes a real task because you can pivot half way through and suddenly, you have to go back and fix things, add the seeds you’re blooming now. It’s quite a laborious task. And takes the biggest writing resources: time.
It’s one of the reasons I never begrudge writers who are haven’t completed their book series while readers wait patiently for them to write their book. It’s not easy.
While I enjoy this state of discovery, life cannot be lived like this. There has to be an intention behind the larger scheme-ness of it all.
I rarely, if ever, set a New Year’s resolution but this year I’m setting an intention: To be more intentional for every project I take on. For all the words I write (aside from my fiction). Ask, how does it serve me and my aspirations?
Maybe, being intentional may not suit me at all. And to escape its wicked web, I’ll dive deeper into writing fiction where I can be less intentional and see where it all goes. And end up writing a lot more.
Maybe, that is my intention after all.
Akshay’s Updates:
I got a chance to chat with Hannah Kaner (Author of the Fallen Gods Trilogy) this January. It was quite delightful and her interview is coming soon.
If you aren’t yet, keep an eye on my Instagram. I’m at @akshaygajria. I’ll be making some fun new announcements in the (very) near future.
I’m performing my story “Don’t Panic!” at the Omnibus Theatre at Clapham on 6th February. Tickets and details are here.
I’m also producing the valentine special The Moth StorySLAM on 9th February with the theme “Love Hurts.” It’s going to be mad fun. Very few tickets are left. Get them here.
Until next month,
Keep your intentions sharp,
Akshay