Shahid Insaf's Blog

May 15, 2017

The Belated Dedication

How can one define something as complex as creativity? I've often struggled with where it really comes from. I liked drawing ever since I was three. My first was a precocious rendering of my grandmother's glasses. My interest to write blossomed in fifth grade when one of my teachers saw something in me I did not and forced me into an essay writing competition meant for ninth and tenth graders. I was awarded a consolation prize. I finished two novels as a teenager and then relegated them to the corner of an antique armoire in India after reading them three years later and realizing their naive immaturity. Several attempts to write and publish a novel were ultimately successful last year when I published my first.
As I look back, that initial spark, that first craving to create something new was probably something my father inadvertently gave me. A writer of soulful poetry in Urdu, a masterful charcoal artist and an extemporaneous storyteller who could spin elaborate yarns and then deliver them with enthusiastic gusto to the kids gathered around. He made our sides split with laughter. I remember wanting to be like him and everything I wrote or painted had to pass the litmus test of his reluctant approval.
One the years, distance and philosophy have made us grow apart. But I feel I owe him a debt for igniting the spark of that creativity. My father is gravely ill, although timely intervention appears to have, at least for now, averted a crisis. I do not know how much time we have left. Life can be a very capricious partner.
I find myself working feverishly to finish my next novel. It is about an artist and I will be dedicating it to the man I wanted to emulate. The abruptness of life and the urgency it creates is my impetus is to finish the book well before it is time for that long goodbye.
It would be a pity if it became a belated dedication.
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Published on May 15, 2017 19:06 Tags: camouflage, creativity

November 19, 2016

The Importance of Now

I've been gone a while after my first blog post. Too many things going on, the most serious of which is a medical issue that has me reading everything I can possibly get my hands on to understand and treat it.
I've had multiple appointments and finally a procedure last week. I'm feeling better, but time will tell if the improvement is wishful thinking (a figment of my hopeful imagination) or something real.
But like all bad things one goes through, it has taught me a lesson that I hope stays with me for the rest of my life. 'Do not discount today'.
That's all we have. The past few minutes that I have spent writing this post are gone, and the only memory of that time is these words. Live this moment. As best as you can. As happily as you can. With as much wonder for the world as you can muster.
Maybe that is why I write. To maintain the present although it will become the past in an instant. Maybe that's why we create. To retain the past and make it our present every time we look at that creation.
Maybe everything we do is in some way representative of that quest for immortality.
But let's not forget the Importance of Now while we are searching for Forever.
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Published on November 19, 2016 13:53 Tags: writing

October 13, 2016

New ideas

It amazes me how TV series writers come up with a seemingly endless array of ideas for the characters they have created. Obviously, some of the ideas are poorly thought out and executed, but the ability to tirelessly trudge along is commendable.
After publishing my first book, I'm now working on my second and third. They are sort of sequels to the first and completely different stories at the same time. But I'm finding it incredibly difficult to settle on a plot that is unpredictable, interesting, fast-paced but thought provoking at the same time and is likely to be remembered for a long time.
I enjoy writing, but the process gets a little more challenging when you also have to think about how readers across a spectrum may perceive it.
So kudos to those tenacious writers around whose creativity and hard work the world of fiction revolves!
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Published on October 13, 2016 06:32 Tags: writingideas