Ikigai For Writers

There is a Japanese word named Ikigai which means a purpose in life. It is said to be composed of four traits:

1. What do we love?

2. What are we good at?

3. What does the world need?

4. What can we get paid for?

When I came across these questions, the answers sprang immediately for the first three questions, while the fourth one drew a complete blank.

1. I love to read and write.

2. While I know I am a good reader, the encouraging response from the people who read my works has given me the confidence to say that I can write passable stuff.

3. The world needs poetry, stories and art in various forms. It feels like practicality, logic and reasoning have caused an imbalance and we need something related to the heart and soul to right the balance.

4. What can we get paid for? This made me pause. Because the thing I like to do, and which I believe I am good at, does not pay. At least not monetarily. When I think about it, it amazes me that for a decade, I worked doing what I did not like at all (working in an office) and still was getting paid for it, but now that I am finally doing what I absolutely love, it is not paying!

The number of times I have happily announced in my WA groups about one of my articles that got featured or when my book was published, and the response has been 'Will you receive any payment for it?'! I remember when my first book was published. A shopkeeper who was my father-in-law's friend, asked me how many books I have sold and how much I earned. It was a moment of embarrassment for me, specially because: 

a. I had published the book for free reading in Kindle.

b. In spite of publishing it for free reading, there were 8 people who downloaded the book and the icing on the cake - 

c. all 8 were my family members (my sister, my husband, my sister-in-law... you get the picture).

It is difficult for newbie authors like me to earn from their books. I say this with respect to monetary benefits. But we do earn! We get paid in the form of encouragement and motivation from the people who read our works. Sometimes, people say that the article/book made them smile, brought tears to their eyes, changed their perception about life and such other wonderful remarks that make us feel that we are the richest people on earth. Many of our friends review and recommend our books. This is nothing short of bonus for us!

Sometimes, in sheer melancholy, I remark to my husband that it seems that where Devi Saraswati resides, Devi Lakshmi doesn't. While this is clearly an exaggeration born out of a mind in the throes of despair and frustration, I will admit that many a times it is saddening to realize that my works will not fetch me anything monetarily. It would have been awesome if what I loved to do, also helped me to earn.

Whether we earn monetarily or not, whether we get readers or not, one thing about us writers is that, we just cannot quit writing. We throw our hands up in moments of despair and take oaths that we would never undertake another writing project in hand, but minutes later, we return to the laptop/book eager to write down the idea that just came to our mind. We do not think about monetary benefits or readers or viewership. All that matters at that point of time is that we give words to the story brewing in our mind.

I cannot do anything about the answer for the fourth trait of Ikigai. But I can change the question. And I did. It is no longer - What can we get paid for? It is - Will you quit if you cannot earn in this?

The answer will always be a loud and resounding 'No!'

In fact, this has brought to my mind, my own new traits required for Ikigai for writing. I have my own questions now, which are:

1. Did you write today?

2. If there aren't any readers or viewership for your write-up, will you still write or will you quit?

3. You know that the book you are working on probably won't pay you, nor will it get many readers, for all the time and efforts you are putting into it. Does this knowledge stop you from writing?

4. Have you reached that supreme state of dispassion as a writer, where you write only for the sake of writing and not to get anything?

These will be my new traits for Ikigai for the writer in me. And I hope that they become Ikigai for you too, my writer-friends. Here's to writing, come what may (or come what may not).