The road to get back to work

‘Know Thyself’ — more than two millennia after Socrates preached why there is a fascinating world in us, I pondered over this question as I was sending my resignation letter with a heavy heart about eight years ago. What I expected to be a one year of sabbatical turned into a seemingly unending one. This blog is about my metamorphosis from an ambitious developer to a stay-at-home-parent/home maker, and then again to a freelance content writer.

As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life , my career, my hobbies took a back seat for more pressing needs of a little one. The needs don’t end for it is not a job, it is a responsibility, but little did I know then how to manage them and fight my uncertainties, fears of the unknown- the once known technologically transformed field. I felt still, stuck — with no growth.

It is okay to slow down

The movies seem to suggest that slowing down is something that highly successful people do after a burnout. Nothing seems to even hint us that slowing down is needed when you think you need it. We take breaks, for a few days or years, for various genuine reasons, to travel, or to study, or to look after a family member in need of care. How wonderful would it be if we can take a break, handle less work, or shift to work from home jobs, without the fear of losing opportunities to come back to work.

Our lifespans have increased, lifestyles changed, and families shrunk. When evolutionary changes and medical help provide us with active brains even into our old age, and technological advancements make sedentary jobs possible, isn’t the feasibility of taking a break, a basic human need?

Do we ever stop learning?

We learn as we grow up and we continue to learn as we grow old too. As a testimony to our learning scientists say the neurons in our brains form new synapses every moment. We may not show, or even identify, all our sub-conscious learnings, yet they still make us more knowledgeable than what we were yesterday. I was learning too, many more things than I realised then.

Read — Create — Participate

My reading didn’t stop. I read books on many topics and found solace in reading art, art-appreciation, appreciating life (some call it philosophy). I did become a better cook and learnt many life-skills and parenting skills. But I didn’t feel happy to envisage myself doing these professionally. As Anna in the movie ‘Frozen’– I too did the next right thing. I read, made art, took courses online, attended weekend certificate courses in a fine-arts college nearby. To stay among like-minded people, for feedback and inspiration, I joined urban sketching groups, book clubs, art societies. These groups helped me to push myself to do something meaningful, something that interests me.

Set-up your workspace

I had also set up my workspace. It costs money and time, yet this investment is necessary. It helped in telling my family members that I’m at work when I’m there and they too along with me started taking my work or hobbies more seriously.

Be Flexible

Finally, a year ago, I felt I am ready and one of my new year resolutions was ‘getting into work that pays’. But the pandemic changed every plan I made. Staying at home no longer felt easy. As I realised this phase is going to stay for many more days, I started searching yet again for relief in work that I love to do. I wrote blogs, reviewed articles, wrote art statements for my paintings to pass time. I also conducted a nature study webinar blending science stories, folk tales, nature inspired art for kids aged 6–12 for eight weeks. None of these count as learning outcomes, yet they gave me the confidence that I can write blogs, review articles, read books and write summary.

When an opportunity knocks at your door, do not hesitate

As if the stars have aligned, when the company that I worked for before trusted me and offered me a contract job as a freelance content writer, I jumped at the opportunity. I accepted the offer, made a plan and continue to learn as I work.

Make a roadmap

I Know I can’t just wake up the next morning and become a content writer. I could write articles in simple language because of my story telling experience, my reading habits helped me to understand and assimilate new topics. My sketching skills too helped me include doodles in the blogs and articles I write. However, these are not enough to make me a technical content writer.

How I learnt to write good technical blogs.

I checked Coursera for courses on business writing. Found the course ‘Business Writing’ by ‘The University of Colorado Boulder’. This course gave me the confidence that I can self-edit my write-ups and deliver quality content. This course is easy to understand and anyone can finish it in a week if they allot 1 or 2 hours in a day to go through the video lectures. Every guideline I write in the next few paragraphs is inspired from this course.

· Purpose: Before writing the document, try to understand the purpose behind writing it. “What exactly we want to tell the readers”.

· Precise Writing wins: Everyone’s busy these days and have a lesser attention span. To convey point effectively, respect your reader’s time and say what you want to say in fewer lines.

· Simple language wins: Reading documents that are tough to understand feels like mockery if the writer shows off his/her knowledge of difficult words or his/her ability to write complicated sentences.

· Avoid jargon: Avoid using jargon yet keep it conversational. Avoid passive voice too. These steps make the documents clearer and precise.

· Scaffold:

Always make a scaffold. It supports the document the same way a scaffold supports a building. After spending time reading and researching about a topic, note down the points you want to convey.

o The introduction gives an overview of the points and the purpose of your writeup.

o Elaborate each idea in a paragraph and take care not to include more than one idea or topic in any paragraph.

o Finally, write the conclusion. It sums up what you already conveyed and doesn’t contain any new information.

· Give a thought about pictures: Think if you can include any doodles or paintings to convey information easily and in a fun way.

· Make the topics relevant to current times: Internet has old information too. When writing about technology it is important to understand its inception, the path it followed, and the latest advancements.

· Elaborate: Check if you can include any examples, case studies to elaborate further.

· Take a break: Try to take a break after you finish writing the document and comeback to it after a couple of hours. Reading after a break helps me judge my writing with a fresh mind.

· Can you explain it to a kid: Read the document and check if you can explain it to a six-year-old. It’s ok if you can’t explain the whole topic to a kid, but this perspective helps in understanding our readers and their expertise. My efforts in answering my inquisitive child’s every question didn’t go waste.

· Self-review: Never send a document without reviewing it. Here’s the review checklist from the course ‘Business Writing’ on Coursera. Though the checklist is here, I urge anyone interested in writing better to take this course.

SELF-EDITING CHECKLIST

This checklist provides a quick summary of the lessons of the course ‘Business Writing’ by ‘University of Colorado Boulder’

APPEARANCE:

· Does your document look good on the page? Is it balanced and look easy to read?

· Are your paragraphs short?

· Do you make good use of white space?

· Have you considered your typeface?

THE SCAFFOLD

· Do you start immediately with a purpose?

· Do the next sentences provide a summary of the argument to follow?

· Does your introduction “roadmap” your argument for your reader?

· Do you start your body paragraphs with your most important point?

· Does each paragraph have a strong topic sentence?

· Do you address only one topic per paragraph?

· Does your conclusion conclude? No new information?

SELF-REVISION

· Edit every sentence for simplicity and clarity.

· Check to make sure none of your sentences are too long.

· Hack away at the unessential.

· Remove generalities and jargon.

· Check for grammar.

· Check for repeated words.

· Get rid of the passive voice.

· Get rid of many forms of the verb “to be” or “to have” as you can.

· Cut as many prepositional phrases as you can.

· Always proofread!

· Consider asking a trusted colleague for feedback.

I learnt SEO and the basics of Digital Marketing from https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalunlocked/courses. There are many more courses on digital marketing available on various online learning platforms.

This is how I launched my content writing career. I struggled to find a foot, worked on things I enjoy, and took the opportunities when I got them. This is not a success story, it is my path, beyond my judgements of success and failures. As I tread, I continue to face challenges, learn new things, and change from time to time.

The road to get back to work was not as difficult or scary as I imagined it to be. Check for directions. It’s just a road.