Devoting 3 hours a day for the book!

I heard some of the celebrities saying that the most useful (or game-changing) courses that they took in college were not their majors but their First Year Seminar courses . When I attended first few FYS classes of professor Jennifer Szabo, I started to understand what those celebrities were talking about. Our FYS was named "The Idea Lab: Affecting Change", and the possibility to turn my life over by the means of this course started to make me desperate. Then when we were required to declare what project we were going to take, I took courage to go for what I wanted to even though I had been scared of the bigness of the project.

According to this table I'm on preparation stage of the project.

My country, Nepal,  recently suffered a massive devastation from the series of earthquakes. The country still needed help to recover. It still does. When I left my family, friends, neighbors and fellow citizens behind in the turmoil of crises in Nepal and came to the secure, well-managed and luxurious setting of the United States, I was gradually developing a subliminal sense of guilt. While I was, and am, enjoying the privileges of abundance and stability in a developed country, my family and friends in Nepal were living with the post traumatic stress disorder in the houses largely weakened by the hundreds of quakes and amid the whole bunch of problems my country is facing. Nearly ten thousands people perished in the quake. Twenty five thousands were injured and some of them are permanently handicapped. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their houses and properties, and of course their family members. There are hundreds of cases where people lost all their family members, their houses, and their properties. They lost their wives and children and fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and friends. They lost all the tangible reasons to continue to live. On top of that, some even lost their organs and were practically depleted of any motivation or reason to live. There are cases where fifteen year old girls who came to the capital city from their villages in a holiday with the dream to see the city got to the top of the landmark Nepal tower ( Dharahara) and then the earth started to shake; the old tower crumbled and all the dreams and enthusiasm of the adolescence died forever with it. Also, people came from all over the world to rescue the trapped victims and some of them sacrificed their lives to save others. Coincidence was that I had been planning to pursue my abandoned education in the United States sine last year and I arrived here when my country was in the middle of the crisis.

Until last week, I felt stuck. I was puzzled and afraid and overwhelmed.

In the meanwhile, I have long been struggling  to establish myself as a writer. As a student, it was, and is, quite a challenge to write and publish. Somewhere my writing passion had to intersect my primary obligation of the college. I had already debuted as a writer but I was facing various challenges, both practical and intellectual, carrying the writing passion ahead. When I started my formal education in Ramapo College of New Jersey, I was largely uncertain in regards to my writing. Yes, writing had to somehow be the part of my formal college life, or it would be difficult for me to balance.
When I knew that I could take up any idea and make it work for the welfare of others ( community, campus, country, or the world) as the central part of our FYS course, I saw an opportunity in it. What if I wrote a book gathering my reflection and experience of the earthquake? What if I got the book published? What if the book sold well? What if I helped towards the reconstruction of my country with the money I made? What if?

Emotional graph for this challenging project probably looks like this.

What if I did it? What if it really happened? What if I could turn this FYS project requirement into a turning point of my life? What if I convert this cumbersome burden into an opportunity of the lifetime? What if the FYS course became a platform to discover and be initiated in my dream and passion? And more importantly, what if I could really affect change? What if I could build some houses in Nepal for those people who are still living under tattered tents? What if I could help some kids in Nepal to go to school? What if?

This is my debut book! This book always inspires me to do more.

Challenges stood scary. Could I write? Well, I probably could, but could I write well? Could I write well enough to attract tens of thousands of buyers? Then the professor said that she would appreciate the intention and effort of affecting change, the sincerity and diligence of the idea, rather than the end success of the result. This reminded me of the old wisdom of "Give your best and leave the rest". I thought, why worry about the fruits? Fruit is not under my control. However, seeds are with me. What's in my control is planting the seed, and taking care of it till it germinates, and then protecting it against possible harms until it is big enough to protect itself. If I have planted the seed, maintained the temperature, fertilized the soil, watered the sapling, and protect it when it's small and fragile, I can have faith that it will give me fruits. And even if I will not be the one to enjoy its fruits and shades, someone will. And that's the whole idea of the project: affecting change. Which mean, helping others. What mattered to the professor, and to me also, was whether I had genuine intention and idea to affect change or help the system or help the needy. Also what mattered was whether I gave sincere efforts to make the idea work and whether I gave the devotion it deserved.

Finally, I took the project.

And here I am. I feel stuck somehow. I have collected information and archived various sources to aid my writing. Yet I have not started to write formally. In first two weeks, I had not even figured out what type of book I was going to write. Now that I know that the book will be the narrative portrait of the earthquake experiences interweaved as a series of stories, I am yet to start writing toward the manuscript. There've been loads of assignments and tests of other subjects and I have got to take care of lots of other things. Still, I know how important and potentially pivotal this project is for me and I don't want to let this opportunity slip. I will make it happen.

I am probably still in Literature Review phase.

 From today, I have decided to devote three quiet hours in the library for this book every day until I complete the book. I  will switch off the mobile phone and turn off the social media. I will simply write and research and make errors and cut and edit and whatever....for the book. I will read the articles and insights on disaster psychology; I will access some of the media and government archives to learn more about the quake; and I will write a lot. I think three hours a day consistently will make it possible for the first manuscript to be ready within November. If that happens, then I can have december to take care of its publishing part.

[ All the above photos except for that of my book are the properties of www.google.com/images ]