A ‘Hobby’ according to us is a stress- buster, something which we do to free ourselves from the usual everyday schedule. For some, it is painting, gardening, sketching while for some it is reading, writing, singing and dancing. One among those hobbies which is attracted by millions of eyes is ‘writing.’
‘Writing’ is a hobby, an art and one of the perfect medium of expressing our thoughts and feelings. Writing can be in the form of an essay, a short poem, a short story, diary writing, an article or a novel. Writing is not only a mode of expression, but can also enable one to find his/her dream job. When one fails to find an appropriate person to converse and share things with, he/she takes the aid of pen and paper to outpour the thundery expressions built within. A beautiful writing comes out with what we experience and counter in our day to day life. It is also a result of extensive reading of books of different genres and of distinct writing styles. Hence, we can say that though both writing and reading are different hobbies but yet they are interconnected.
‘Reading’ is one such practice which not only enables one to enhance his/her vocabulary but also expands one’s knowledge, helps improve thinking ability and also the way one thinks. It also helps one traverse between different imaginary worlds, where reaching in reality could be practically difficult.
Diverse genres of books help the hippocampus of our brain to experience various moods and emotions. At times, books like ‘The Harry Potter series’ by J.K. Rowling help us experience unprecedented fantasy and adventures. On the other hand, books like ‘Ikigai- The Japanese secret to a long and happy life’ by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles and Wings of Fire by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Sir teaches us those basic principles of life which we often forget while walking on the path chosen by and for us.
Religious books such as the ‘Bhagavad gita’, ‘Bible’, ‘Quran’, ‘Jain Aagma’ and ‘Tripitaka’ are some of those books which are translated into various different national and international languages and read by the people all over the world. Apart from reading books, people also take interest in reading newspaper articles, articles from various websites, religious books, magazines, blogs and at times their own and others diaries too. A vivid and constant habit of reading , helps one create his/her own content, develop a writing style, improve the quality of writing and also the vocabulary.
People say that a hobby cannot be transformed into a career. But, according to me, it is the passion which acts as a connecting bridge between the hobby and the career. Also, it is necessary to mention that every hobby cannot be taken up as a career but in the case of ‘writing’ there lies both ‘probability and possibility.’
While opting for a dream job and building our career, we look whether we can put the heart and soul in the work that we are going to do, our eyes automatically tends to know about the digit of salary that we would be receiving, the amount of work that we will have to put in and the depth of knowledge that we are supposed to acquire. Writing, when taken as a career can help fulfil our desire for a dream job which is not only based on our every- day experiences but also something we love. Here are some of the exciting career options appropriate to our hobby of writing.
Talking about our hobby to be writing, becoming a ‘writer’ is one of the most preferred option for our career. Writing books, novels, articles, poems, fictional story books, etc.. draws our attention towards it. But, as climbing each step is more preferred instead of jumping while building our career hence, we can begin writing books after gaining a certain amount of experience and skills.
‘Blogging’ is one of the effective method which provides us with years of experiences. Creating a blog only demands the passion of writing, a little of technical knowledge, totally 0 investments of money and a little investment of time. Various websites like blogger.com and wordpress.com offer free blogging with exciting other options. One can share anything and everything on a blog that he feels to write on a piece of paper. It is that feature of 21st century that helps conserve paper and write but on the computer screen. There are also ways of making a income through blogging. This can be done by featuring ads (using google adsense) on your blog, increasing the no. of viewers. It is usually advisable to have a catchy blog name with attractive themes and images. Another feature is that a blog can be created and maintained in any language. A good news about the blogging is that it can be run by anyone and requires no particular degree. On an average, one can earn $300- $400 per month after a certain period of time. However, this would eventually increase as the blog popularises.
‘Free-lancing’ is another source through which people can earn by spending a few hours per week. We can write in various websites for various people through the globe and can get paid. Websites which offer totally free membership are kalaage and pro-blogger. ‘kalaage’ is a Delhi based company which offers one with a good sum of money just for writing their heart out. Also, it is a powerful platform which helps connect with different talented and wise writers existing on this planet. Pro-blogger is another such feature which pays people based on their writing work. Some of the other websites which demand a small amount of membership fee include peoplehour.com , truelancer.com , paynhire.com , project4hire.com , guru.com , etc.. However, these websites are reliable and trustworthy though they seek for a monthly membership fee and the fee that we pay is just nothing in front of what we are going to get both in terms of money and experience. The average salary of a freelancer varies according to the task undertaken. One might earn just Rs.200 per hour in the beginning but after a minimal period of time, he/she will be able to earn $100 per article which is just amazing.
The morning of a every common man often begins with a newspaper or television news. If we look beyond this practise, we can find a large and growing field which plays a very important role in each individual’s life and that is ‘journalism.’ It comes in with various forms such as mass media which includes newspapers, magazines, etc.. Some other forms includes broadcasting journalism, photo journalism, etc.. Today we not only have great advancements in the field of journalism but great opportunities too. It includes collecting information, reporting, writing and editing. Building a career in this field is a good option as it not only based on what we wish to do but also is a well- paying job. Being a ‘columnist’ is another option which will enable us to write for a regular column in the newspaper. It helps us a lot, as every column has a specialized topic of interest and it attracts quite a good number of people. Degrees required for a journalist/ newspaper editor are B.A.(journalism& mass communication); M.A.(journalism& mass communication); a doctorate degree in the same is optional but bearing it would increase our yield of income. Some of the prestigious colleges which offer this degree are Indian Institute of Mass Communication (Delhi), University of Berkeley, Indian Institue of Journalism & New media(Bangalore), Symbiosis Institute of Media(Pune). Dakshina Bharata Hindi Prachar Sabha is an institute which offers the above degrees in ou national language hindi. A salary of 2 to 2.5L per annum is offered in the beginning of career. However, it slowly gets increased to 50,000-1,00,000 per month based on one’s potential and experience.
Every movie that we watch has a story- line, something which we call it as a script. Whether it is a movie, a web- series, TV episodes, Comics, a theatre drama, or video games, all have their own scripts. So, what about writing these scripts? Yes it is possible. Writing scripts or say becoming a screen- writer not only yields us a hefty amount of money but also gives us an achievement. Our script being read by so many people, displayed on the screen/stage , praised and reviewed by so many is nothing but an achievement. Working in this field might require a lot of patience as reaching on the peak of fame isn’t much easy. New York Film Academy, London film School, Zee Institute of Media and Arts, Mumbai are some of the institutes which provide training in screen- writing. Though it is one among the lucrative jobs, yet the salary differs from person to person. On an average, a screen writer receives 10% of the assigned project which is not a bad amount. Writers who are more skilled with figures of speech, metaphors and poetry can turn into lyricists.
‘Content writing’ is another diverse field which is used for digital marketing. It consist of creating eye-catchy content to attract business on the digital platform. Copy writers, Email newsletters, podcast titles, key note speeches, video scripts, youtube video descriptions, social media posts, all come under this umbrella. Today everything getting transformed into digital, there are numerous opportunities for constructing a career in this field. Although it requires a little of experience, there are many courses which help us specialize in this. ‘IIM Skills’ is an online course which offers content writing masters course at an affordable price. It is said to be world- class and worthy for the time we spend on it. One can make around 3- 10L annually depending on the hours of work and its type. Copy writers earn around 1L per month as they work with various brands and popular companies. Experience and skills are very important in the field of content writing.
‘Academic writing’ is a formal style of writing which consists of writing research paper, book reviews, essays, conference papers, thesis/ dissertation (for advanced degrees), abstracts, academic journals, etc.. This is highly demanded in the scientific fields such as botanical sciences, microbiology, zoological sciences, economics, etc.. The speciality of academic writing is, it involves a different style of writing which requires a deep reasoning, analytical approach and a precise, scientific and technical vocabulary. Something very parallel to this is ‘technical writing.’ It is used in the fields such as aeronautics, biotechnology, engineering, bio- medical, finance, etc.. This may not pay one a definite and enough amount in the beginning but it would get higher as our experience gets older. This means that there are equal opportunities for building a career in this field.
One fine day, far in the future, when we stand and just take a small look towards our past years when, what we are doing today was just a part of fun and how slowly it started occupying a greater role in our life from a hobby and then to our everyday bread. To conclude, A ‘hobby’ for sure can help you lead to your dream job. Any job we do becomes a dream job when done with love and care. So, let us transform our hobby from just a passion to profession and remember that hard work , determination, practise and experience are necessary factors to touch the zenith of success.
