Amanyas Creative World

Z – Zen of Writing(Where stillness becomes syntax)

Writing can be experienced as Zen; this does not mean achieving a level of success (perfection); instead, it embodies the experience of being in a serene and calm state of mind – sitting with the pen, authoring the thought, and taking a moment to pause before returning back to writing. Allowing yourself to lose control and trust that as you create, the meaning will become known.

In its simplest form, writing is a form of meditation. Much like meditation begins not with the act of speaking but with your breath (the slow beat of your being), writing begins with your breath (the slow beat of your being).

Once you have opened your book and finished your cup of tea, the silence will continue until you begin to write – each letter one way to listen to yourself. That evening I learned that the act of writing is not filling the space of the page with letters and words; but rather finding peace in the empty spaces between letters and words.

At times the most accurate word on the page is the one that follows a long, slow – complete exhalation.

The act of writing teaches patience; not only in waiting for inspiration; but also, in learning to forgive oneself.

Every word has already existed as a part of you – just waiting for a time to exist outside of you.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

And with the last letter in the alphabet, here’s a small note of thanks to Blogchatter – for helping me rediscover the beauty in words.

This challenge has taught me so much more than how letters connect to each other. It has helped me to reconnect with rhythm and memories, with meanings long forgotten and lessons yet to be learned.

Thank you for the support, the community and the lesson of remembering that writing, though it often appears solitary, is a communal experience.

For all the writers who kept their end up, for all the readers who stayed around to read, and all the stories that found a way home – here’s to you.

Here’s to the next chapter –
With gratitude and chai-warm joy.

Y – Year in Reading(Where pages become seasons)

Every year brings about its library, not only of books but also of moods. Some months will be poetic, some will be essays in patience. My year in reading was an almost silent autobiography written within margins.

It was a year filled with stories that held me during times I could not help myself, stories that reflected my silences and lessons that helped me learn how to begin all over again. I can recall reading in early morning light, chai slowly cooling beside me, coming to understand how reading is not escapism but a form of return.

Each book marked a point in time; the book I read when waiting for news, the one where I cried in a coffee shop and felt inspired to hope.

A year in reading is never just a list of titles; it is always the person who read them.

Because sometimes the most truthful measurement of time
is by the stories that have changed you.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

X – Xenophilia in Literature(Where love crosses borders)

Just as xenophobia is the fear of the stranger, xenophilia is the opposite – the love of the strange, the interest in the foreign. And all the literature ever stood behind it.

From the times of Homer, who glorified the hospitality to strangers, and up until Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land, where Hindi films united the inhabitants of an Egyptian village, there have always been tales of the meeting between different peoples.

Literary authors, who believe in xenophilia, do not simply write about other cultures; they also listen to them, understand and embrace them. They are translators not only of words but also of entire worlds.

And when, in modern times, national borders become more difficult to cross and the languages are becoming more and more different, xenophilia becomes almost a revolutionary literary phenomenon.

As it makes one understand the fact that empathy is more powerful than geography.

For every story is always an overcoming –
And a reader is always a traveler.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

W – Writer’s Block Remedies(Where silence becomes a teacher)

Writer’s block is not emptiness; writer’s block is pause. An invitation for words to take their well-deserved break. I have found that there is no point resisting it anymore. Sometimes, silence is necessary.

When I cannot write, I read. When I cannot read, I walk. When I cannot walk, I give a call to my favorite conversation partner. The person who makes me feel like I am in a middle of a good book. Or I hang out with friends to laugh away my words.

There is no magic in solutions; there are only routines.
A cup of chai next to the notebook.
Lighting a candle for concentration.
Playing my favorite songs in the background.
Writing the first sentence without forcing myself to do it. Even something like “I have no idea what to say today.”

The only strategy is perseverance. To believe that the words will come back eventually.

Because every writer’s block is always hiding a beginning —
and every silence, with time,
starts to sound like a line.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

V – Visual Poetry Experiments(Where words learn to look)

Poetry doesn’t have to occupy lines only — sometimes it takes place in shapes, pauses, borders. Visual poetry is an art where language meets design.

This genre appealed to me because words needed room to expand — they could no longer occupy their conventional places on a piece of paper. I needed them to become alive, to dance as light or float like petals on the surface of still water. Poetry can take place on cameras, computers, scraps of notebook paper near cups of chai tea.

Visual poetry is poetry of spaces, pauses, borders. Rhythm is created by placing words and sentences rather than by punctuation marks. It becomes a matter of wandering rather than reading.

In visual poetry, one does not aim for perfection, but for presence. Emotional experience finds new forms away from the constraints of grammar and syntax.

A simple word at the corner of the paper may mean more than many words in stanzas.
That’s what visual poetry is all about.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

U – Unsent Letters(Where silence finds its shape)

Then there are those letters which will never see the light of day, not because they lack any substance but because they lack a soulful intention behind them.

These unsent letters have a place of their own. They sit in my notebook, hidden away among pages of notes and jotted down musings.

Each unsent letter is the beginning of a conversation and its completion. It opens up an old window in an old room which has been sealed off for a long time.

They are not about cowardice but preservation, about saving those feelings which we are too weak to share. They are apologies, gratitude, goodbyes, and forgiveness.

In these letters, sometimes I see myself rather than the other person I am addressing. I see myself learning to let go and forgiving myself.

That might just be the nature of the craft: not all letters must reach another soul to be heard.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

T – Translation Trials(Where meaning crosses borders)

Translation is not imitation, but resurrection. Words hold their climate when translated from one language into another, there’s always a chance to change the season.

In time, I have come to realize that translation is not about precision but rather about intimacy. Translation requires listening to the pulse of the original piece. Its rhythm, silences and pauses, and trying to give it new life by finding a way for it to breathe through in English.

Sometimes words are docile and readily slide into English, becoming soft and familiar. But sometimes words refuse cooperation and become stubborn and full of their culture-specific memories. It is during those days that translation turns into trial.

One cannot translate emotions; he or she can only repeat the sensation. One cannot duplicate the melody but can only try singing it in another key.

Still, when all is done right, it feels like nothing short of miracle — as if two languages decided to share one soul.

Translation does not involve replacement, but transferring of meaning.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

S – Storytelling in Reels(Where seconds hold stories)

In this time of constant scrolling through social media, storytelling has had to adapt its pace for today’s audiences. A reel is not simply a video but rather a story created in a short format (ie: a heartbeat) of emotions. Regardless of its length, its purpose is still to capture our attention by telling us something that causes us to temporarily stop.

Every reel begins with a moment: a glimmer of light, a line of poetry, something heard that triggers an emotional memory, etc. The challenge is finding that initial humorous or emotional reaction before editing occurs. Whether the image involves a cloud of steam around a cup of chai or sunlight resting gently on top of a notebook, the story can be found within the everyday.

Visual rhythm is also very important. Transitioning from one shot to another is similar to taking a breath. The length of the transitional shot will affect the emotional pacing of the story. For example, a pan out shot will evoke feelings of longing and a dark to light quick cut will create feelings of excitement. The pacing of the music helps establish the rhythm of the reel (isn’t it amazing how many different types of music can produce opposite feelings for the same event?) Therefore, music should establish how quickly or slowly the story is told.

Captions help complete this communication. For example, one brief line in caption form can create an emotional connection with the viewer (which is ultimately all we want to accomplish when creating emotional experiences).

Storytelling in reels is about creating a connection with your viewer (to invite them into your world) for at least a split second. Sometimes a story simply needs a moment (as with a fifteen-second reel) in order to be memorable.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

R – Reading Rituals(Where pages become prayer)

For me reading isn’t only about the book itself. But it’s also about the quiet dance that dances around the book. I make my chai before I open a page. I find the sunlight falling on the page when I read, and I feel the silence gathering like a companion that knows when not to speak with me.

My personal rituals are as unique to me as they are to other readers. My first reader’s ritual is based in touch. The feel and texture of the paper and the smell of the ink. I make underlines that blend in with my fingers, not so that I can say I have marked something as important but to remember the exact location of where my heart stopped.

The act of reading and all its components is about rhythm. In everything I do within the reading experience, I find that I have my eyes closed at times and raise my eyes to the scene outside my window in hopes of finding an answer to my question by looking into the face of someone on the street. I have a notebook beside me while reading. Not for analysis or technical writing but for emotions or thoughts that come from the heart.

Reading is a way for me to find myself. It’s a two-way conversation between the book and myself while I am reading. For some this can feel like an announcement and for others it may feel more like a confession.

When I finish reading the book. I always take a moment to say thank you —
for the worlds I entered,
for the words that remain with me,
for the ritual that guides me.

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com

Questions I Ask While Writing (Where silence becomes structure)

Each poem starts with a question — although not necessarily stated explicitly, but rather felt. Sometimes it is what makes the memory painful to revisit, or what silence wants to reveal.
For me, poetry is much more about posing questions than providing answers.

In every poem, I ask myself:

Is it truth or nostalgia?
Am I remembering my experience or reconstructing my past to make it easier to deal with?
Is there life in this line?
Or is it forced rhythm without emotional flow?
Who is this poem addressed to?
A particular person, a part of myself, an unfinished dialogue?
Who does this poem belong to?
Is it only mine, or can anyone see themselves in it?
What am I going to keep silent about?
Since each poem has something hidden in it, whether it is a pause in the middle of the sentence or a withheld admission or a name left out.

Poetry is a conversation with myself between what I know and what I’m afraid to say out loud.
Each revision reveals things beyond what I have written.

Maybe it is precisely that question I need to ask myself while writing every poem:

Am I courageous enough to write honestly?

This Post is part of BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2026
I’m Participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
https://www.theblogchatter.com