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Gautami Shankar

@writtenbygautami

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hey, welcome to my PhD procrastination project! 🩷
i write about writing, productivity and everything in between.

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Some excerpts from the recent article on Substack

🔗 in bio

Mental health, Substack, writers community, creative writing by @writtenbygautami

I wanted to upload this on world mental health day. But somehow had a dilemma if i must post this or not; i didn’t want to write something heavy and sad.

The Productive Poet is a place where i wanted motivation, uplifting content for creative people to find inspiration. Which is why this article seems misfit on my blog.

But, i realised that creative people don’t just need inspiration, they also need boundaries with their empathy and to be warned against the danger of romanticising pain. It is something I wish i was taught in my younger days which is why I’m writing it hoping that someone finds the advice that eluded me.

Mental health has always been a cause I’ve advocated for especially through Suffering & Solace, my poetry book.
But, it was my own struggles as a writer, a creative person who struggled with mental health that made me write this.

So, I hope it resonates.

The link 🔗 for the complete article is in my bio.

#substackwriter #mentalhealthmatters #substackcommunity #worldmentalhealthday by @writtenbygautami

forget-me-not blue was my inspiration

(Writing, Substack article, how to write, soft life, writer, poet) by @writtenbygautami

I wrote this couple months ago and let it stay in my notes app. Then, i re-read some historic letters for my studies. And i suppose it rekindled a sense of inspiration in me, motivating me to post this post.

The article is up on Substack

Substack, writing, love letters, becoming writer, the productive poet by @writtenbygautami

For the world, Shiva is a god. For me, Shiva represents freedom.

Long before I was even old enough to comprehend spirituality, I was only in awe of nature, the serenity yet ferocity in waterfalls and mountains fascinated me. And I wanted to become just that — a literal force of nature. Freedom was all i ever wanted.

Then, life gave me situations that made a cage seem cozy. Somewhere, i began forgetting that there is more to life than people and things. That’s when spirituality happened for me; that was my first experience with Shiva.

For the world, Shiva is a god. For me, Shiva represents freedom. He represents purity; He is a part of everything yet apart from it all. He is the calm in the chaos, the absolute balance between dance and stillness.

Shiva belongs in between spaces, he belongs to those who belong to nobody. If you’re excluded and have no place of your own, you’ve Shiva. Basically, he is the god of rebels. And, I knew I was one.

Shiva is a contradiction and that’s precisely what fascinated me. My version of spirituality is chasing contradictions. i can never seem to be content with one thing; I want it all! If something hasn’t been done before, I would want to be the first one to do so. I chase contradictions simply because I can.

In my wild goose chase of a life, Spirituality keeps me grounded. Shiva for me is both— possibility and peace.
🙏🏼 by @writtenbygautami

To be written by W Somerset Maugham 🪻 by @writtenbygautami

by @writtenbygautami

The only way to stay sane ironically is to stay weird. So many times in life, we come across situations and people that put us in a box, in neatly tied up corners. We rush to put on labels and definitions on ourselves. The world thinks it’s a privillage to be enslaved by our identity.

But here is the biggest mistake. People aren’t meant to be put in boxes. We cut our weird parts, our interesting parts and everything that makes us loveable. We cut off everything to fit in the proverbial box of society and then mourn the loss of our old self.

The only way to stay sane is to stay authentic. Stay real, stay weird and keep your jagged ends and pointy corners, because the box only cares for those that outgrow it.

So here is a return to yourself, a return to embrace your weirdness in such a carefully curated world.
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#stayweird👽 #instanotes #substackwriter #musingtime by @writtenbygautami

Anna Karenina 🐎 by @writtenbygautami

Writing relatable characters…. What like it’s hard ? 💕✨

As the new Legally Blonde series releases, I look back at the OG movie and the character who taught us all… 🌸💪 Pink and Power go together.

For writers, Elle is a case study in making a aspirational person relatable.

Read the whole article on Substack. Link in bio.

( legally blonde, Elle woods, creative writing, Substack essay, fyp)

#legallyblonde #ellewoods #substackreads #creativewriting #substackcommunity by @writtenbygautami

Some notes I’ve love from @substack ❤️ by @writtenbygautami

writers can learn a lot of things from Met Gala. And here is my take on it.

🔗 read full article in the bio

How to write, writing advice, creative writing, Met Gala 2026, Substack by @writtenbygautami