Which is more difficult to write? Novel or query? No prizes for guessing! It has to be the query!! I discovered that writing a 80,000 word novel was so much easier than writing a query. I would like to share my learnings for the benefit of others who might be in a similar position – now or later. Continue reading “Q for Querying”
Month: April 2011
In a recent conversation, someone said ” I would love to write too. I want to but at my age I can’t think of writing for so long each day. That’s beyond me”. I said “Nonsense! You are never too old to do something. ICBY was published a fortnight after my 59th birthday:)
Psychology has been a subject which has never ceased to fascinate me. Though the human mind is so complex, distinct patterns of behavior emerge when we study why individuals act and speak in the way they do. This in spite of the unique individuality that each of us possesses. Continue reading “P for Psychology”
Today’s post is about a lesson from corporate life. Ms. ABC had the right qualifications and the personality to make an impact wherever she worked. In her organisation, she was quickly taken under the wings of a very senior executive. He recognised her potential and her obvious strengths. He soon gave her a free rein, perhaps more than he did with others. Over time, Ms. ABC came to be known as the power behind the throne even if this was an exaggerated description. It was rumoured that she had a role in important decisions and that the Big Chief consulted her more than he ought to.
Ms. ABC was riding high and there seemed to be no limits to how high she would go. Things changed in no time when the Big Chief died of a heart attack, possibly due to over work. Two things happened simultaneously. A new man came into that job and the knives were out for Ms. ABC. Before she sensed what was going on, she was turfed out as there were too many people carrying grudges against her. Without the old Big Chief around, she found it was a very different ball game.
In another case, Mr. XYZ was hired by his former boss who had joined that company only a few months earlier. In view of the regard he had for his former boss, XYZ joined that company too. In a few months time, it became clear that the business they were hired to create and grow was not going anywhere. The boss left and XYZ followed suit shortly after. You won’t believe this but XYZ followed the boss to yet another company. Here too there were problems, the boss didn’t get what he wanted and negotiated a good fat package to clear out leaving XYZ and others behind. They had no hope in hell of getting such generous terms.
I am sure by now you would have got what I am getting at. It’s important that you are not too closely identified with one individual for the right or wrong reasons. As these two examples relate, Ms ABC and Mr XYZ suffered because they allowed their careers to be too closely intertwined with two individuals. Sure they did gain from that relationship but beyond a point they lost their own identity. They thrived only as long as their mentors were around. The moment their mentors were not there, these people were devoured by the waiting wolves!
If you are over identified with one individual, you run the risk of sinking with them. You are a professional and it’s wise to spread your bets around instead of parking everything in one place. Over identification with one person can only hurt you in the end.
N, for me, has to be for NaNoWriMo– the National Novel Writing Month. The reason why is best summed up in this extract from the “acknowledgements ” I made at the start of my debut novel “It Can’t Be You”.
I guess we are influenced by the environment in which we are brought up in. For the first time in this series, I use a letter for an author who was one of my favourites as I grew up. He is John Masters who wrote a series of books about India under the British Raj which he served as an officer in the British Indian Army of those times. Continue reading “M for Masters”
As you know, ICBY was published in November 2010. the formal book launch took place on November 29 at Crosswords, Bangalore. There are several pictures to capture this very happy moment for me in the Facebook Page for ICBY. The options available for readers to order the book were initially listed in the website with the tab “Order the Book”. Continue reading “More options to order ICBY”
As one who has been a talent management specialist and executive coach for over three decades, L has to be for Learning! To me all progress comes through implementing new learnings, be it in your profession or in your passion. Improvements come about as we learn something new.
Do you remember some stories from your childhood which have stuck in your mind? For me, one such was the infamous Lindberg kidnap murder case. I read about it in the 60s, possibly in the Reader’s Digest, though I can’t vouch for that. It made a huge impact on me. Continue reading “K for Kidnap”
As a die hard Ian Fleming fan, here’s some news that excites me. Come May 2011, we can expect to see one more re-incarnation, as it were, of James Bond. This will be in a new novel called ” Carte Blanche.”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 