Looking back over the years, I guess I did most of my reading in the period from 1964 to 1972. This means I was between the ages of 13 and 21. Although his debut novel “Casino Royale” had been published way back in 1953, Ian Fleming reached his greatest heights of popularity around the time I speak of, although he passed away in 1964. Continue reading “Authors I Admired: Ian Fleming”
Month: June 2013
Students and practitioners of management will tell you that it makes a lot of sense to periodically take stock of what you want to achieve ( your goals) and where you are , with reference to the goals, at any point in time. I am sure this principle is equally applicable to writers too. I guess my background in management makes me present my report to you , for whatever it is worth.
If nothing else, it helps me figure out where I am and helps me to assign priorities. So here we go:
“Let The Dead Stay Dead” was written as my NaNo novel in 2011, which means the first 50,000 words were written way back in November 2011 for the National Novel Writing Month. This is again a thriller but writing this has been a very different, and may I add, demanding experience for me, as it deals with subjects which are new to me like mental health and law. As a result, the editing is still on and I took more time than I ordinarily would to make sure I was sure of my facts. This involved getting opinions and views of experts in fields I knew little about. I have written over 88,000 words so far, and the novel is nearing completion. I would guess it’s about 90 % complete. I need to buckle down and close this project in the next 3-5 months.
” A Bouquet From India” is a collection of short stories which I wrote for NaNoWriMo in November 2012. This was my first attempt in writing a bunch of short stories for the NaNoWriMo. There are 10 in all in about 51,000 words and I need to edit and improve upon them.
” Get Ahead! Your Personal Effectiveness Workbook” is a non-fiction project which, as the title suggests, is a collection of ideas that can help professionals, working in business organizations, large and small , as well as independent professionals/ entrepreneurs get ahead in their lives. These are largely based on my own experiences as a practicing Human Resources executive, entrepreneur and executive coach for nearly four decades. The manuscript for this is complete at about 46,000 words and I guess the next step will be to see if anyone will buy it! I will of course share more about this as we go along.
So, as you can see, I have so much to do and really have my hands full which is why I often describe myself as a full time writer.
More often than not, my blog posts are not planned but come about through some trigger, usually from something I saw or read. Today’s is no exception. The inspiration comes from this interesting article in the New York Times by Edward Kelsey Moore, ” At 52, Not Too Old for a Debut Novel.” Continue reading “Too Old To Write?”
A couple of weeks ago, when I read the date on my newspaper I remembered that on June 6, 1944, the first of the Allied troops had landed on the beachhead at Normandy. This was a date no Second World War buff, like me, could ever forget.
Only today, I came across these awesome hitherto unpublished pictures taken by “Life” photographer, Frank Scherschel in an article in The Daily Mail. Memories are funny things. One thing leads to another and my mind was soon flooded by memories of that classic movie, “The Longest Day”. Continue reading “Authors I Admired: Cornelius Ryan”
Today is the death anniversary of Manohar Malgonkar, whom I consider to be one of India’s finest writers in English. Here’s my small tribute to him in my writing blog, ” Writing To Be Read.”
I am not too sure how many of today’s generation would read or would have read Manohar “Mac” Malgonkar or for that matter even heard of him. As a kid I was very fond of his writing and even today I consider him one of India’s finest writers. This is a small tribute to him as his death anniversary dawns on June 14. He passed away at the ripe old age of 97 in 2010. Continue reading “Authors I Admired: Manohar Malgonkar”
I write of the book buying experience in India, though the principles are the same the world over. In the old days, if you wanted to buy a book, you had to drive down to the shopping area to get one from a bookstore. You sort of pottered around, read a little, browsed through a few books and came away with whatever books you chose to buy. It was an enjoyable experience but it took a lot of time.
With time becoming at a premium, things changed with the advent of the online portals like Flipkart and the like. They offered many advantages. You didn’t have to go hunting for a book, not sure whether the bookstore has it in stock or not. You ordered it online and it reached you in reasonable time at reasonable cost. You can pre-order books too so that you get them much earlier than most. I have an article on this in my writing blog, Writing To Be Read.
Now comes news that the biggest online player of them all, Amazon.com has begun servicing retailers in India through Amazon.in.
I am pleased to see that ” Lucky For Some, 13″ can now also be ordered through Amazon.in.
I am delighted to find ” Writing To Be Read” listed amongst the Top Indian Blogs for 2012-13. This is a listing of 541 best blogs in English about India/by Indians. This blog has given me great pleasure as I share thoughts, experiences and links about books, authors and the craft of writing. This is just the start, there is so much more to be done.
They say it’s a good idea some times to stay away from your work in progress for a while and look at things anew. I am not sure whether I took this bit of advice a little too seriously as it has been a month or two since I picked up the threads of my third thriller, ” Let The Dead Stay Dead.” Continue reading “Picking Up The Threads”
When the door bell rang one evening and outside stood a courier chappie with a packet in hand, I wondered which book this could be. It came as a pleasant surprise to find the packet contained Kalki Krishnamurthy’s Tamil novel, “Sivakamiyin Sabadham,” translated into English in four volumes by Nandini Vijayaraghavan. Continue reading ““Sivakamiyin Sabadham”: Translated into English for you.”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 