Have you as a writer felt dissatisfied with the quality of your output? Have you experienced a sense of inadequacy when your writing did not turn to be as great as you would have liked it to be? The chances are that your writing fell flat because you did excessive “telling” and very little “showing.” Continue reading ““Show or Tell?” : James Thayer”
Category: Book Reviews
I didn’t grow up in the US of those times, not did I grow up in North or South Vietnam. I grew up in the relative shelter of Madras in the South of India but as a kid I was fascinated by the Vietnam War. Looking back at those times, some four decades later, I think some of the visual images stayed in my mind, thanks to the pictures in “Life” magazine which we looked forward to most eagerly.
In this context, I was thrilled to recently read, “Assault from The Sky” by Dick Camp. The byline says, “US Marine Corps Helicopter Operations in Viet Nam.” This book was recently published in the US and Great Britain by Casemate Publishers. Dick Camp himself is a war Veteran who won the Purple Heart and served 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps before retiring as a Colonel in 1988. Camp writes, “I wrote Assault from the Sky as a tribute to the U.S. Marine Corps helicopter aircrews that performed so heroically during the Vietnam War. Their bravery and intrepidity throughout a decade of war set new standards of the Marine Corps motto Semper Fi, Always Faithful.” Continue reading ““Assault From The Sky”: Dick Camp”
Actually, ” Disrupt! Think Epic. Be Epic” is not the full title of this very interesting book by Bill Jensen. The title goes on to succinctly describe the book, “25 Successful Habits for an Extremely Disruptive World.” Published by Net Minds Corporation, this book was released to very positive reviews earlier this month, August 2013. Continue reading ““Disrupt! Think Epic. Be Epic” : Bill Jensen”
For most who have followed accounts of the Second World War, the only story that comes to mind when we talk about plots to kill Hitler revolve around Count Stauffenberg. I was delighted to come across this book, “Plotting Hitler’s Death” ( The German Resistance to Hitler) by Joachim Fest. The book translated into English by Bruce Little from the original, “Staatsstreich: Der lange Weg zum. 20. Juli” was first published in Germany in 1994, almost 50 years after Stauffenberg’s attempt to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944.
Continue reading ““Plotting Hitler’s Death” by Joachim Fest”
A few days ago, I had a terrible toothache and had to rush to my dentist for treatment. Writhing in agony, I kept thinking of just one thing. How important it was to take good care of my teeth. It underscored to me something that we tend to forget ever so often. Why do we so easily take so much for granted? How often we forget we are more fortunate than many others. That we should be thankful for what we have. My teeth may not be the best but heck, at least I have teeth! I need to count my blessings. Continue reading ““Chicken Soup For The Soul: 20th Anniversary Edition””
The very word “Tiger” petrified them! Thousands of Allied soldiers who had to face the German Panzerkampfwagen Tiger tank in battle in different sectors of the Second World War experienced what came to be known simply as “tank shock.” Continue reading ““Tiger” by Thomas Anderson”
I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because I want to become a complete writer.
If you are a Second World War buff, like me, I am sure you would have read many biographies and autobiographies from the Generals, Admirals, and Air Chief Marshals who led the Allied troops to victory over the Axis forces.
As a writer there are times when you feel down, when you think you have run out of ideas and when you think things have become really tough since no one seems to be interested in your writing. At times like this, what you could do with is some encouragement, some words of wisdom ( even if seemingly simple) , and the assurance that this is not happening only to you but to countless others in the world. It might change your perspective too when you realize that there are many facing far tougher situations than you are, or ever will. Continue reading ““Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers.””
Has something come up when you least expected it and done you a lot of good? This happened to me recently.
I got an opportunity to review, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers”: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark & Susan M. Heim; Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, 2013; 405 pp; $ 14.95. Continue reading ““Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers””
Recently I was speaking to a group of readers when someone expressed interest in NaNoWriMo, which I have always maintained has been a huge inspiration for my writing. NaNoWriMo is an acronym for the National Novel Writing Month.
Taking part in NaNoWriMo is an exhilarating experience. I did it for the first time in 2009 and from this effort emerged my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You” a psychological thriller. This was in 2010. Since then I completed NaNoWriMo in 201o, 2011 and more recently in 2012.
“Lucky For Some, 13” was my second thriller, which was based on my “NaNo novel” as we call it from NaNoWriMo of 2010. This was published in December 2012.
I came across this presentation titled “WAC and NaNo: Lessons in Letters and Symbiosis” from students of Kaplan University. It has a wealth of detail about NaNoWriMo and I found it most interesting.
Here are some awesome figures:
- In the first year, 1999, there were all of 21 participants with 6 being declared winners
- In 2006, there were 101,510 participants with 15,333 being declared winners
- In 2009, when I first took part, there were 167, 150 participants with 32, 178 being declared winners
- In 2011, there were 256,618 participants with 36, 843 being declared winners.
Of course, I must add that it felt great to read my name in the list of “Published Authors.”:)
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 