“Time and tide,” as the ancient saying goes, “wait for no man.” Actually, they don’t wait for a woman too but as this saying dates back to 13 th century England, I guess they were far less “politically correct” than we are today. That all of 45 years have flown past since we graduated from XLRI, the well-known business school, was brought home when friends began talking about a reunion of The Class of ’74. Where should this be held? All other options discussed were shot down when someone suggested that we meet at the good old campus at Jamshedpur itself. Sure, the campus would not be the one that we experienced in our times but this idea had a strong appeal for the majority of our class. Nostalgia, Walk Along Memory Lane et al came readily to mind. In any case, our Alma Mater has a wonderful concept of “Homecoming” an annual event to welcome alumni batches from the past. It is common for batches to head there for their 25 th anniversary. We plan to be there (body and mind permitting) for our 45th. Continue reading “Blog Or Coffee Table Book?”
Tag: Blogs
If you want to see your novel published, the querying process is one of the first challenges that you need to deal with effectively. I don’t have the numbers, and the estimates I have read vary so much that it’s difficult to pin the number of queries literary agents receive every day. I do know for sure they add up to a huge number. Irrespective of this number, the fact remains that the query determines whether your book project will proceed to the next stop or not. Here are a few posts from experts to supplement what I had written some days ago in a post: “On Querying”. Continue reading “More on Querying”
It has virtually become mandatory for an author these days to have a website. Some of them are extremely well done while many others indicate that this is something the author is struggling and coming to grips with, something he/she doesn’t know too much about. Simon Appleby, director of digital agency Bookswarm lists his “Ten Author Websites That Really Do The Business” in this article in The Writing Platform. Continue reading “How Good Is Your Author’s Website?”
Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s latest novel, ” The Hunt for Kohinoor” (Westland, 2013) is slated to be released in mid-December 2013. As is common these days, you can pre-order this at Flipkart. This, if I am not mistaken, is a sequel to her earlier book, “The Taj Conspiracy” which was very interesting. I loved her first book, “The Long Walk Home,” which was set in the Punjab at the time of the Partition. My best wishes go out to Manreet. May ” The Hunt For Kohinoor” be a super hit!
Many people have the urge to write and write well. However, not everyone makes the grade. In this context, I liked this blog post by Maria Popova in Brainpickings called, “9 Books on Reading and Writing.” With gems from authors like Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King, this post points you to books that can transform your writing.
A few extracts:
- Anne Lamott in ” Bird By Bird, A Few Instructions on Writing and Life,”
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”
- Stephen King in his classic, “On Writing:A Memoir of the Craft”
“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
- Ernest Hemingway in ” Ernest Hemingway On Writing”
” The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.”
Thanks to my long-standing interest in historical fiction I connected with the author, MK Tod. I follow Mary’s tweets @MKTodAuthor and she pointed me to a very interesting survey she has been conducting which seeks to find out what makes historical fiction buffs love this genre. You will find a lot of information on this in her blog A Writer of History. Continue reading “Survey on Historical Fiction”
As some of you perhaps know, I have a writing blog called “Writing To Be Read.” In this blog, I post about writing, authors and books. For your convenience, I have linked the RSS feed from my writing blog to this site, so that it is easier for you to see the books I have reviewed. Your feedback on this feature and the reviews, of course, will be much appreciated.
Recently, Leena Chanda asked me for an interview for her blog. My answers to her questions throw some light on what has fashioned me and my writing. Yes, I guess it’s better late than never. Read the full interview here.
There is no finish line in writing. That’s what makes it so fascinating for me. You can improve all the time, whether you are a novice or a published author. The objective of most writers is to have their stories published. This process is, as you will find out if you haven’t done so already, is a long one and is by no means as easy as it sounds. Today, I share a few articles that caught my attention on this topic from Mike Wells, in his website/blog Mike Wells Books/The Green Water Blog. Continue reading “Tips for Writers from Mike Wells”
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”
Blog carnivals are such fun! In December 2010, in my blog, “People at Work & Play” I wrote about HR Carnivals which were becoming very popular at that time. Recently, I got the opportunity to contribute to a blog carnival on a very different subject.
Author Marketing Experts, Inc. have a blog carnival called, “Tips and Tricks for Authors and Writers.” In my new role as an author, I contributed a blog post to the August 26, 2013 version of this carnival on “Writers and Advances.” You will find tips on writing too contributed by Chris Fey, Nichole Bernier and Pa Ul.
You may like to sign on to the Blog Carnival site which helps you contribute to a very wide range of blog carnivals. If you so wish, you could host a blog carnival too, at your blog. Many of the questions you may have about blog carnivals in general are already answered in their FAQs.
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 