On the pursuit to learn to write a novel

After reading the book '30 Women in Power - Their Voices, Their Stories’, I have started reading the next book - '13 Ways of Looking at the Novel', written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley. 

She impressed me with a fabulous introduction that reveals the inside-the-head feelings of a writer. I felt it analogous to my thoughts. Many times, a dry spell occurs for a writer and he/she tends to analyze what is wrong with him/her. Ms. Smiley has expressed her experience vividly in the introduction. Usually, many writers do not reveal much about the mental transitions. 

In order to cross the hurdle she faced while writing the novel 'Good Faith', she decided to read 100 novels. The outcome is this book.

By reading 100 novels, she has analyzed the compositions of a novel, novelist, etc. Typically, this book is exclusive to those who wish to become writers. As the chapters go, the texts read more like academic writings. Apparently, Ms. Smiley’s teaching experience has reflected in this. 

I have decided to go through each page by taking notes from each chapter. Hence, this book is sure to steal some major time from me.

My Smile dairy - I

I read the significance of maintaining a ‘smile dairy’ online. It is a journal, where we regularly document the moment we made someone smile on the day. I found the idea fascinating and here it goes.

Today, I met a lady from the bus stop where I get down to come to the office. She was also traveling with me in the same bus, but we met after getting down from the bus. There is a road construction happening in the place, so vehicles have to take diversions at junctions. Due to this, the buses stop at a distance from the bus stop. The overall scenario made the lady surprised and left her confused about the road. I smiled at her and asked, "If there is a problem?" Her gloomy face suddenly turned brighten and she began inquiring the roads. After the necessary talk, she proceeded to a friendly chat, inquiring about my work and other random stuff.

We soon parted away when the next divergent road arrived. I remember the smile on her face and the farewell hand-wave she gave me by saying, "Take care daughter."

‘30 Women in Power – Their Voices, Their Stories’: A True Inspiration

There is no internet at the office today. I decided to read ’30 Women in Power – Their Voices, Their Stories’, a compilation of stories of 30 women in power. The stories quickly recap the early lives of 30 women achievers and the struggles they face to achieve the present positions. Significantly, it addressed a frequently raised question of how these 30 women balance their personal and professional lives. It also answered if there is a glass-ceiling at the corporate offices, which act as a hurdle for the women to achieve high positions. The book has gone one step ahead, explaining how to cross such glass-ceiling, if it exists.

I found the book highly relevant to every woman who dreams of her career. It equally serves those women who are already achievers. Edited by Naina Lal Kidwai, Chairman of HSBC India, the book is well-articulated and designed to target career-oriented women of India. Ms. Kidwai’s business intelligence is evident on every page of the book. The book has not used heavy jargons or tried to present the vocabulary skill of the writer. Instead, it is clearly on its path to convey the much-needed inspiration for working women in India.

At the end of every chapter, the key success factors are noted separately as bullet points. Reading these bullet points reinforce the concepts in the readers' mind. Also, few sections in the chapters are highlighted, a practice I felt reflect the systematic nature of the corporate world. Not to mention, the monochromatic themes used in the book is adorable.

The people listed in the book are those who hail from the privileged class and those who currently work in corporate companies. Initially, I felt the editor should have included women who come from the underprivileged background too. There are several examples of women from not-so-privileged background managed to succeed. A woman of this sort, who stays vivid in my mind is Liz Murray. I recently watched the movie ‘Homeless to Harvard’, a biopic of Liz Murray. I suggest the movie to people who raise the argument that the wrong upbringing or the fateful events that happened in the childhood of a person is the reason for their present lack of success. I agree that the unfortunate events happened during our childhood make an impact on our behaviors. But, I believe, it's wrong to say 'those unfortunate events are the reason why I am a failure now'. Perhaps, I will get back to this topic in another post.

Moving back to '30 Women in Power – Their Voices, Their Stories', although initially I felt Ms. Kidwai could have included women from the underprivileged background in the book, I realized that the target audience of the book is different. The book speaks more about surviving successfully through their careers than about beating severe odds of livelihood. To say, there are women who tend to resign jobs after marriage and maternity leaves. Taking charge of family responsibility is a reason pointed out for the resignation. This book tells such women how to balance personal and professional lives. Elegantly, it demonstrates the success of 30 women and tells readers ‘if these 30 women could do this, you can also do it.’ I appreciate Ms. Kidwai’s precise target indication.

At this stage (I have few more stories to read in the book), I am totally in love with ’30 Women in Power – Their Voices, Their Stories’. It is the true inspiration for myself and every other girl who dream high. 

Fulfilling the call of life…

The omens around me suggest me to leave everything I have. They ask me to vanish. But, I am never free. Rather, I fear to free myself. How can I think of leaving my mother in darkness for the pursuit of my writing? How can I shield away myself from every responsibility I carry and become selfish?

I know the answers that are going to pop-up. People say it’s a system where we live. This system will keep moving even if I do not exist. If I end up trying to fulfill everything around, I may not meet my passion. I do understand this clearly.

Image Courtesy: www.matthewwilliams-ellis.com

But, I still do have a question - There must be a way where I can balance things. A way by which I can take my passion and my responsibilities equally on one boat. Isn’t that possible? I heard the majority of them say ‘no’ for this. They say it’s an illusion. They say I will only keep doing more things because new responsibilities arise every day. I will never end up finishing those, and then taking care of me.

Perhaps, this is the last attempt towards what I believe. I am going to save a few hours of a day dedicated to my passion. The responsibilities can take the majority of my time. Let me have a little few hours myself. Let me see how far I can go. Bless me God. Bless me Pappa.

The memory of writing my first poem…

People say creativity comes out of a spur of a moment. I do agree on this. I remember when I first wrote a poem. I was studying in Class 5 and was returning from school one evening. Unusually, it was a jeep instead of the school van. I sat near the door and kept watching the vehicles and people passing nearby. Towards the middle of the journey, I recognized that I was singing four lines in my mind. Unknowingly, I was repeating those lines to myself.

When I reached home, I got down from the vehicle. With no time left to think, I ran to the bedroom upstairs and stood in front of the mirror, singing and acting along that lines. I sang them aloud. I felt good. I never wanted to lose those lines. I took an old notebook and scribbled those four lines. When I finished writing the four lines, I can sense there were more lines naturally flowing to the pages. I poured everything that came to my mind into those pages and there my first poem was born.

I also remember, I wrote my first poem with a pencil instead of a pen.

P. S.: The poem was about a lady who was in jail. It described her desire to see her children.

The lost charm of April fool’s day…

Finally, April 2016 began. The word ‘finally’ used here has considerable significance since I was waiting April to arrive for last two weeks. Precisely, I was waiting since the day I made plans and schedules to work for future. April 1 was the first day to measure the progress. I began the day by going for a short morning walk. I didn’t wake up early as planned and that made me lose my first goal.

The day at the workplace was better. My boss and I are playing hide and seek that when I come to the office, he goes to another place or vice versa. So my boss wasn’t there at the office. The works went pretty slow. However, a slower pace was fine as it’s a relaxed month.

I enthusiastically started the session in the evening, only to be interrupted by a guest who left home only at 10 pm. Then, I resumed to reading book and closed my day.

An interesting thing I noticed was that nobody spoke anything about April Fool’s Day except few online posts. The only posts I remember said that ‘When your whole life is a joke, who wants an April Fool’s Day?’ Perhaps, true. I guess people are not anymore in a mood to celebrate such days. I remember my childhood days where we (friends and me) tried pranks to fool others, mostly to become the victim ourselves.

April 2 seems to be better than yesterday that I managed to wake up earlier and went for a longer 30 minutes’ walk. The day at the office is going well. Hopefully, the evening session too will be good. Despite tomorrow being a Sunday, I have decided to come to the office. I had taken three leaves last week, for which I’m planning to compensate.

March 2016: Nothing so great about it…

On the last day of every month, I write a summary post about that month. Today is that day to write about my March 2016. Frankly, I do not remember most of the things happened this month. That says it was not that great a month.

I remember this month for two things. One, I read numerous inspirational stories and productivity enhancing articles. I devised my goals in detail and set goals and deadlines to fulfill each. I am ready to start working from tomorrow. Two, my niece is here. Her laughter makes this house 'a sweet home'. To talk about work, it wasn’t that great. I was slower in doing works. I did not follow my office timing properly. Altogether, the work in March was dull. Personally, there was nothing so memorable in March.

Look forward to fulfilling my goals from April 2016. In fact, I expect a lot this month. Hope for the best. Meanwhile, I miss my papa so much. I was conversing with him most of the time while at home. I do not know why, perhaps, he is looking at me now. Miss you Dad. Thank you for growing up me like the way I’m. Be there and show me the way. I miss you terribly!

My niece’s first train journey…

The days at home ended soon. We are back today to the bustles of the city. The journey was fun because we had our princess with us – my niece. My sister and niece are going to stay with us for a few days, which is why April is going to be fun. It was my niece’s first train journey. We were worried about how she would adapt to the ambiance in the train. Surprisingly, she was comfortable. It was as if she owns the compartment of the train. She ran everywhere, sat on every possible seat, and made sure she gets a smile even from the rudest man sitting inside. Unusually, the train was fast and reached the destination at the right time.

From Shornur station, I went down to get tea and snacks for all of us. By fractions, I was about to miss the train as the train left the station soon. However, I managed to enter inside the running train. We got a comfortable Red Taxi to reach home. My niece liked our spacious apartment. The balls and the new big teddy bear entertained her. She is still busy playing and running around.

The day is good. We are not tired and are still active to do more for the day. A small shopping is pending. We are planning to go for it soon.

Meanwhile, April scares me. I have lots of plans and schedules to do. I am not sure how far I am going to accomplish those. Hopefully, April 2016 is going to be a fabulous month.

The days at home begin...

Here comes the day at home, at my native place. In fact, the visit home this month got much delayed than anticipated. The journey was relaxed. This time there was no hurry to catch the train, nor any sweating at the heat. We, my Mom and I, took breaks between the journey, halting at places we felt and eating what we want. We were also lucky to get the recently introduced low-floor bus. The unexpected entry into the air-conditioned bus in summer was heavenly.

Sitting opposite to our seat was a man with his mother. Similar to us, the man was also visiting home after a gap. The mother kept describing the recent developments at home and in the neighborhood. He seems to be inquisitive, inquiring about the people. After a while, they got down at a place. Again, my Mom and I were left alone. She fell asleep soon, whereas I delved deep into the book ‘The Underground Girls of Kabul’ by an investigative journalist Jenny Nordberg. The story is about the girls disguised as boys in Kabul.

Two boys soon got into the bus and sat opposite to us. They are chasing after some loans and were busy discussing the interest rates of banks. I liked the shirt one of them were wearing and imagined how it will be if I could get a dress in the similar design. The guys must have thought I am overhearing them. They soon shifted their seats to another place.

The journey ended much early. The summer at my native place makes me think I shouldn’t have booked my return ticket so late. On the way back, we have two people accompanying us – my sister and one-year-old niece.

April is going to be a month filled with her play and laughter. My mother and I are prepared for her visit that we have bought few toys and shifted things from the floor to the shelves on the wall. We are sure my niece is going to bring in more laughter and noise to our silent abode. I am equally concerned about my house getting dirty due to her naughty acts. With all the excitement, worry, and anxieties, we are set to celebrate days together for a month.

The new project planning…

It has been a while since I logged into the Blue Signature. The reason was that I was ‘free’, but too ‘busy’. The view contradicts, but let me clarify. The Easter and Holi came as a blessing in between the days of hectic work schedule because I could grab few holidays. I sat at home and unlike the usual holidays, I was totally free. But, my mind was not. I kept thinking and scribbling on things I am not clear. I did a review of my days. Alas! Finally, I found, I lack a detailed plan on future.

I spent days scratching my head with thick smokes emanating from my ears. At last, the clear-cut targets were listed on paper. Then I needed a journal I could always carry, and obviously, that turned to be online – OneNote. It seems the life is a vast project and I need a good project management skill to deal with it.

The plans begin in April, vivaciously on 1 April. Perhaps, I chose this date because I decided to celebrate Fool’s Day by myself becoming a fool!