Musings and Reflections

It happens so many times. With exercising as well as with writing. I decide what I am going to do on the previous evening and when I wake up and seem to be ready to step out for exercise, or get on my desk to write, my mind plays truant. It keeps giving me stories. … Read more

The other day we decided to watch a movie on Netflix. There was one I had in mind but there were no ratings for it. So, we didn’t choose it. Then, after 15 minutes of browsing, we still hadn’t decided and switched off the TV. Life used to be simple. You go to a bookstore … Read more

A friend of mine who climbed Mount Everest (yes, really!) was interviewed (many times over), and in one of the interviews was asked if he realized the enormity of his achievement. He tried to play it down saying, “I am just a normal guy. Anybody can climb Everest.” And the interviewer stopped him, and said, … Read more

I had been told to get on Facebook when I started writing. I did. I used to have an author page where I kept posting blog posts regularly at one time. Then I was told to publish them on LinkedIn. I had never bought a book, especially fiction, after reading about it on LinkedIn. Or … Read more

I had a book reading last weekend. A woman entered the small library which had given me space for a reading my stories. She dialed her phone and called someone as she entered. She whispered and I overheard her say that she was the only one there. It was 7.08 pm and the reading was … Read more

Every writer has a bunch of notes to him/herself for ready reference on the craft of story writing that suits that particular writer’s style of writing. For me, it has evolved over the past few years of writing. As I started with blogging to writing articles, and then jumped to humor and slice of life … Read more

It has been a few months since one of my friends successfully summitted Mount Everest and came back down in one piece. When he returned home, it seemed to me that he had not quite registered the enormity of his feat in the eyes of commoners like us. In the number of interactions that I … Read more

After my first draft, my first round of editing is about getting the story right and sharp. In that round, I focus on getting the character, its conflict and the resolution of that conflict correct and smooth. My second (and usually last) round of editing is more technical and focused on finishing. Here is my … Read more

One of the things that I have often wondered is whether it is necessary to finish everything that I start. There is this quintessential image of a writer with heaps of torn paper next to him as he isn’t quite able to finish what he started satisfactorily. I have come around to the thinking that … Read more