Yellow Pad and Parker IM rollerball pen (Amrita Sarkar)
I broke into a new legal pad in A4 size yesterday. I bought it last year after being inspired by the law show The Good Wife, where the stationery would often distract me from the proceedings of the storyline. American legal pads, usually yellow in colour with, as I’ve been led to believe, a wide margin on the left as prescribed by a judge is a popular choice among many writers. You can find out more about its history here, but why I’ve shared my interest in the modest object with a nevertheless formidable association with the legal system is this – I busted it out in order to enjoy writing. Continue reading “Of Enjoying Writing (Part Two)”→
It is difficult to buy books as presents for other people. You mostly think about giving books to people who are regular readers – may not necessarily be voracious, or a “book lover” Continue reading “Of Book Snobbery”→
I attended a writing workshop after a long, long time yesterday. I haven’t spoken favourably about them in the past, but that has more to do with the way I am than the way writing classes are generally conducted. I was relieved that I wasn’t asked the question, “Why do you want to write?” But, that was probably because of lack of time. Instead, we focused on writing itself. Not a how-to-write, but a more direct – write.
I panicked. I haven’t written much this year. I think it has to do with the fact that I’m getting older and I equate that with being more mature and how-I-hate-that-compound-word grown-up, which translates into the writing world as “write a book, you idiot.” That is it. I haven’t written much at all in 2018 because I’ve only wanted to write a book. Continue reading “Real Time Ramble: Writing and Creating”→
Yeah, so one of my blog posts has been featured on Discover, here at WordPress. I’m not sure how that happened, but it is one of the best things to have happened to me in weeks! I don’t think my bit was traditionally inspirational, but I suppose my brand of writing inspiration is writing about, uh, not-writing. Whatever it is, as always, it’s you lovely people who make all this happen. You give so much, with very little effort on my part. I’m lucky to have you.
I have a bit of a storage issue. I have diaries lying around, written from the time I was sixteen till present-ish, that I don’t want to look at and don’t want to throw away either. I also have this fantasy/fear of dying before I’ve made up my mind about them, and suffering from post-mortem embarrassment when someone else reads them, if they can cognize my glorious handwriting, and laugh at my pathetic life. Believe me, those thousands of barely legible pages will not serve as inspiration for a moving eulogy. Continue reading “Of (Not) Writing A Diary”→
Years and years ago I was given this piece of advice: to begin any piece of writing with a “sixer”. I’m sure that term is lost on all non-cricket-loving people reading this, but this letter is not about, or for, people, cricket-loving or otherwise. This letter is for you and me, rather From Me To You, and if our relationship causes obscurity among the masses, so be it. We don’t need to care about Them.
But, you will probably be rolling your eyes at that declaration, given how much we haven’t been a “We” lately. I will dare to go to the extent of telling you I haven’t thought about we – about you, about us together, Continue reading “A Letter To My Blog”→
Truth is, more often than not pretension is simply someone trying to make the world more interesting, responding to it the way they think is appropriate. It’s more likely that what you think is one person’s pretension is another’s good faith. – Dan Fox, Pretentiousness: Why It Matters
When I was in university, I once had to do a presentation on the playwright Samuel Beckett. In the weeks leading up to it, I read all his plays, watched as many performances as I could, read as much critical material as I could, and all in all, did a decent amount of work. The presentation would be on a Friday, and as soon as the week began, I gave up sleeping. It would be a safe environment, the couple of dozen people taking the course and the professor would be the only people present. We were well into the course, and I would actively participate in the class discussions. However, for five nights prior to the event, I could not sleep. I could not manage to prepare my notes and ideas in a presentable manner. On Friday morning, I skipped classes altogether and went and sat under a tree by a lake just to gather myself. I scribbled on some bits of paper what would turn out to be rather ineffectual thoughts. In the end, I couldn’t even manage to keep my shoes on during the presentation as I felt I couldn’t do it with them. I was awarded a passable grade, but the only relief I felt was when I was finally able to sleep that night.Continue reading “Of Being Pretentious”→
Buy Of Opinions: Essays on Life, Love and Loneliness for FREE today, 1st January, 2018.
It is a collection of funny essays reflecting on modern life and how you can(not) cope with it. Continue reading “Free Book Alert!”→
Of Opinions 