Friday, August 18, 2017

The Sacrifices We Make As Writers

The other day I was thinking that unlike some of my friends I neither watch too much television or movies nor do I spend too much time gossiping on the phone. The reason is I would rather spend that much time on reading books.

Many people tell me that nowadays the calls are so cheap, infact with the Internet packs we subscribe to, the calls are free, so why am I not calling them up? My reply more often than not is, “the calls are free but I am not.” My reply I’m sure must be rubbing people the wrong way.

Most people don’t get it that a writer’s life is seldom easy. There are so many things we do that are a part of writing: researching the characters (both the protagonist and the antagonist) and their hobbies and traits, plotting, writing the multiple drafts, critiquing someone else work, revisions, researching agents and publishers, agonizing over the query letter and the dreaded synopsis, that our lives are far from easy or simple.

Though we may not have a day job, but our writing is definitely more than a nine-to-five-job. Infact I would say it’s a twenty-four hour job, our characters are constantly running around in our minds and the erratic muse loves to play hide and seek, so whenever the muse appears the writer is busy writing to make the most of the inspiration.

Where does all this leave me the time to waste my hours in gossiping or watching serials or movies? I would rather polish my craft by critiquing my critique partners’ books or learning from other writers by reading their books.

What about you all? What kind of sacrifices you have made as a writer?


Wednesday, August 2, 2017

IWSG Post What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

I look forward to the first Wednesday of every month, as that’s the time we write our IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) posts. This online group of writers gives me/us the chance to discuss everything related to writing, which would bore a non-writer to tears. As most of the other writers are in the same boat as me: going through writer’s blocks, facing rejection from agents, harassment from our characters, seeing deadlines whoosh past, getting overwhelmed with edits or first drafts, grumbling about the slow response or lack of response from editors and  agents, or low sales, it’s nice to discuss it with people who will nod in understanding, maybe even add their bit to it.

Credit for creating this amazing group goes to Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh (author of the Amazon Bestsellers: CassaStar, CassaStorm, CassaFire and Dragon of the Stars). IWSG has gone from strength to strength. It has published few anthologies, has a website full of amazing writing information and now finds its place in Writer’s Digest 19 Annual 101 Best Webites for Writers and has hosted its first twitter pitch contest on 27th July. Quite an amazing feat for a group that has been around just for a couple of years.

The August IWSG question is: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

While reading I hate it when a writer breaks the golden rule of show but don’t tell. I reviewed a book a few days back and the author indulged in a lot of telling throughout the book. Another pet peeve of mine is when a writer sticks to a stereotypical plot where I have guessed what will happen next. This bugs me no end. This too happened last week when I reviewed a book for the newspaper. And another peeve is when the authors repeats the same thing again and again. This happened in the book which I mentioned as having a stereotypical plot. I was just waiting to finish that boring book, write my review and be done with it.


I am looking forward to reading what your pet peeves are while reading/writing/editing are.