Shadow Dancing with Mind

(Chennai Colors is a section of my blog in which I share the colors and hues of creativity from the thought leaders of the city who make our Chennai, a beautiful place to live in.)

Digital Art by Lingusamy

Pebbles reflect

The cutting edge power

Of the stream

- A Haiku by Lingusamy

When the famous Tamil Movies director, producer and scriptwriter N Lingusamy called me to meet, I was sure that it would be a short curtsy visit to discuss our mutual passion of writing Haiku. But as the day went by, I realised that its going to take some time. He has a disarming charm that makes the words flow and time moved on swiftly. Our interaction went on like his words above, which some times floods the banks with its powerful surge and some times shape large boulders into beautiful sculptures. In the end, it proved out to be a wonderful sharing of thoughts with one of the creative personalities of Chennai.

Few days earlier, I had received Director Lingusamy's call. He had heard about my own passion for Haiku from our mutual friend Ashwin of Odyssey Book Store. He wanted to have some views on his Tamil Haiku, which was translated into English by one of his friends. After the call, he sent me some of his Haiku and as I liked most of them, I was looking forward to meet him.

As we sat down to share our mutual experience on writing Haiku and discuss the beauty of world’s shortest poetry form, I could feel Director Lingusamy’s enthusiasm and focus on all things creative. He had also called some of his colleagues and a little later his fellow Director, scriptwriter and poet - Brindha Saarthy also joined in, which made it more like a poetry session.

But before I go further, here is a little information about this very creative Chennai personality - N Lingusamy. Personally, I believe he has added a spark to the Chennai city with his smart, action oriented, story based movies which has captured the imagination of movie goers across the state.

A Brief Note about Director N Lingusamy

Narain Linguswamy made his directorial debut with the Mammootty starrer family-drama Aanandham in 2001 and followed it up with films Run (2002), Sandakozhi (2005), Paiyaa (2010) and Vettai (2012). He and his brother N. Subash Chandrabose have also produced films through his production company, Thirupathi Brothers.

Lingusamy hails from a village Lakshmipuram in Tamil Nadu. He joined as an assistant director to director A. Venkatesh for his Tamil film Mahaprabhu and followed in his next film Selva. He had also assisted Vikraman in Vaanathaippola, a family drama on brothers.

Although Lingusamy has worked in Tamil only, his films have been dubbed or been remade in other languages too. Dubbed Telugu versions of Run, Sandakozhi and Paiyaa, titled Run, Pandem Kodi and Awara, respectively, were released in Andhra Pradesh and also became commercially successful.[33][34] Aanandham was remade in 2005 as Sankranti by Muppalaneni Shiva in Telugu, while Jeeva remade Run in Hindi under the same title in 2004. His Paiyaa was remade in Bengali in 2012 as Jaaneman, while in 2013, a Telugu remake of his Vettai titled Tadakha was released.
- From Wikipedia

_________

As the morning progressed, I noticed the subdued beauty of the living room. Dir Lingusamy usually has his creative sessions with his team and informal discussion with his friends in this room, where many of his digital paintings added to the color. The little butterflies on the French window, opening out to the little ‘Buddha’ kind of garden gave a feeling of serenity. As an interior design professional I liked the place. I could also feel the inherent energy of the room, which I am sure added to his creative out put.

Director Lingusamy started writing his poetry from college days and without realizing that he is writing world’s most popular form of poetry -Haiku, he stuck to the style. His first Haiku, which is reproduced below, was published in a famous Tamil Magazine as well.

Digital Art by Lingusamy

To the Man

Ironing the cloth

Wrinkles in his belly

This Haiku was inspired by watching an old person, who was ironing shirt in the by lanes, around his college. He still remembers the day clearly, as he was spending some free time with his college friends. The image stuck in his thoughts as he realised that the old man was in the process of removing wrinkles from the clothes of others, while incapable of removing creases of poverty and deprivation from his own life.

An English translation of Lingusamy's Haiku is going to be published
shortly by one of the new and upcoming publisher from North Indian
"Story Mirror"

Writing Haiku is meditation for me and that’s what comes across from Lingusamy thoughts as well. During our discussion, as we shared our Haiku and creativity in general, it was quite clear that in those inspired moments of creativity, he needs to be alone. With the seed of a thought growing into a sapling of creativity, he shuts himself away from the entire hustle bustle around. He likes to be alone to focus on capturing those images of life within his words.

Some of the Tamil Haiku - Translated into English

Over the years, Lingusamy has written 100s of verses and shared with me a beautiful Haiku, which was an outcome of a particular moment while he was constructing his house.

He told me that as soon as he entered the half constructed house, few of the sparrows who had made it their home, flew off in a flutter of activity…

Digital Art by Lingusamy

Still unfinished

Building my home

Sparrows already moved in

As the day moved on, we had a beautiful connection through our own mutual passion. Brenda Sarathy also shared some of his poems as well as explained in detail what he thought of Director Lingusamy's Tamil Haiku. After a while, I realised that Lingusamy was like a friend, with whom one can go on talking and sharing thoughts to understand our own expressions in deeper way. He was like a friend, who instinctively understands and appreciate the subtleties and depths of one's creative outpouring. Looking forward to many more such sessions of creative discussions and sharing of thoughts.

As I prepared to move on, he presented his special Edition of Haiku, to remember the lovely day spent with him. I look forward to the English Edition of his verses - Linku II.

_____
Some of the personalities featured in Chennai Colors section of the blog...
Dr. Anita Ratnam
Dr. Chithra Madhavan
Anitha Guha
Renie Ravin

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

IndiBlogger's Renie Ravin

Some times some books chose you rather than you choosing them to read. In the three years that I have been reading some lovely books through our 'Sans Serif book club' initiative, this book connected with me at deeper level. The tentative steps taken by R K Narayan - one of the Indian pioneers of writing in English, is endearing and courageous.

Click here to buy...

This book also connected well with all of us in the book club as some of the members have had the privilege to interact with R K Narayan personally while he was alive and gave us beautiful account of their interaction with the author himself.

Discussing 'The English Teacher' at our Sans Serif Book club
@ Apparao Galleries

The story, seemingly a book about a life of an English Teacher, turned out to be more than a simple story of a person. It moved from being a persons account of tribulations of living to an account of three person's mortality and beyond in case of the death of the English teacher's wife. The connection beyond living, so lovingly brought out by R K Narayan, seemed natural and touching. Some times when we lose some one we love, the bonds remain, sometimes so strong that the person is not able to move on and that's what this story highlighted in its essence. That's the first loss in the book that made the English teacher look into his own life and living. Here I must note that it was one of the best writing skill of the author that even though the loss was immense, he was able to mention in such a subtle way, without the necessary drama of a loss that most of the authors succumb to, that I had to go back and read the lines to convince myself that the English Teacher's wife was really dead.

"After the car (doctor’s) had gone, a stony silence closed in on the house, punctuated by the stentorian breathing, which appeared to me the creaking of the hinges of a prison gate, opening at the command of a soul going into freedom." - R K Narayan in "The English Teacher"

The second loss was of perceived demise of the Head Master. In his going, he had prepared himself to rise above his own short comings and left his home to be reborn again as the teacher he was. Some times the enlightenment comes in different form and this was one the most powerful highlights of the book.

Finally, did the English Teacher die too? Well I will leave this question unanswered as I feel that this discovery is needed to be made by yourself - the reader.

I remember meeting Alexander McCall Smith in this year's Hindu Lit Festival, where he extolled the beauty of R K Narayan's writing and his lament still rings true that we, the Indians, don't appreciate the beauty and the power of an Indian Author's writing in English. I had promised myself after the discussion with him, to read his books and I am so glad that I did. It opened not only my eyes to an era, beyond Malgudi days, to the dirt track of villages, writing letters and making of an ink. A process my grandfather used to employ in my own childhood.

Alexander McCall Smith at Hindu Lit Festival 2016

The another beauty of R K Narayan's writing that comes out so powerfully in this book is the handling of flowering love - an under current that ran through the book so deeply that one wonder's why the new breed of authors have to resort to uncover a body to bring the excitement of love into love making. R K Narayan made love deeper than the river's flow that has breeched the banks. I loved it.

The mystical approach that he took to connect with his departed wife may sound far fetched but I was given to understand by the friends of the family - some of the members of our book club, is real. It seems so too to me. I have had many mystical experiences, while travelling in Himalaya with Sadhu's, Fakirs and wandering monks and could vouch for the connection of the spirits beyond the physical world. Even if it is not true, I personally feel that the experiences shared rings true.

Picture of actual transcendental writing from R K Narayan's departed wife

The best part of reading this book, along with the Sans Serif Book Club members is the fact that you get to hear different perspective, not only about the book, the story but about the author as well. I am so grateful to Prema Ma'am for the insights she gave of the Author, who she used to meet quite frequently in her younger days since he was a family friend.

One of the book club member even highlighted the way he started off with the book as cliched English writing and moved on to immensely powerful portrayal of quaint life.

But in the end, I felt that this was one of the book, in which you can see the transformation of the characters within the pages, growing out to be more fleshed, mature and powerful as the story progressed. What I could actually relate to, was the way the author's love life blossomed within the pages as she took over the day to day life within the house.

An engrossing discussion at the Book Club @ The English Teacher

It is a beautiful book and if you have not read R K Narayan, not seen Malgudi Days on T V, then I think you should start with this book.

Now I will leave you with a brief note about the Author and then share some of the words from the book that connected with me and I could relate to...

A Brief Note...

R. K. Narayan (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001), full name Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami, was an Indian writer, best known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English, along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

Image curtsy Wikipedia

Narayan's mentor and friend, Graham Greene was instrumental in getting publishers for Narayan’s first four books, including the semi-autobiographical trilogy of Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher. The fictional town of Malgudi, was first introduced in Swami and Friends. Narayan’s The Financial Expert, was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951, and Sahitya Akademi Award winner The Guide, was adapted for film and for Broadway.

Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters, and he has been compared to William Faulkner, who also created a similar fictional town, and likewise explored with humour and compassion the energy of ordinary life. Narayan's short stories have been compared with those of Guy de Maupassant, because of his ability to compress a narrative. However, he has also been criticised for the simplicity of his prose.

In a career that spanned over sixty years, Narayan received many awards and honours, including the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, India's third and second highest civilian awards. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament.

Curtsy Wikipedia

__________

Some Thoughts and Quotes from the Book - The English Teacher

Sans Serif Book Club Members @ Apparao Galleries

I loved this room because the sun came through a ventilator, bring in a very bright beam of light, and brilliant dust particles floated in it, and the two boys who sat on the second bench looked all aflame.

My father’s letter brought back to me not only the air of the village and all my childhood, but along with it all the facts …

[God said to his assistants, ‘Take this man away to hell’ and they brought him down to the hostel bathroom passage, and God said, ‘torture him’ and they opened the room and pushed him in…]

She watch these containers (carrying rations for the month) as a sort of barometer, the level of their contents indicating the progress of the month. Each had to be at a particular level on a particular date.

There are no more surprises and shocks in life, so that I watch the flame without agitation. For me the greatest reality is this and nothing else…. Nothing else will worry or interest me in life hereafter.

Our nature adapts itself to circumstances with wonderful speed.

Tree twigs have a sense of humor and adopt funny shapes. I think it is one of Nature’s expressions of humor, if only we can see them that way….

It gives on the feeling that it is a place belongs to Eternity, and that it will not be touched by time or disease or decay.

A man takes to drink to forget sad thoughts, but after a while they return with gathered force.

She sees me and perhaps takes in naturally, since children spontaneously see only the souls of persons. Children see spirit forms so often that it is natural to their condition and state of mind.

When I watch them (children), I get a glimpse of some purpose in existence and creation.

For all of us, our possessions turn to mementoes.

Between thought and fulfillment there is no interval. Thought is fulfillment, motion and everything. That is the main difference between our physical state and yours. In your state a thought to be realised must always be followed by effort directed towards conquering obstructions and inertia - that is the nature of material world.

The law of life cant be avoided. The law comes into operation the moment we detach ourselves from our mother’s womb. All struggle and misery in life is due to our attempt to arrest this law or get away from it or in allowing ourselves to be hurt by it. The fact must be recognized. A Profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. All else is false.

The kitchen is the deadliest arsenal a woman possesses.

This education had reduced us to a nation of morons; we were strangers to our own culture and camp followers of another culture, feeding on leavings and garbage.

Success must be measured by its profit-less-ness, said a French philosopher.

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

How to Write a Book - Milan Kundera

How one goes about 'Erasing the Box'...?

A professor gave a blank sheet of paper to his graduate students, which had a black dot in the centre of the page and asked them to write a small essay. Most of them wrote about the black dot, forgetting that there was also a wide empty space around the dot.

This is the way we respond to situations in our day-to-day life, formed through our past experiences. However, it is not our experiences that got our species to the top position on the evolution scale. We are there because of the innovative way we have responded to our given situation over the millennia. And that’s the essence of this year’s theme of TEDx Chennai, “Erasing the Box”.

But before I get into more details about this year’s theme of TEDx Chennai Event - ‘Erasing The Box’, let me remind you that TEDx Chennai is back and this time it is bigger, better and more innovative.

What is TED and TEDx Chennai?

TED is a global foundation devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together the world’s leading thinkers and doers to share ideas that matter in any discipline.

In the same spirit, TED has created TEDx - a locally organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience, focusing on individuals and innovation in various cities. TEDx Chennai will be bringing together our region’s most innovative, inspiring and creative minds showcasing their story. This event is hosting 1200 open-minded, creative and forward thinking individuals representing all facets to Chennai life including businessmen, educators, artists, homemakers, activists, doctors, lawyers, students, futurists, and every person that is interested in broadening his/her mind by participating in this event dedicated to Ideas Worth Spreading.

TEDx Chennai Theme - ‘Erasing The Box’

We have been born free from any limitation since we first ventured out of the womb, but then the habitual way with which we usually respond to our diverse experiences has imprisoned our minds in kind of a box. Even though we try to simulate ‘out of box’ thinking, we are really not away from its limiting character.

‘Erasing The Box’ is about the free flowing thought without any preconceived notion or restriction. Just as the river that forms its own path, forming its own boundaries meandering across diverse landscapes, shaping rocks into bold sculptures, we look forward to giving you an experience that will shape your ideas into success stories. It is about time that we erase that box…

And to facilitate this, we are organizing some great speakers from across India with diverse background and experiences to share their thoughts. The idea behind wholesome full day interaction at TEDx Chennai is to equip ourselves to erase these limitations through stimulating conversations and venture out to explore new thoughts - an excursion for the mind of sorts.

And that you will be inspired to do, as you hear 12 powerful speakers of diverse background from across India, share their thoughts… including Dr. P.K. Tewari - renowned scientists, Deepti Zachariah - an architect, Manu Joseph - author, Kirthi Jayakumar - activist, writer, peace educator, Pradeep Chakravarthy has worked in the HR function at TVS, Cognizant , Infosys and McKinsey

Come join us on 23^rd Oct, 2016 for a day full of ideas and inspiration at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chennai. (Registration at 9 AM)

To buy the tickets, please log on to the following link and use Reference code‘SHASHI’ to buy…

Eventjini - http://eventjini.com/tedxchennai

BookMyShow - https://in.bookmyshow.com/conference/tedx-chennai

Explara - https://in.explara.com/e/tedxchennai

We have many things to share with you this time… JOIN IN

WE WILL LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE…

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Curtain Raiser Hindu Lit for Life 2017

Sharing my thoughts on “Writing Fiction” from the Second Story Mirror Creativity Workshop, which was organized in association with Story Mirror, Apparao Galleries and Aspiring Authors Group. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with the famous Film Director / Producer as well as a fine Tamil Haiku writer N Lingusamy and popular romantic fiction Author Meera Shiva.

Author Meera Shiva, Me and Director Lingusamy
at the Story Mirror Creativity Workshop II

Why people write?

As the tight grip of Publishers, distributors and established & influential Author’s nexus loosened up on the Publishing Industry in the Kindle Age, the floodgates opened up for new authors and new writing styles. Every day, there are millions of books getting published through online platforms. But why this rush? No one is actually making money apart from a very miniscule number of online authors. So why people are writing all the time?

As I thought more about it, I realised that there are few other reasons beyond making money…

- To become known as Authors

- To be acknowledged as Intellectual

- To leave a legacy

But underlying all these perfectly valid reasons, the driving force is one’s own ego satisfaction…

But not every one is writing for their ego. Certain passionate and sincere writers, according to George Orwell, write for other reasons too, e.g.

1) Aesthetic enthusiasm

2) Historical impulse

3) Political purpose

But like all good things in life, to seriously write good fiction, you need to have this intense desire for self-immolation to illuminate the world around you. One can never be a writer in its true form, if you are in it just for the sake of money or fame…

WHAT IT TAKES…

One of the reasons I write, is to hear the silence of my reader, thinking…

However as Milan Kundera said once, “Any work of art has to have a purpose of its Existence”

So if you have an undying compulsion to write otherwise as Rilke said, you will die, then go ahead and write. But like all things, there are techniques and tools to become a good writer and there is a way of writing a good fiction…

THE PROUSTIAN WAY…

“There are two methods by which a person can acquire wisdom, painlessly via a teacher or painfully via life, and the painful variety is far superior.” Marcel Proust

“The greatness of works of art has nothing to do with the apparent quality of their subject matter, and everything to do with the subsequent treatment of that matter.” Marcel Proust

Since most of us are not like the author like Proust, at least not yet, what do we do? Well the good news is that whoever has survived childhood and adolescence, has a story to tell. But the bad news is that writing is not a cakewalk or a stroll in the park. It requires discipline, a will to step out of our comfort zone.

MY WAY…

And over the period of my own journey towards writing my books - The Monk Key Series - first of the three part series is already published as “Songs of the Mist”, in which the Monk says to the protagonist Ashutosh, “Every one can bring meaning to one’s life by doing things with passion and love. Even the smallest of life rises up to its full potential with its devotion in doing what the universal design brings along your path. So if you seem to be going nowhere, Ashutosh do not blame living, blame yourself.”

But before I describe my way, here’s a Reality Check. If you are interested in writing something good that will stand the test of times, ask yourself these questions…

Konark @ Shashi 2010

1 – Are you passionate enough…?

Willingness to put in sweat, blood and toil day in and day out.

2 – Do you have necessary tools…?

If you need dictionary to write, please don’t. Should be adept in the language one is writing.

3 – Room of your own…?

As Virginia Woolf asked in her famous lecture at Oxford’s young women students, are you financially comfortable? You know most of us writers don’t make enough money to survive.

4 – Are you going in right direction…?

Are you writing what you love and passionate about or writing what you perceive to be the best selling genre.

5 – Are you in hurry…?

Are you looking for becoming overnight Internet sensation? If you are, there is no one who can guide you to become one. So stop reading stuff like this and pray for luck.

All good things life needs time and effort to manifest and sincere effort at that. So, unless you are a celebrity and have million followers on your own or through reflected glory of a celebrity friend, relative or lover, you need sustained effort and hard work over time to write something good.

MY 7-YEAR PLAN TO WRITE GOOD STUFF…

It is known that if you start today with zero knowledge on any subject and work diligently towards acquiring necessary tools, knowledge and technics, in 7 years time, you can become an expert in the desired field. So writing a great book is not impossible. You just need to focus on your goal and discipline to keep writing and honing your writing skills.

For many decades I knew the story I was going to share. But only in 1987, while meditating on the banks of holy river Ganges in Rishikesh, I got inspired enough to share my stories of heart break and pain and the resulting spiritual journeys and assimilated thoughts.

However, as soon as I actively started writing in 2010, I realised that writing and publishing a book is a difficult task. Then my training as an engineering professional, kicked in. I knew that to solve any problem the first step is to know what the problem is. And yes, getting your book published at that time was a big problem. I remember talking to one of the author in Hindu Literary Festival in Chennai and asking him, how to get a book published and he gave me the perfect answer… ‘Write the damn book’.

HOW TO WRITE THE DAMN BOOK?

Even in today’s connected and equally chaotic world, good writing is not about being restless or quarantined. Aspiring Authors just have to work on every aspect of creative process to produce good results and on every aspect of connectivity to reach out to the right readers…

To write a good book and publish it, one has to work on these 3 aspects – Simultaneously

1 – Inner Awareness

Mark Twain said once, “Adam was the only man who, when he said a good thing, knew that nobody had said it before.” So we all have every word of the story all around us, within our inner-self but as I have quoted Proust earlier, we need to treat those stories with our own unique awareness. And that comes from actively working on it.

- Walks

- Deep Observation

- Meditation

- Wonder

2 – Conscious Mind

We should write in a language, where we don’t need a dictionary. So if you are writing, you need to have the right tools. Practice the language; write something you are passionate about. I started writing my public blog in 2010 with start of my book writing and it gave me a firm footing to test my language and see if I am on the right path.

I wrote daily, whatever way the story came into my words… by 2014 I have had written 500,000 words - the first book started with 125K words first draft and published ‘Songs of the Mist’ has 76K words. Suffer if you didn’t write some day as Hemmingway used to.

Read and read a lot. There is no substitute to it. I cannot sleep if I don’t read a book. In this year’s Good Read Challenge, I have committed to read 50 books and have completed reading more than 100 books as of now.

Look within your self, find pieces of characters - we have all the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of our self within, don’t judge, write about them, develop them. It is also an exercise of catharsis.

Whenever an idea, thought or character appears, write it down. Watch people around you, think about their life and their thoughts, go to stations, movies and park, observe and write.

Travel, travel wherever and whenever you can. Preferably take the train or bus, if time permits and walk or trek around the place. Carry a pen, small notebook and a camera. For decades, I have been travelling to Himalayas, Spiritual places, Monasteries, temples, rivers and sea side within country and abroad. Write about it somewhere as I have been sharing at my blog as spiritual travels.

3 – Practical reality

When I started thinking about publishing my book, I looked around and felt that the most of the published authors are not so great. I felt that I am unique and the moment I finish my book, the publishers will be queuing up to sign off a deal. Well it does not happen. Even though each one of us are unique, but is it something that people are looking forward to embrace. I have had seen many author’s book die a silent death as it did not reach out the right readers. So have a plan and yes in this Internet world of connectivity, where millions of other authors are trying to catch the proverbial short attention span of Netizens, you do need to reach out and market your book like crazy, as long as it is not intrusive and irrelevant. Here are the things that I did.

My communities on Google Plus

- Even before I started writing my book, went public online. I created a blog and wrote about creativity, Spirituality, Writing and designs, which went on to become the No 1 Spiritual Blog of India within 4 years, as selected by credible aggregators of Indian Blogging community for the last three years.

- Joined FB, Twitter, Google Plus. Interacted within relevant communities like Good Reads, Quora, Book clubs etc.

- Created groups like Haiku (one of the best communities on Haiku at Google Plus where more than 1000 poets write their Haiku), Aspiring Author’s Group, Shadow Dancing with Mind, How to publish etc.

- Joined off-line book clubs, writing groups and networked with like-minded people in literary festivals across the country.

With Timeri N Murari

Over the years, I realised that it’s me who has to reach out to the right audience and readers for my books not the other way around. Marketing is not about being intrusive; it’s all about being interactive, proactive and helpful to the readers and the audience.

Finally, I would like to say one thing that the world needs its authors, who are the mirror to the society we all are living in. We are there to host, to heal our readers within the pages of what we write.

As my friend, philosopher and guide - a famous author from Chennai Timeri N Murari said in one of my Story Mirror Creativity workshop, “Write for yourself first, without any thoughts of future result” echoing the famous Bhagwat Gita Verse 47 from Chapter 2

Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,

Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani

You have the right to work only but never to its fruits.

Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Creativity Workshop II - Writing Haiku

As I started speaking in public forums, after my first book Songs of the Mist's publication, I realise how hard it is to speak from the podium. I never had a problem talking to my team members across office table and in annual meetings, where the gathering used to be large as well, but you were quite sure that you will be received well as after all they are colleagues. But believe me, talking to people who have just come to listen to you, leaving their far more important work at home or office. They do expect you to give them something to think, make it worth their while as you come up on stage....

Haiku Workshop in Delhi University

I have had heard many public speakers, politicians, business and religious leaders speaking from stage and some of them impressed me. Over a period of time, I realised that most of the speakers were there for a purpose. They had something to talk about, to share, to make people understand where they are coming from. Behind each great performance there was a purpose, a thought or an idea that needed to be conveyed to the audience and it took me some time to realise that the reason, I published the book for, is essentially my purpose to talk about, share with young generation. And that's when I started speaking without the accompanying hesitation that comes with public speaking. Now I had a reason to get my message across.

Chief Guest Address at Tata's High Range School in Munnar

The Message: The Language alone will change you...

As I was finishing my book, I had dwelled deeper within our ancient scriptures, specially Bhagwat Gita, as its essence 'Karma Yoga' was the underlying flow of the lives my protagonists like Ashutosh, Ayan, Anishka etc. More and more people, specially youngsters I talked to more I realised that they are not reading these books. In our childhood, Amar Chitra Katha, Pancha Tantra, Chanda Mama, Stories of Mahabharata, Ramayana, Jatak Katha's were the stable diet of growing up. Now with the advent of smart phone, What's App groups, Texting, Memes etc. these stories were taking a back seat and reading was becoming confined to small little screens of smart phones.

Click here to read an excerpt

So I wrote a love story, where through all the heart break and pain. The Deccan Chronicle headlined when talking about my book as "Bitter Pill with Sugar Coating", which is exactly how I shared the essence of Bhagwat Gita for the young generation. And I continue to talk to the young generation about the need to go back to our ancient Heritage and culture and read those amazing work of arts and literature as I believe that even if the deep thought process hidden behind seemingly obscure ancient language does not make any sense to them at this stage of life, the language alone has the power to make a difference in their lives. So I keep talking about it in almost all my workshops, presentation and lectures.

Writing Workshop at High Range School - Munnar

Slowly I started conducting workshops in Chennai, Delhi University as well as in schools like Tata's High Range school in Munnar Kerala. With just one purpose, to inspire young generation to reach out to these books, Bible, Koran or Bhagwat Gita and get benefitted from it.

But over the period of almost a year after my book was published, I have realised another important aspect of language...

It changes you as well...

The brain is like, to give you a mordern example, is CPU of the human form. And it works on two operating software - The Logic and the Language. So for me, writing and its essence, the language has the power to slowly work on 'within' and make you perform better. The more you practice, the more perfectly the software works. For me, it creates an awareness as in meditation. I keep telling my audience, students that Haiku writing has become a kind of Mantra Chanting practice for me over the years.

As I keep working on inspiring some aspiring authors in these school and colleges, I am learning as well. The young generation provides me with the spark that is essential to keep my ageing mind to break free from the shackles of time as well. Seeing those young, enthusiastic and confident youngsters, interacting with them opens up grey folds of my brain and look at the world differently. As I cajole and push them across to write good works of fiction which will stand the test of times, I am pushing my limits too. Each day, I have a blank sheet of paper that needs my reverence and respects in well formed thoughts and ideas and new awareness. As I grapple with words in my mind, the blank spaces needs and demands the most precise and aesthetically formed words following each other in a sentence, concise paragraphs and fully fleshed out characters in the most realistic back ground and that my friend is a meditation. It has changed me over the year and I am sure it will change you as well.

At Delhi College of Arts & Commerce

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Writing Fiction

Our Sans Serif Book club is slowly maturing into a serious club of passionate and discerning readers. When we discussed the powerful book ‘The Days of Abandonment’ by Elena Ferrante on 27^th Oct, probably at the most aesthetic environment of Apparao Galleries, it was on full display. Every one had a perspective to share. Probably it was because we all could relate to ‘The Days of Abandonment’ by Elena Ferrante (link leads to Europa Website of the Author) since in every one our lives, we have had our own share of pain and difficulties.

Click here to buy..

Let me begin with some of the common underlying thoughts. Most of us agreed that the death of the dog ‘Otto’ was something that we could not digest as well as how a mother can have her own sick child without being able to get to a doctor, (well the author did gave a reason why Olga could not, but don’t want to give the details here as it is a review) but here is something that I can quote from the book, which she shared later on in the book…

“Now I associated it with Otto’s death and it no longer moved me. I discovered that it had become like the memory of the odor of an old man who on a bus, has rubbed off on us the desires of his dying flesh.” - Elena Ferrante

Sans Serif Book Club Member's discussing the book

Another thing that stood out in every one’s comment that it was quite difficult to adjust to the situation where Olga, however much she was depressed, was not able to open the door lock for such a long time.

However to give the credit to Author’s exquisite writing, for most the members of Sans Serif Book Club, it was quite painful to read the book as the raw emotions were spread across the blood stained pages Ferrante wrote on.

“In those long hours I was sentinel of grief, keeping watch along with a crowd of dead words.” - Elena Ferrante

I am sure whoever the Author - Elena Ferrante is and where ever she is, she must be having goose pimples, as we kept remembering her words almost for a month and specially on 27^th Oct, as we kept talking about the power and beauty of her writing.

Listening to Prema Ma'am's thoughts about the book...
Sujatha Ma'am, Meera and me

Now before I share my own thoughts about the book and the writing… here is something about the Author…

___

A Brief Note About the Author

Elena Ferrante is the pseudonym of an Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into English, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish, among other languages. Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels are among her best known works. She was named one of the 100 most influential people on the planet by Time magazine in 2016.

Ferrante is the author of a half dozen novels, the best known of which is the four-volume work known as Neapolitan Novels, about two perceptive and intelligent girls from Naples who try to create lives for themselves within a violent and stultifying culture. The Story of the Lost Child (2015), which was nominated for the Strega Prize, an Italian literary award.

Ferrante has repeatedly argued that anonymity is a precondition for her work and that keeping her true name out of the spotlight is key to her writing process.

Curtsy: Wikipedia

___

My Thoughts

In the land of Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi and many more authors popular or unknown, including me, trying to being recognized as an author, I salute her for her words…

"Books, once they are written, have no need of their authors."- Elena Ferrante

It’s our ego to begin with and then the need of the people from divergent fields to recognize us as an author, including people who we would like to get back to, from our childhood school days, makes us put our names there on the book cover. There are, of course, practical reasons to it but then purposely denying the recognitions, seems to me to be at the level of detachment, what Krishna in Bhagwat Gita preached. Many of our own ancient sages never gave their name as the writers of ancient texts. So as a fellow author, I respect Ferrante for that.

Now coming to the book let me begin by quoting these lines…

“I found my self alone, frightened by my own desperation.” - Elena Ferrante

And that’s the beauty of her writing and the book. You suffer reading her words and the pain of Olga. It is so much so that you feel like turning the pages as fast as you could, which was quite difficult for me as I don’t like to leave even one word unread.

As the desperation grew up on her, she returned to her Poverella - an old abandoned woman from her childhood memories, which in my view created a psychological knot, that burst open with colors of pain, which Ferrante so brilliantly painted in her book.

“… After a lot of shouting that often woke me up in the middle of the night, that seemed to be flaking the stone off the building and the street as if it had saw teeth - drawn-out cries and laments that reached the piazza…” - Elena Ferrante

As the pages turned over, she begin to resemble more and more like her Poverrella, even taking on her abusing language style as preferred means to communicate her deep sense of abandonment.

And as Olga settled deeper into the rigor mortis of her abandonment, she started to question her own feelings and thoughts about her husband in such powerful words of Ferrante…

“A long passage of life together, and you think he’s the only man you can be happy with, you credit him with countless critical virtues, and instead he is just a reed that emits sounds of falsehood, you don’t know who he really is, he doesn’t know himself. We are occasions. We consummate life and lose it because in some long -ago time someone, in the desire to unload his cock inside us, was nice, chose us among women. We take for some sot of kindness addressed to us alone the banal desire for sex. “ - Elena Ferrante

If you look at the book in terms of characters, I felt somewhat cheated, when she did not flesh out Olga’s husband character who had abandoned her. It did leave a gap about why he actually abandoned her? Was it lust for his colleagues widow’s young daughter or it was love? It was the only thing that left me asking for more explanation in the book. Love, it seems has its own shades of grey, but her husband was painted more black than the grey it may have been. Probably when Olga reflected these words, it was more for him than herself…

“What a complex foamy mixture a couple is. Even if the relationship shatters and ends, it continues to act in secret pathways, it does not die. It does not want to die.”

5 years earlier, Olga had objected to her husband kissing the young girl, and that’s how the family moved away from hers but still, in my opinion the relationship of lust was there and despite my fellow members objecting to it this opinion, I still feel that that was what it was. The husband has probably abandoned Olga, 5 years earlier. Lust is a powerful driving force in my opinion as our brains are structured to lust after what’s available right then and there instead of what it holds in future.

In the end, let me close my thoughts about the book with one thing… Human mind, in times of desperation, seeks to do what it can, to survive powerful and debilitating emotions or situations and over a period of time it does. That’s where the beauty of Elena Ferrante’s writing comes into action as she finished the book with a perfect closure. I would have liked to quote those words, but then it will be a better for you to find your own closure in the book.

However I would like to give a hint by a thought from my own book, ‘Songs of the Mist’, “how far can you walk into a forest (of pain)? As soon as you are in the middle, you are walking out of it with each step.”

Finally leaving you with some quotes from the book “The Days of Abandonment”

“Favor has to be answered by another favor, and the courtesies become a chain that imprisoned us.”

“Women without love lose the light in their eyes, women without love die while they are still alive. “

“A long passage of life together, and you think he’s the only man you can be happy with, you credit him with countless critical virtues, and instead he is just a reed that emits sounds of falsehood, you don’t know who he really is, he doesn’t know himself. We are occasions. We consummate life and lose it because in some long -ago time someone, in the desire to unload his cock inside us, was nice, chose us among women. We take for some sot of kindness addressed to us alone the banal desire for sex. “

“… and I felt something move inside me, a jolt of grief so intense that the tears seemed to me fragments of a crystal object stored for a long time in a secret place and now, because of that movement, shattered into a thousand stabbing shards. My eyes felt wounded…”

“I thought of beauty as of a constant effort to eliminate corporeality. I wanted him to love my body forgetful of what one knows of bodies. Beauty, I thought anxiously, is this forgetfulness. Or may be not. It was I who believed that his love needed that obsession of mine.”

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

The Philosophy Book

Spotlight is my small effort to support upcoming authors in their effort to reach their readers. And yes, it is FREE, however to be featured in this section, you need to go through a selection process, please click here for details.

‘Shadow in the Mirror’ by my friend Deepti Menon, published byReadomania is a cliff-hanger in which myriad lives come together. Here, as you read on, you will find many eras colliding, as they are all connected by threads in a tapestry that needs to be unraveled, one thread at a time,

As I interacted with her for this post, I liked her confidence about the book. She feels that through its language, pace and interesting theme her book will engage and sustain the interest of her readers. And as I went through the book “Shadow in the Mirror”, it seems to be true.

“I have always been a staunch supporter of the English language, If my creation ‘Shadow in the Mirror’ stands up like a beacon as an example of good creative writing and a story well told, that will be purpose enough for its existence.” - Deepti Menon

She writes with aesthetic enthusiasm as well as for the sheer love of the written word. She says, “My writing may not have an overt tinge of social value, but it does subconsciously highlight social issues, in its own way.”

“Shadows in the Mirror’ was twelve years in the making. Though she completed writing it in two years, she kept rewriting, editing till it got published in October this year.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deepti Menon is the author of two books, ‘Arms and the Woman’ and ‘Deeparadhana’. She has worked as a journalist with several publications, and is now a freelance editor. Short stories with deft twists and tongue-in-cheek articles that tickle the funny bone are her forte. She is working on her next book plan to be published by next year.

Deepti Menon lives with her family in Chennai.

HER INSPIRATIONS

Life itself inspires me to write. Ideas throw themselves at me wherever I am – during a walk in the park, while watching a movie, reading a book, talking to friends, sometimes even during a bout of shopping. Anything that makes me think, smile or shake my head gives me inspiration.

HER CHALLENGES

As I have mentioned above, I love the English language deeply. My biggest challenge was to write a thrilling story that would keep my readers on the edge of their seats, without taking away from the beauty of the language, and without stooping to debase the language in any manner whatsoever.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

“It was strange how old memories suddenly flash-bulbed in the mind, flickered for one brilliant moment, and were just as soon lost in oblivion.”

“Suddenly the descending darkness entered her heart, as the moon went behind a cloud. Just like the cloud hanging over our lives, she thought with a shudder.”

“Well-meaning elders would give dollops of good advice to all young couples. “Name your child ‘Krishna’ and ‘Rama’. If they are naughty and you end up calling out their names a thousand times, you might end up attaining moksha.”

THE STORY

It all begins with a death. Nita, a pregnant woman falling from a balcony becomes the string that unravels the plot. Her death casts a shadow over many lives; her heartbroken father, her husband, and Vinny, a young journalist drawn in by the whiff of foul play and murder.

What follows are stories within stories, eras and worlds colliding with each other, leaving behind splintered relationships and mesmerizing slices of lives that appear to be drawn together and driven apart by the whimsical strings of destiny.

As events cast their shadows ahead to link the stories of Vinny, Kavita, Roma, Krish and Nita in an unrelenting knot, a journey starts to uncover the truth. What is the secret that links Nita’s death to the other characters? Will Vinny be able to unravel the mystery?

From intimate diary entries, letters, to bantering over a meal, and sharing memories while spring cleaning, this novel de-familiarizes the ordinary, presenting a kaleidoscope of our own pasts, broken edges and pulsating hearts.

______

Deepti’s favorite spot for writing is a comfortable armchair in her drawing room, with a little white table on which sits her laptop. She finds it an apt spot because of her books in the shelves all around her. The nearby television set serves the purpose of a much-needed break besides being the heart of her home.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DEEPTI

a. I wear rose-colored spectacles that help me to see the world as a beautiful place. I am a die-hard optimist!

b. I love humor in all its avatars, which is why I enjoy reading PG Wodehouse.

c. I am a proud daughter, mother and grandmother, and enjoy all these roles equally.

d. Being a Sagittarian, I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth at times.

She considers herself lucky to be in a space where she’s doing exactly what she loves i.e. writing full time. She considers teaching for many years as an achievement of her life as well - interacting with young minds, influencing them, and being influenced by them.

HER FAVORITE

GENRE:

Drama, Literary Fiction and Mystery.

BOOKS:

1. ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ has always been a favorite ever since my mother first narrated it to me. I love the grandeur of the plot, the pace of the action and the realistic characterization. The theme of revenge has also been played out magnificently.

2. Another wonderful book is ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, which brings out the lofty ideals of humanity, equality and the bane of racism. The book is a masterpiece as it reveals how one strong man can uphold his ideals and come out triumphant.

CHECK OUT 'SHADOW IN THE MIRROR' @ STAR MARK AND ODYSSEY
YOU CAN BUY ONLINE AT AMAZON … Click here.

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Ink on Water by Shubhrata Prakash

Sharing some of my thoughts on “How to become a Best Seller” from the 3rd Story Mirror CreativityWorkshop, which was organized in association with Story Mirror, ApparaoGalleries, Madras Photo bloggers and Aspiring Authors Group. The speakers at the workshop were budding author and poet Sulaiman Sait, Director Brindha Sarathy, famous cartoonist of Hindu - foremost Krishna Devotee Keshav and Film Director / Producer as well as a fine Tamil Haiku writer NLingusamy.

If you like to know more about the workshop III, please check this post by Madras Photobloggers. For the details on the upcoming Workshop IV on 17th Dec @ Apparao Galleries, please register here and checking on the 'Going' Tab.

HOW TO BECOME A BEST SELLER

The agenda of my talk was to get the aspiring author to understand what goes on behind making a best seller and how a budding writer can work on the ideas to get to the top. The agenda of my workshop was...

And here are the main point from the workshop.

BASICS

First things first , to make your book a best seller, the content is the king. Write a great story with beautiful language, flesh your characters with interesting matter and thoughts, you have a winner at your hands.

Second, as I keep repeating in my talks the powerful words of Milan Kundera, “Any work of art has to have a purpose of its Existence”. Your book has to have a purpose to suastain interest in the long term.

And finally the 3^rd basic thing is to “Write the Damn Book” as Naresh Fernandes advised me some years back when I was looking for the way to publish my first book, “Songs of the Mist”. This is what the enthusiastic budding authors forget to do and waste precious amount of time in contemplating, thinking and finding the right / any publisher to publish the book.

MARKETING

Find your champions: The best and the most powerful advise that I can give, in terms of marketing your book, is to find your champions, usually they consist of your friends, relatives and colleagues.

Create your champions: And equally powerful advise you should thing about , in the process of becoming a best seller, is to help others become a best seller. This way you will create your own champions.

APPROACH

Keep the buzz going

Find New angles, Promote in new ways, Launch in new places

Workshops, Book Clubs, Training

Create a platform to share your thoughts, ideas and reach out to your readers

Write something that other’s can find use for e.g my post on Hindu Lit For Life is used as archive for the official Hindu Festival Page. Click here and click on the "Archive Blog" tab. Below is the case for IndiBlogger's BNLF Curtain Raiser, which was used in their portal for their mega blogging event last year, Oct-Nov.

In the end, here are some key points that you need not only to keep in mind but also actively pursue. Sharing also some of the pictures from the Story Mirror Creativity Workshop III. If you would like to attend the upcoming 4th Creativity Workshop, please register here...

Take-aways

1. Advertisements on FB, Twitter and most of the social media’s do give ROI. Personal Emails do, personal interaction do. SO create an email List

2. Keep the interaction going on, help before asking for help

3. Celebrity Endorsements, High Value Influencers, High Profile Publisher’s don’t work in terms of ROI

4. Book Readers, Review Bloggers, Book reading communities work. Get on to them

5. The best turn around is your own website, blog or group is. So create each one of them and invest your time and effort on it.

6. Write the next book, get your book translated, publish Kindle versions of supplementary books

7. Create workshops, help in learning curve of your readers, provide value of your interaction

8. Solve a problem, provide support without any need of reciprocation, become an expert in your niche area

9. Focus on your area of expertise

10. Get one blurb that counts, Get an introduction by some one of authority or expert in your area, ask for their help in spreading the word.

11. Utilise Amazon’s marketing tools

12. Finally, get your champions together, which will come from your family, friends and network.

TO ATTEND THE NEXT WORKSHOP ON 17TH DEC @ APPARAO GALLERIES - CHENNAI, PLEASE CLICK HERE AND CHECK THE 'GOING' TAB.

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

On Writing Fiction

“SPOTLIGHT is a regular feature at my blog, started with a view to promote new and upcoming authors and help them to reach their target audience. And yes, it is FREE, however to be featured in this section, you need to go through a selection process, please click here for details.”

_________________
“Nestled inside the box resting on bunched up cloth - was a smooth glistening heart.” - Sharlene Almond, Author of “Initiated to Kill”

‘Initiated to Kill’ by my friend from New Zealand, Sharlene Almond, is a psychological thriller that is partly based on a true story; combined with conspiracy and a deaf art student. It is a story about a deaf art student’s past, which unveils a 19th century conspiracy about the identity of Jack the Ripper. As you continue reading, you will be unraveling the psyche of two serial killers - one in 19th century London, and the other present-day Spain. And you keep figuring out, as you go forward in the page-turner, what was their driving force?  

It was interesting to interact with an author, who has been facing challenges from the childhood about a life long muscular disorder that kept her in and out of hospitals. Yet through her sheer perseverance, she was able to get out of the wheel chair. And while she was fighting it all out, she wrote books, Kick box-ed and got a range of diploma’s in diverse fields like Criminology, Cognitive Behaviors, Dog Psychology. And now she’s currently studying Naturopathic Nutrition.

As I interacted with her for this Spotlight, she told me that her novels are not designed to convince readers that the conspiracy theories, that she writes about, are right; instead, her novel’s purpose is to challenge the reader to think beyond the scope they usually think. She adds further, just imagine the infinite possibilities that if history is really written by the Victorious, then what else could be missing..? Could the rich, powerful and influential people really be able to control what we think we know...?

“As an author of historical/21st century psychological, international thrillers, my books challenge readers to think beyond what they believe, as well as taking the reader on a journey throughout Europe and abroad.” - Sharlene

One of the motivation for her to write, the kind of book she writes, is a sense of History, to connect and understand the past. She also finds aesthetic sense is a great essence of a good work of fiction.

“I, of course, want to make sure my story sounds good and realistic so readers are more inclined to read it. Although I consider writing part hobby, it’s always enjoyable to write a story that fits together, and makes a good read. And if readers enjoy the novel, that’s an extra bonus.” - Sharlene

‘Initiated to Kill’ differs from other books because it is part historical, part present day. The continuous flashbacks, and the array of well-researched history, hopefully sets the novel apart.

Annabella Cordova, the main character in her novel is deaf. Because of this, body language and facial expressions are a crucial part of communication. She is a natural ‘lie detector’, so there’s a lot of body language interpretations in the novel.

It is set in Seville, Spain, with the interesting and rather dark history of the location, which fits perfectly with the plot.

Most people that like thrillers are intrigued by Jack the Ripper, and who he really was. In her novel, she explores Patricia Cornwall’s theory that the artist was Jack the Ripper. She not only included his crimes in the novel, but also explored his earlier life, and how he could have become one of the most infamous killers in history.

Additionally, her books allow the reader to learn more about the workings of criminals. That serial killers can appear quite ordinary, literally be walking among us, yet no one really knowing who they actually are. Test what we think we know about people, history and life in general. Are we really free to think for ourselves, act for ourselves?

What do you think?

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sharlene Almond is an author and student living in Auckland, New Zealand. She has studied in a wide range of subjects; however, chose to concentrate on courses designed to learn more about the human psyche.

Having studied in Criminology and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP); in addition to completing a diploma course in body language, enables her to give an authentic feel to her characters, and the crimes committed. Because she has always been fascinated with human psychology, especially criminal psychology, she always includes that element in every book she writes.

She is also a student studying Naturopathy Nutrition, and Body Language. Although she loves writing, she is hoping to eventually start up her own business as a Complementary Health Therapist from home.

She has recently published a New Zealand travel E-book – 'Journey in Little Paradise', to inform travellers of what to expect when they come to New Zealand.

“Initiated to Kill” took her about eight months to research, write and complete the two edits. However, throughout the years, she has done more edits. On average, it usually takes her about eight months or so to write a novel, depending on how much history there is.

HER INSPIRATIONS

I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head, in which I put in a notebook for future novels. Writing enables me to create another world, and get immersed in that world.

It also enables me to learn about a large range of subjects, locations, facts and people that I otherwise might not have researched about if I wasn’t writing about it.

I feel that everyone has natural skills and abilities, it’s just finding those natural skills. Writing seems to come naturally to me. It isn’t a chore, thoughts flow out through my fingers onto the computer. So, because I enjoy writing, that is my main inspiration to write.

HER CHALLENGES

The biggest challenge in writing for me is actually the editing part. The first draft tends to flow out quite easily. However, when I start editing the novel, that’s when major changes take place. And I like to make sure that not only is the punctuation, spelling etc. are taken care of, also ensuring everything else is coherent.

During the second and third drafts, I rewrite a lot to make sure there’s not too much detail, but enough detail to make sure a clear image is created. That the characters and their traits are consistent, believable and relatable. That’s when I believe the true ‘magic’ happens. The re-writing process brings the story alive.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

Each quote gives the reader a clear idea of what to expect from the novel – the significance of the poker and the heart, how the Four Seasons painting connects with the story, and the last quote takes the reader back to 19th century London.

All quotes allowing a glimpse into the sinister plot of Initiated to Kill.

THE STORY

Two men from two different generations, both initiated into a powerful organization that throughout history has sought control and uses their power for destruction. They leave behind a wake of murder, manipulation and ancient secrets. The first man wreaks havoc in and around the Whitechapel district of London, England in the 19th century. While the other stalks his victims in the cosmopolitan city of Seville, Spain in the 21st century; knowing that only he could uncover the true motives of one of the world's most infamous serial killers—Jack the Ripper.

______

Sharlene says that there is no favorite spot of writing for her but prefer to write at home with silence as her company, in order for her to get fully immersed into the fictional world she writes about. When I asked her, if should would stop writing for some reason or the other, she says that she wouldn’t stop writing. Even if some one close to her asked to stop writing she would not as anyone that truly cared for her would know how much she enjoys writing. It is an artistic release of so many of the ideas and thoughts that keep cropping up in her head.

“If I didn’t have that release to write, I would probably go crazy.” - Sharlene

However, she has a Plan B, in case she don’t get much income from writing, which I believe is usually the case with so many writers nowadays. In such scenario, she assures me that she is a trained Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and Beauty therapist as well as currently studying Naturopathic Nutrition. Later one she wants to start up her own business from home as a Complementary Health Therapist, so that in her spare time, she can still write.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SHARLENE

Sharlene's favorite

I’ve got diplomas in a range of topics, including: Beauty Therapy, Pet care, Animal behavior, dog psychology, animal photography, editing and proofreading, Freelance journalism, Criminology, Cognitive Behavioural therapy, body language; and currently studying Naturopathic Nutrition.

Since the age of nine, I have been in and out of hospital because of a muscular condition that I will have for the rest of my life.

Besides from being a writer, the other three professions I had an interest in were nursing, vet nurse and criminal psychologist.

HER FAVORITES

GENRE:

Psychological thrillers

Delving into the mind of the worst of the worst, while revealing the deep wounds of the main characters. They keep me guessing until the very end, and they don’t necessarily tie everything up in a neat package.

Personally, a good psychological thriller is a story of the true workings of any human. Things don’t always work out, you don’t always get what you want, bad stuff happens; however, despite all that, a certain progression of strength in the characters occurs as the story continues.

It’s not about characters that are beautiful, smart, rich or intelligent. Instead, it’s about characters that are deeply, flawed. Because of that, those characters are easier to connect with.

BOOKS:

The Shakespeare Secret by J.L.Carrell is a great take on a psychological thriller, combined with the historical aspect, similar to my own.

Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson is another psychological thriller whose characters care carefully developed and progressed throughout the book

TO BUY HER BOOK ‘INITIATED TO KIL’ AT AMAZON CLICK HERE

Sharlene has also written a New Zealand travel E-book called ‘Journey in Little Paradise'. Click hereto buy.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

"Shadow in the Mirror" by Deepti Menon "Throne of Lies" by Sara Secora

_________________

“Peril never shined so bright.” - says Sara Secora, Author of “Throne of Lies”

‘Throne of Lies’ is written by Sara Secora of Michigan - USA. She is a well branded Voice Over artist, who has turned her talents to the arduous task of authoring a fantasy trilogy. I usually don’t write about YA / Romance / Fantasy books but as I interacted with her for this SPOTLIGHT, I realised behind the seemingly carefree, fun loving façade, lies a passionate young girl who is taking life on her own terms. And that makes for a life wholly lived, which most of us usually forget to. Being a new author, she is fighting her way through unrelenting market of millions of authors of varying degree of talent, to which I could relate very well relate. So here I am, talking about her and her book, which I find rather interesting, hope you will like it too.

The story is based on the protagonist, 17 years old Princess Amethysta Serelle, who finds the royal life cumbersome. Even her mother conceals Amethysta’s mystifying secret from every one including her as well. As the story progress, she is driven to find some answers, which lead to a journey, littered with loss and heartache, while chaos lies in wait.

“I saw beyond his attractively manufactured shell all the way down to the blackness that consumed his rotting heart. I wondered how long ago his soul had fled, for I was sure he had lost it.” - Sara Secora

She says that her real life usually seeps into writing. The above lines were result of her personal struggle to cope up with a failed relationship. Even her love for visual art and passion for written words crops up quite often in the book.

“I found something phenomenal about turning blank parchment into a story without even so much as a single word. Words were fascinating—no one needed to tell me that—but art held a silent strength, one that surpassed all language barriers. Nothing else quite compares to it. Such raw power was born with the creation of breathtaking imagery that you can only dream of—a space where surrealism and reality collided, blending into a perfectly executed vision.” - From ‘Throne of Lies’

She says her story has a purpose in its creation. To tell the tale of a girl that transitions not only into womanhood, but also into herself. This coming of age story has a twist that makes it unlike any other and can resonate with those who read it. Another reason for her to write this Trilogy is to have an impact on someone, somewhere.

“Even if it’s just one person, I want my story to stick with them and be something special” - Sara Secora

And as I read on, I believe she has found one in me with one of her lines from the book…

“Art ignited passion within me; it awakened my soul and gave me purpose in my bleakest moments.” - Sara Secora

I am sure that if you pick up this interesting book to read, you will find something special for yourself too.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sara Secora has a passion for all things she dubs gamer and nerdy, as evidenced on her YouTube channel, AviGaming. She is also a ‘well-branded’ Voice Over Artist.

Secora has turned her talents to the arduous task of authoring an exciting fantasy trilogy. Her stories are full of magic, humanity, and insight—destined to intrigue readers of any age.

Secora lives in Detroit, Michigan, where she continues to explore old and new avenues for her talent and hard work.

HER INSPIRATIONS

My desire to write stems from joy. It’s exciting to create a world, characters, and story on a blank page. I am a huge fan of creative expression and I think novels are perfect for that.

HER CHALLENGES

Money. I had no idea how expensive editors were and all the costs that went with it. I am not trying to make money off this as much as I am just trying to establish myself and my story in the literary world.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

“His lips curled in that sneer I detested. I knew better than to trust that smile; nothing but lies and deceit poured from those lips. His eyes twinkled charmingly, but I saw the truth—they were laced with menace.”

THRONE OF LIES - THE STORY

CHECK OUT THE BOOK TRAILER ABOVE....

As a seventeen-year-old ruler chafing under the obligations of her bloodline, Princess Amethysta Serelle finds the royal life anything but enchanting.

With the realm of Vataenya divided by intolerance, and stained by a veiled and violent past, none take kindly to those who are different. For Amethysta's sake, her mother must conceal her daughter's mystifying secret from all - including from Amethysta herself.

Driven to her wit's end, Amethysta sets out on an unrelenting search for answers that will leave her teetering on the very edge of anguish and strife. With each harrowing turn, Amethysta encounters devastating loss, uncovers the mortifying unknown, and comes face to face with the calamitous heartache that awaits her.

She struggles for control as her once unquestioned reality is obliterated. All the while, an enigmatic blue glow sleeps below the surface, ready to unfold a world of chaos.

______

Sara says if someone told her to stop writing then she would likely not be his or her friend. That is a very negative thing to say to anyone who aspires to better his or her writing. She adds that she is an artist in many ways like doing voice over, youtuber, gamer etc. but writing gives her a creative expanse, where she is able to create a world, characters and stories that provides her with a creative surge that excites her.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SARA

I am a voice actress, youtuber, and creative soul.

I am working on book two of my trilogy, in addition to two other novels.

…and finally getting over some fears.

HER FAVORITES

GENRE: Fantasy and young adult.

BOOKS:

Alice in Wonderland- I have a large Alice tattoo on my left forearm to prove Alice is among my all-time favorites. I admire Lewis’s whimsical style and otherworldly take on things. It’s a strong influence to me and my writing.

Stardust- My favorite book turned movie. Neil Gaiman is a legend with the most whimsical and profound writing of this generation. The man’s writing talents know no bounds.

Harry Potter - Admittedly I am not the biggest Potter fan, but I do have the utmost respect for Jk Rowling and her story to success. Her story has been a big motivator for me as I take my own author journey.

Lord of the Rings - As a fantasy writer it only feels fitting that I mention this iconic title. The sheer girth of the story and the immense detail is one that can rarely be matched. I aim to bring even an ounce of this quality to my writing.

The Hollows - This series has really influenced me to write my story in first-person. I found Harrison’s story was fueled by the personal connection between the reader and the main character. It was something special that kept me hooked throughout the series.

TO BUY HER BOOK ‘THRONE OF LIES’ CLICK HERE.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Initiated to Kill by Sharlene Almond

“Never ever have an Encounter with Unknown.” - says Rajiv Bakshi, Author of “Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara”

‘Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara’ by Rajiv Bakshi from Punjab - India, who was a banker before the writing bug hit him with full force. Just after retirement he decided to pen down his memoirs of 35 years, which was a unique journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara. The story is based on the events around his banking life. He says that the biggest challenge in writing this collection of memoirs was how to pen down his memories, spanning decades. It took him more than one year to edit his book. All the 20 stories were edited more than 5 or 6 times to make them readable. The grammatical mistakes & spelling errors consumed a lot of time to rectify. But to see his book in print was a dream, not only his but also of his family, so he followed his passion with diligence and perseverance. And here is the result. Hope you like it too, like many others who have…

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

On the day of his Retirement as Senior Manager of Punjab & Sind Bank, Rajiv Bakshi decided all of a sudden to pen down his memoirs of 35 years starting from Guwahati in North Eastern India to Machhiwara a historical place in Ludhiana District. He started writing about diverse happenings, places & events revolving around his life and official career as a Banker that affected him substantially. Rajiv showed first signs of creativity when he was 8 and continues to write poems and short stories. His creative interest was seen in full flow, post retirement, when his interest found expression in the form of this Book.

Apart from his interest in writing, travel & Sun Signs he loves to explore different countries and their cuisines.

HIS INSPIRATIONS

The common people I meet in bus, train, airplane and on Journey, inspire me to write. A small incident becomes a plot of my story: which can be comedy, tragedy, wit or humor.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

“Hats off to the husbands for fulfilling the small demands of their wives”

“Can we live without Mobile these days? Think again! May be yes!”

“Life is uncertain, do not take any one for granted, express your love and care for your loved ones often, you never know when will be their last.”

THE STORY

______

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RAJIV

I love to study sun signs. I like to taste cuisines of different cities & countries. I love to travel & make good friends. His ‘Middles’ is published in Tribune and writes stories for magazines like Women’s Era, Alive etc.

RAJIV’S FAVORITE

GENRE: Short Stories, Comedy

BOOKS:

Train to Pakistan by Khuswant Singh for its beautiful description of Partition .

Romeo & Julietby William Shakespeare - The book is full of tragic incidents .

TO BUY HIS BOOK ‘Journey from Guwahati to Macchiwara’ CLICK HERE.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

'Throne of Lies' by Sara Secora Broken Shadows by Tarek Refaat

As the year 2016 comes to an end, sharing this last edition of the year, which has the regular features like some great books, some thoughts and Creative people of Chennai in Chennai Colors. However as the year was coming to an end, I started a new section, “SPOTLIGHT’. This is my small effort to support upcoming authors in their effort to reach their readers. And yes, it is FREE, however to be featured in this section, you need to go through a selection process, please click here for details. Now here is what this last edition of the year contains…

A: THOUGHTS

The Purpose - Language has the power to changeyou...!

As I started speaking in public forums, after my first book Songs of the Mist's publication, I realise how hard it is to speak from the podium. But believe me, talking to people who have just come to listen to you, leaving their far more important work at home or office. They do expect you to give them something to think, make it worth their while as you come up on stage....

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

B: READER

The English Teacher by R K Narayan

Some times some books chose you rather than you choosing them to read. In the three years that I have been reading some lovely books through our 'Sans Serif book club' initiative, this book connected with me at deeper level. The tentative steps taken by R K Narayan - one of the Indian pioneers of writing in English, is endearing and courageous.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

'The Days of Abandonment' by Elena Ferrante

“Women without love lose the light in their eyes, women without love die while they are still alive. “ - Elena Ferrante in her book 'The Days of Abandonment'. Now that I guess will give you a little idea what kind of suffering the book painted as our Sans Serif Book club members plunged into reading. It is so intense that you feel like skipping those painful pages, which was quite difficult for me as I don’t like to leave even one word unread.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

C: WORKSHOPS

Writing Fiction - Why people write?

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

"How to Become a Best Seller"

The agenda of my talk was to get the aspiring author to understand what goes on behind making a best seller and how a budding writer can work on the ideas to get to the top. And here are the main points from the workshop.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

CHENNAI COLORS

N Lingusamy - Haiku Writer, Director and Producerof Tamil Movies

When the famous Tamil Movies director, producer and scriptwriter N Lingusamy called me to meet, I was sure that it would be a short curtsy visit to discuss our mutual passion of writing Haiku. But as the day went by, I realised that its going to take some time. He has a disarming charm that makes the words flow and time moved on swiftly.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

SPOTLIGHT:

‘Throne of Lies’ by Sara Secora - Young Adult& Fantasy Fiction

Sara Secora is a well-branded Voice Over artist, who has turned her talents to the arduous task of authoring a fantasy trilogy. I usually don’t write about YA / Romance / Fantasy books but as I interacted with her for this SPOTLIGHT, I realised behind the seemingly carefree, fun loving façade, lies a passionate young girl who is taking life on her own terms.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

‘Initiated to Kill’ by Sharlene Almond -Psychological Thriller

A psychological thriller that is partly based on a true story; combined with conspiracy and a deaf art student. It is a story about a deaf art student’s past, which unveils a 19th century conspiracy about the identity of Jack the Ripper.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

"Shadow in the Mirror" by Deepti Menon -A Psychological Thriller

A cliff-hanger in which myriad lives come together. Here, as you read on, you will find many eras colliding, as they are all connected by threads in a tapestry that needs to be unraveled, one thread at a time,

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

‘Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara’ by RajivBakshi - Memoirs

The author isfrom Punjab - India, who was a banker before the writing bug hit him with full force. Just after retirement he decided to pen down his memoirs of 35 years, which was a unique journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

MISCELLENIA

"Being Sattvaa" - What to look for if youare planning A Writer's Retreat

“For masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the out come of many years of thinking....” says Virginia Woolf and in my opinion, to put that body of thinking, in a common voice, one needs a space where the thoughts and ideas can freely flow...

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

TEDx Chennai - ERASING THE BOX

It is not our experiences that got our species to the top position on the evolution scale. We are there because of the innovative way we have responded to our given situation over the millennia. And that’s the essence of this year’s theme of TEDx Chennai, “Erasing the Box”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

I hope you have liked this last edition of the year 2016. Wish you all a very happy and prosperous year 2017. Please do let me know if you have any queries or question. Please do leave a comment as well.

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

37th Edition

_________
“It wouldn’t be long until he joined the ‘rats’ trapped in their chaotic mazes.” - says Tarek Refaat, Author of “BrokenShadows”

From a young age, Tarek Refaat, my author friend from Cairo - Egypt, has been fond of writing. He firmly believed that every book is essence of the author. In his latest book “Broken Shadows” he is trying to discover uncharted territory - an adventure, an attempt to discover a new genre and writing style. As I discussed with him, he agrees like most of the authors, he is also into writing for his personal satisfaction but even more than that he inclines more towards his aesthetic enthusiasm. He says that criticism of his work does not stop him from writing but go back to it and see what made the particular person to say so. He says his writing has evolved due to these reviews and looking back.

Tarek does not write at a specific spot for due to the nature of his work (IT) as well as regular day-to-day responsibilities, but then he does begin to write whenever he is inspired. He says that last time the muse appeared on his flight back from Morocco.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tarek Refaat, an Egyptian author who’s life was split between Egypt and Saudi Arabia until the age of 22, who works in the Information Technology domain, began his writing career with the launch of his first book back in 2011 “Ruptured” which was published via Egyptian publishing house ‘Shabab Books’. Tarek’s books mainly evolved around female antagonists and that’s not quite the norm, especially that Ruptured tackled the issue of rape even though from a different angle than the usual. Tarek then self-published his second book “Ribbons & Heels” in 2013, which was about 4 women who each journeys through her own set of circumstances. Tarek Has recently published "Broken Shadows" via Red Sands publishing. Currently he has another project WIP and is aiming to finish it by end of 2017.

INSPIRATIONS

From a very young age as a child, Tarek has been fond of writing.

“The sheer capacity to put my thoughts down into words fascinated me and has always been a drive, I believe I have a story to tell and that I hope it will bring readers some sort of joy in reading my work.” - Tarek Refaat

CHALLENGES

‘Broken Shadows’ was a completely different genre to which he was not familiar so trying to find the right words and trying to find the right descriptions was quite a challenge for him.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

“Would he still love me if he were to know I’m a spy?” - this part of the story was quite important, how is it possible for a regular person to try to absorb that their lover is a spy! That moment where Heidi asks herself this question to which she has no answer.

“Get myself together? How would you feel if you were in my shoes?” I was being shot at in my home. Now we’re being chased by two choppers while in a running car, and all we have is a freaking pistol you say you’ll take care of them with. How am I not supposed to freak out?” – This part really got to me while it seems silly but the fact of imagining the regular civilian who has no expertise what so ever, specially being a man, which is not quite the nature, seeing the roles switched was quite intriguing for me.

“So . . .” Ashraf said. “This is my opportunity to do everything I ever wanted to do to you. You have nowhere to go, dear. It’s just you and me. And my men, of course.” - It reflected the darkness inside Ashraf and his desire to destroy Heidi

THE STORY

Broken hearts and dark shadows, will love ever find its way back to them? Fifteen years ago, Heidi Aasar fled the country, hoping to make sense of the chaos that surrounded her. A burned ex-operative, she refuses to continue hiding in the shadows. She now has the chance to right the wrongs of her dark past. Determined to find a way to redeem herself, she must first fix the loose threads she left behind so long ago. A successful business owner, Nadim Mohamed Sharaf has done his best to move on after his heart was broken fifteen years ago. In his mind, he has everything he could ever want or need at his fingertips. Until the moment Heidi makes a sudden reappearance in his life. It’s then everything around him changes. A chain reaction of events soon turns Nadim and Heidi’s lives upside-down. Forced to confront the turmoil brewing between them, they must put aside their differences if they are to survive another day. The choices they’ll have to make will define the outcome of the lives they lead. Will they be able to overcome their painful and chaotic past? Or will the pain and heartache consume them in the long run?
______

Tarek is currently working on a new novel, which is different than all his previous novels, as the protagonist is a man and not a woman, however he says there will be a strong character female that will appear in this adventure.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TAREK

He is an Egyptian, born and lived in Saudi Arabia till he was 6,

He speaks Arabic, English and French.

He is part Egyptian, Russian, Arabian and Turkish.

Loves history and loves to travel and visit museums, and have traveled to more than 14 countries.

TWO BIG THINGS OF HIS LIFE

His first biggest achievement was when he convinced his wife to marry him.

Second challenge for him is managing to be driven by passion in a time driven by greed.

HIS FAVORITES

GENRE: Historical and Sci-Fi

BOOKS:

Reach for the Sky

Fly for your life

TO BUY HIS BOOK‘BROKEN SHADOWS’ CLICK HERE.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

'Throne of Lies' by Sara Secora 'TJ's Summer in Cape Cod' - Garfield Whyte

_________

“Staring is different from admiration. You stare at something that looks odd, but when I see a gem, there’s cause for admiration.” - says Garfield Whyte, Author of “TJ’s Last Summerin Cape Cod”

The book is about a sexy summers age of growing up and falling in love as the author of the book, Garfield Whyte defines it in one sentence. Garfield is from Jamaica - West Indies and as I interacted with him, he reiterated that the book was written to make adult readers want to feel 18 again. The book has a youthful theme that takes us back to our teenage years and cause us to laugh at ourselves. As he finished writing the book, he has enjoyed the sense of satisfaction of seeing his words on paper and likes the feeling the commendations he receives from readers.

When asked, if some one tells him to stop writing…

“Persons who know me well cannot be a stumbling block in my way. I would simply ignore them and keep writing; I am my own motivating force and my own source of inspiration. I am too focused and goal oriented to be distracted or derailed in my pursuits.” - Garfield Whyte

BRIEF NOTE BY THE AUTHOR

I’m a lawyer who is gradually trying to make a career change as I find law mundane and boring. Writing has always been something I enjoyed, which started with my love for writing poetry. Having qualified for three degrees, one day I told myself that I was tired of reading books written by other persons. Eventually, I took on the challenge of writing my own books. Law pays my bills for now, so I can only find time to write at nights.

As a passionate environmentalist, I visit the hills regularly as I find it therapeutic and also look forward to the inspiration it provides.

Through discipline and strict time management I was able to write; Feelings an environmental photography and poetry book well as the recently completed Nostalgia from: A City Set Upon a Hill, my memoir about life at Munro College in Jamaica, my all- boys’ boarding high school, one of Jamaica’s most prestigious citadels of learning.

I have many readers asking when or if I will be doing a sequel to that novel. My main goal now is to have it adapted into a screenplay or a movie series. For the past few months I have been engaged in dialogues with top screenwriters to do that for me.

I am also shopping around two screenplays that I have written entitled Nostalgia about life at my boys boarding high school and the complimentary script girls’ for it entitled: Meet The MGGM Posse (Must Get a Good Man).

HIS INSPIRATIONS

Self-actualization. Following Maslow’s theory, I think I have accomplished most things; so writing motivates me a lot.

HIS CHALLENGES

Writing was fun, not a challenge at all. I was doing what I always wanted to do to finally become an author. All along I have been reading books by other writers, it was time for me to have other persons read my work.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

‘We’re going to sleep together tonight, Cutie pie. Rest your head on my chest.”

“That girl lit a fire of desire in me that not even all the water in the Atlantic Ocean could quench.”

“If you’d been wearing rags today, I would have picked you out of the crowd,” Kaci said, stroking his ego.”

THE STORY

Meet Taj James (aka TJ), an 18-year-old high school basketball star; Maggie, his naïve friend; his Spanish teacher from Venezuela; Susan, an old flame; and a few girls that TJ refuses after he meets Maggie until he crosses paths with a 18-year-old girl on his jogging trail by the lake. Initially, she shows no interest in him, but since TJ gets what TJ wants, he charms his way into her grandmother’s heart to be close to Sye.

TJ was groomed by Uncle Peter to be everything he had wanted to be when he was a teenager. He tried to make TJ his protégé and in so doing this relationship was validating the youth in Uncle Peter allowing him to fan the flames of his philandering lifestyle? TJ’s loyalty was always on his Uncle Peter’s side while his parents, girlfriend and admirers were always playing second fiddle.

This unique bond between an uncle and a nephew gives telepathy a new meaning, until an inadvertent colossal error on TJ’s part finally brings all that had been kept in the dark to light. This put a rift in his uncle’s solid marriage and made his mom finally feel vindicated.

As things started falling apart as the curtains were being drawn on this summer, TJ badly wanted to get away from Cape Cod, fortunately for him it was time to leave to take up his basketball scholarship. In the end it was an uncle left behind to pay the price for the mistake of his nephew.

TJ’s Last Summer in Cape Cod is bold, suspenseful, rude, sexy, provocative and unpredictable, and is sure to have all adults wishing they were 18 again.

______

Garfield says that before he writes, he goes for jogging or nature walk to gather his thoughts and then sit by his computer desk and unleash the words. He took almost 5 months to write the first draft of his book.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT GARFIELD

1) I worked full time while I did my 3 degrees,

2) I also write screenplays,

3) I am a tennis and basketball fanatic

4) I have a passion for the environment

5) I started writing poetry from High School and now have a poetry book, a novel and a memoir published.

HIS FAVORITES

GENRE: Thriller

BOOKS:

Rage of Angels and The Sands of Time by Sidney Sheldon. The former had to do with a lawyer’s resilience which I can identify with. The latter was more than a surprise as the title has nothing to do with the actual story.

TO BUY HIS BOOK‘TJ’S LAST SUMMER IN CAPE COD’ CLICK HERE.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Broken Shadows by Tarek Refaat "Through Mind's Eye" by J P Willson

_________

“The entire premise of living your life to this set of guidelines is just plain idiotic.” - says J.P. Willson, Author of “Through the Mind’s Eye”

My author friend, J.P. Willson, from Canada, suffered with alcoholism for 3 decades which broke him into pieces, but he never let go of the life that had been given and fought on. The experience made him to rethink about life and the way of living and finally got him enough courage to share his story. Simply stated- he wanted to help as many others as possible. This was his purpose and drive for writing. He wanted to help.

“The book ‘Through the Mind’s Eye is the essence of the recovery process.” - J. P. Willson

But also enjoys writing for its therapeutic value and the pleasure he gets out of it. If some one, whom he admires, respects and love tells him to stop writing, he says, probably he would and continue to his day job but then adds, tongue in cheek - does writing cookbook counts?

He like just a peaceful place of solitude for writing where he can be alone with the menagerie of his thought going on in his mind.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.P. Willson is a writer and chef living on the western coast of Canada. Growing up as the shy, quiet child in a large middle-class family, he has always been an observer, a thinker, and a wonderer. He has worked as a Red Seal chef for twenty-five years, and is highly skilled in his trade. However, despite his accomplishments, his life has not been easy. J.P. struggled with alcoholism for nearly thirty years, which resulted in homelessness, unemployment, loneliness, and spiralling depression. Having done the soul-searching and continuing work required for recovery, J.P. decided to share his experience and knowledge to help others along their own journeys. Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery is his first publication. J.P. is deeply grateful for the love and support of his family, counsellors, and friends.

HIS INSPIRATIONS

I think for me the biggest inspiration is just everyday life as I do prefer non-fiction as the mainstay genre of my writing. I write about things I know, things that I am involved with or have been a part of throughout my life.

CHALLENGES

From Other Book Cover

The biggest challenge was not so much in the writing of the piece but in taking all the information already formatted in snippets here and there, then having it all come together as one piece of literature that flowed and made sense to the reader. That was the difficult part, being as touchy a subject as addiction is, to format in such a way as it was an easy read, yet at the same time to not offend or accuse anyone that was simply looking for help, which was the initial intent of the book- to help others.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

“so if becoming a Christian or a Muslim or a Member of the Spaghetti-Wearing Ding-Dongs of Alberta is not your cup of tea, fear not. It’s okay.”

“The self-realization of our presence on mind-exactly what it is we are doing and saying, and furthermore, trying to accomplish in the present-will take us much further in our future.”

“I see a connection- in stripping something down to its core-taking its bare bones structure, the parts that are seemingly tried and true- and re-inventing them from the ground up.”

THE STORY

Author's Sister with the Book

Depression, self-loathing, unemployment, and destroyed relationships: the effects of drug and alcohol addiction run so much deeper than the morning-after hangover. However, awareness alone will not save the struggling addict, as J.P. Willson reveals in his fearless examination of substance dependency; recovery means doing the mental and emotional work to look inside oneself and discover a way to live as a sober, fulfilled individual in an often challenging world.

Through theMind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery is a thought-provoking and honest examination of the emotional, psychological, and physical ways someone must enact their own healing. As a former alcoholic, Willson courageously shares his own story of addiction, as well the ups and downs he experienced along the road to recovery. Packed with astonishing insights about our culture’s relationship to alcohol, as well as the lies we tell ourselves in order to keep using, this book will change the way you view addiction. Willson has no qualms about telling the reader how difficult recovery is—and how there is no quick cure-all—but his compassionate, candid reflections help foster the knowledge and will to change.

______

When I asked him about the time taken to write the book, he says…

“When all is said, and done the actual sitting down and writing the main content was six weeks. To complete the book to the stage for publication was much longer, editing and cover design and more editing, and then some editing. Including all the journaling from which a large part of the book is derived would be somewhere around two years.”

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT J. P. WIllson

Author's Desk

I am a published author yet at the tender age of fifty-one, I just graduated from high school last month-November 2016, that’s interesting. I am also a Red Seal chef and have been for twenty-five years this year. Having said that, the largest catering event I have been a part of was for 6000 guests.

TWO BIG THINGS OF HIS LIFE

One of the Author's Daughter

1. The single biggest achievement in my life would have to be the birth of my daughter hands down. Of course, I was not the one giving birth; it really is what happens after the birth that is the achievement. Raising a child is the most rewarding experience there is.

2. The second biggest achievement is my sobriety, which is what this book is about, achieving the sobriety and continuing that accomplishment for the rest of my days.

HIS FAVOURITES

GENRE: Biography, Memoirs, History

BOOKS:

I am also a huge Stephen King fan yet not in the sense of horror as the genre like most. I am also very partial to the likes of Sue Grafton and Kathy Reichs, not only for the story-telling by the pair of them but also from a scientific perspective in regards to Kathy Reichs. To pick just one I think would be inherently wrong, especially as a writer.

Two of my favorite books would have to be…

The diary of Anne Frank

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

TO BUY HIS BOOK Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery’ by J.P. Willson … CLICK HERE.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

'TJ's Last Summer in Cape Cod' "Seven Eleven Forgotten'
- Garfield Whyte - By Barnaby Hazen

_________

“Pithy modernity entrenched in romantic agony” - says Barnaby Hazen, about his book ‘SevenEleven Forgotten and Other Stories’

My author friend, Barnaby Hazen’s “Seven Eleven Forgotten and Other Stories” takes a theme, namely convenience stores, and pushes the limits of perspective on that same theme. It is also an experimental, modern reference back to classic existential literature in the way of style and mood. And he asks, “Is that enough purpose for a book to be published?’ in answer to my question about the purpose of his book.

“If a book can be published for making people laugh, stimulating them sexually and/or emotionally, keeping them guessing about the nature of a crime, or any of these other more popular themes, then why shouldn’t the contemporary reader also be exposed to nihilism in romantic agony?” - Barnaby Hazen

Yes, it is a fact in this world, that alienation still drives people to insanity, and so why not tell such a story in his own way? And I am glad that he tried doing that as it makes it all interesting read. He also believes the quantum, or parallel universe element found in the title story, Seven Eleven Forgotten, is worth exploring in modern times. Which I did in my own way in my way, through Vedic Philosophy of Karma Yoga, contrasting Science with Vedic spirituality in my own book “Songs of the Mist” so I could relate to this book at a deeper level.

“Biographically speaking, I have found many times that moments of my life did not add up logically, and this makes me feel it’s worth taking a character through such an experience in order to bring just that feeling to the reader—that it doesn’t add up—while the character, Alex in this case, seeks desperately to make sense of it, hopefully right along with the reader. I believe it’s worth giving the reader experiences, or feelings I have had—even if the story behind those feelings is not my own—whatever it takes to bring these feelings to life.” - Barnaby Hazen

He says that his aesthetic enthusiasm is an extra-ordinarily powerful force in his writing, and his life. He believes this is because his tastes are so far from the mainstream, for the most part. Barnaby is also very passionate about writing and music. He takes it as a mission to put forth art reflecting his own tastes. He believes that it has more to do with his faith in the idea that his aesthetic values are strong and unique, and that there is a reason for them to pour out of himself as they do.

Historical impulse behind his purpose to write:

“It seems worthwhile to me to expose people to a genre of literature that goes against the popular tide today, and referring to the frontiers of existentialism, such as Dostoyevsky and Sartre, is very much a part of how this book came to be.” - Barnaby Hazen

He believes that he would not stop writing, if someone he respects or loves told him to do so. Maybe he would write secretly, but most people who have managed to stay close to him recognize that it’s not really on the table for him to stop—that it is a necessity to his happiness. This makes me feel that he has tenacity to continue writing and perseverance to come on top of the millions of writers publishing daily.

Barnaby Hazen is also a professional editor, which shows in the book with his fluent language and faultless editing. I enjoyed reading the book, very much and hope you will too.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barnaby Hazen is an author, editor and musician, with two music degrees and many recordings under his belt. Along with his friend Coby, he founded the Seven Eleven Stories periodical in 2014. He also writes and edits an education based journal, The Bud Hawthorne Revue, along with Mr. Hawthorne himself. His first full-length book is out on Amazon: Seven Eleven Forgotten and Other Stories. This book was the founding concept of convenience store fiction.

Barnaby lives with his wife, as well as a turtle, and a cat--and sometimes these grown up and surrogate kids who have decided to continue blessing his life with visits and shenanigans.

HIS INSPIRATIONS

Absolutely anything I come across from day to day might suddenly inspire me to write. Or I might just feel a mood pass over me that wants exploration. I once wrote a piece called “Surfer Siren” because I was watching as a bunch of surfers tried to make the most of what seemed a miserable day of surfing—low waves, just nothing happening out there at all—yet there were all these surfers riding whatever they could, like usually no more than ten yards of nothing. It made me feel bad for them, so I turned it into a story about how this wrecked some poor guy’s marriage--all this because I happened to be staring out at the ocean at a certain time of the day.

Anything can inspire me, it’s just a matter of whether I can construct the feeling to my own satisfaction as an author. If not, the idea never makes it beyond the notepad where I first start scribbling.

HIS CHALLENGES

With Forgotten, I would have to say the rewrite process. I went through this so many times; it was almost as if I was editing a very long prose poem. I was looking to make it lyrical, rather than just a story. I’m not sure why that was, maybe because it was a debut. The book I’m working on now, I am taking a more relaxed attitude toward the narrative. I want it to be accessible to a broad audience, my next book—this first one was more about pleasing myself and like minded readers—those with a similar literary background as mine. But yes, the rewrite process—it was almost like there was a drill sergeant living inside my head, and every time something popped up that wasn’t to my complete satisfaction, it was time to start back at the beginning and with a suspicious eye. It was an extremely inefficient and painful experience, but I was ultimately very happy to have gone through with it.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

“All the while the smells, the industry, the pastries, the meats; the sewage, the cars, the perfumes and the sweat; the taste in one’s mouth mingles with every molecule the nostrils endure and produces something at the back of the throat—a mixture of manic wonder and desperation as such has been tasted maybe twice in one’s life, yet it is so familiar, so familiar to the tongue it has to indicate something regarding one’s destiny—a great change or even death—it has to be just around the corner. But maybe not this corner; maybe the next.”

“‘Alex’s usual air of self-righteousness was somehow stripped bare by the gaze of a man who spoke with a thick Russian accent: “I am officer Strastakovich. You will never find the need to call me by anything different.”’

“…together we are caught in a lost land between the fairytale Eden of some mushroom trip you never quite came down from in 1972, and a paranoid survivalist nightmare you’re waking up to whenever you have another flashback; a nightmare days away from a world where paper money is no longer valued by those apocalyptic zombies tearing down your door to take your pot and my green-tea kombucha”

THE STORY

Seven Eleven Forgotten… is a dark collection of stories, for the most part, taking place in or around convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven. This convenience store theme, or muse for a series of short stories eventually led the author to creating a longer, through story, following a recurring character, Alex Aronovich, from Los Angeles to Moscow. His alcoholic hallucinations are weaved ambiguously in with the real story--or perhaps he has stepped into a place where the laws of logic no longer apply. In any case, he stumbles, again and again, trying to make sense of things any way he can, eventually falling into sometimes funny, sometimes tragic episodes of romantic folly.

Other stories (such as "A TIA for Gia," and "Princess 7") dance eclectically and playfully around the convenience store theme--as a painter's subject used repeatedly, from never the same point of view.

______

When I asked him about the time taken to write the book, he says…

About two years—this because I wasn’t sure what it was at first. I wrote the first few stories during the first year, and started really wondering where it was going. I opened the concept up to other authors, and that’s how the periodical of Seven Eleven Stories began (though this book consists only of stories of mine). When I got about half way through the title story, “Forgotten,” which is really the majority of this book, then I realized the work had grown beyond the theme. It was like a painter had been walking around a 7-Eleven store, drawing sketches, and then suddenly the convenience store was just a tiny spot on the final canvas—but nevertheless, it could not have happened without that theme being central in the first place.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BARNABY HAZEN

I am a professional musician in Taos, New Mexico. This strange little ski resort town is an odd place to try to make a go of it as a musician. I used to teach music in public schools, at the grade school level. I loved the age group and working with those kids but had a hard time with education policy as it stands in the United States right now. My wife Sarah does artwork for my books. We’ve been together I think fourteen years—married eight of those same years. We have a turtle. And a cat.

My next project (Misfortunes of T-Funk) is set for spring of 2017. It is a series about a couple of musicians, set in the near future. It will come with musical recordings built into the eBooks (at least in one format), and I’m very excited about being able to put together my two passions into one project: music and writing. Book 1 is done, but I am putting together a launch plan for April to tie it in with something called “Record store day.” Again, very excited about this next project.

TWO BIG THINGS OF HIS LIFE

I don’t usually talk about it but I am a Sifu in Wing Chun Kung Fu. My martial arts and Qi Gong studies are really about my own personal health and happiness, and teaching is an extension of that to others. But the discipline involved is an undeniable achievement—lifelong.

Also, my musical recordings and compositions. I have mixed feelings about living as a performer now, but if I put together a list of all the songs and compositions I’ve written or co-written, I am indeed very proud of it all.

HIS FAVORITES

GENRE: Existentialist Literature

BOOKS:

The Castleby Franz Kafka: I feel very much at home throughout the journey of this book every step of the way. This is a brilliant depiction of K’s marvelous, tedious battle for a sense of place in the world. It reminds me of my time trying to be a teacher in the current climate—just marveling all the time at the ridiculousness of what is being demanded of me, and all teachers in the system for that matter.

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller: It calls to mind other times in my life, when I was living as a “bottom feeder,” as I referred to it, and writing while otherwise just trying to stay alive. It’s a great book for any artist I think. Goes right to the bone.

TO BUY HIS BOOK, Seven Eleven Forgotten and Other Stories, by Barnaby Hazen … CLICK HERE

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

"Through the Mind's Eye" - J P Willson

HACKING YOUR WAY TO HAPPINESS

As we take tentative steps of living day to day, we forget to realise that without a sense of belongingness, kindness towards all that we have been blessed with and inner flowering of love, it just brings us closer to an end....

We carry the ego, the pride and the pleasures every day as we have not realised the freedom of unburdened living. In our thoughts, we are tied to the ground of small pleasures and achievements in cocoon of our minds, without realising that we have hidden wings under the shell, ready to break free like a butterfly.... and see the beauty of life that is all around in our being...

But then we forget that flying alone is not the freedom, the colors of being but the essence of our soul lies in belonging... in flowers of love.

Because in the end, the reality lies in the nature of love rather than the logic of mind...

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

On Writing Fiction

In the beginning the river Ganges is so swift and fast that nothing much remains same on her way over a period. It carves its way out of the mountains and forests and reaches the sea to submerge. That is the way we begin our life too. In our childhood, we are full of energy and as we reach the end, we become sluggish and powerless.

The all powerful flowing river, Holy Ganges reached the edge of its journey, ready to merge with the eternal sea, and as the silt rises from all sides to block its path, an indestructible Peepul tree reaches out to hold her hands with a promise of a renewed life...

THE SONG

_____

The roots above sway

Leaves and branches flowing down

Life whispers soft hymns

A rustling inner

Silence flows; eternity

Stillness falls; being.

Beginning less end

An Endless beginning,

Seeds Nature, self of tree

O! Ganga, flow and

You are. Karmic barriers

Not being is fall

Wait! The endless drops

Your flowing

Nature, uplift

Friend, friend of being

And when you arrive

Eternity of silence,

Withdraw like tortoise

Close all the senses

Hold your mind on untouched breath

Calm eternity

The waves upon waves

Illusion flickering dreams

Desire, Anger storm

Destruction begins

Difference lies in the end

Flowing red bloodstreams

A deep sigh; calm mind

Strip desires to its dry bones

And the rotting flesh

Burning your passions,

Fire and ashes merge into

An Eternal peace

O! Ganga, Ocean

Will merge in your being

Om! Om! Echoes of peace
____
(From Songs of the Mist - Page 10)

THE STORY:

“The sluggish river, as it brings all the mud of its karma over the life lived, which inhibits its merging with the eternal sea. The silence is attained in the end, before another journey begins; the stillness of being at the precipice of another fall or rise, an endless beginning, where our nature itself is the seed for another tree or another river to burst forth.

But the Holy Ganges is in doubts, to which it says, that flowing is your being, so flow over the karmic barriers that hinders your emergence into a different space, because if you don’t, then you don’t exist.

So you see, son, it’s our duty to do what we are destined to do in life, and do it despite obstacles and doubts. It is our nature to be and do and it is our inner self that lifts us up after a fall as a friend does. Now when you cross the barriers, you must withdraw your ego, senses, and desires; to continue what you have been doing, surrender to the sea, withdrawing all that was there around you, within you as the tortoise does. Just be in the silence of being, and merge in the eternity that is around you. And the eternal sea will, wave upon wave, change your individual self into universal consciousness.

Death is not the destruction of your body or the flowing stream, but the merging of your dreams, desires, sorrow, and anger into an eternal calm—a deep sigh that echoes an eternal calm of eternity. O Ganga! That is OM.”

- The Monk in “Songs of the Mist” (Page 35)

TO KNOW MORE ABOUT 'THE MONK KEY' CLICK HERE...

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

On Writing Fiction

______

“Mukuyu Tree’s roots have witnessed our generations and we have grown from its fruit. They do not realize they are cutting off the limbs of their sisters and brothers.” - says Renée Topper in ‘PIGMENT - The Limbs ofthe Mukuyu Tree’

My friend Renée Topper’s “PIGMENT - The Limbs of the Mukuyu Tree” is a story about a father, who races to save his daughter from darkness in a foreign land and finds himself along the way.

Topper wrote Pigment in the hopes of drawing more awareness around the plight of those targeted and harmed because of the lack of color in their skin in Africa; and also in an effort to understand this aspect of the human condition. How can it be in this day and age that children are believed to be ghosts and as such are hunted? What people are so desperate that they make a currency of their children?

“I did much research in trying to understand how this situation came about. It is rather recent and happening in a democratic society and therefore all the more intriguing.” - RenéeTopper

Pigment is an exceptionally political story due to the subject matter, location, environment, characters, actions and more. The majority of the story is intentionally set where humanity’s roots are traced too. It is the source. And it is surrounded by turmoil across borders and people fleeing into the country as refugees. It is the richest land in resources and yet there is much lack of transparency and suffering for the gain of a few.

The Sanctuary

This story is an exploration of the true human condition; one point of view of who, what, where, why and how; a first world perspective of problems in a third world caused in large part by the first worlds.

She loves to go to a local café to write if she is in town, as they play heavy metal music, which she says forces her to hyper-focus on her work. Otherwise, she writes at a secluded cabin where she won’t see people for miles or days, just birds, bobcats and coyote.

Her sanctuary is the backyard of a studio she loves to create in. She writes better when she also exercises other parts of her brain. Those are some of her paintings drying on the table in the back.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Topper is a storyteller. She’s crafted for the big screen, the little screen, the stage, in speeches, press, marketing and advertising communications. PIGMENT is her first foray into the novel format. As well as being an accomplished writer, she is also a producer. She is especially compelled to create and share stories that examine the human condition.

She is working on about 4 projects at the moment. The next one will be her second novel. A detective thriller, which is set primarily in Los Angeles. There is also a potential sequel to PIGMENT germinating in her story idea box.

HER INSPIRATIONS

Stories: Especially stories that explore the human condition; stories that take me somewhere I’ve never been before, but that are still familiar. I love to create worlds and get lost in them for a while. There is a freedom of flying that I relish and don’t always get to experience in my non-writing life. I often meditate and compelling concepts come from source.
Nature: I saw this tree on a morning hike on a break from a near-final edit of PIGMENT in the mountains in Idyllwild, California. The roots captivated me when I came upon it. I had just reread the chapter on the Mukuyu Tree.

HER CHALLENGES

I didn’t want to commit to the antagonist. It’s hard to make a bad guy out of something that is so big, ominous, obtuse and real. But I needed a symbol for all that in the shape of someone that could interact in the story.

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

She steps back but stands tall, sizing up the ridiculous height of this monolithic black building. The gotham-style architecture, the deliberate flared nostrils carved into the cladding, she sees that she is now face-to-face with the dragon. If Herr Teigen had his way, she would go. But she’s staying. He knows more about what happened to Kennen and the American Albino Aliya, and she is determined to find out what, especially now.

***
She released the cloth, and it sunk into the dark pool. She gently put her soft wet fingers under my chin and brought my face to hers, so we were eye-to-eye. “You are beautiful the color you are.”

“But I don’t have any color. That’s what the kids say.”

She scrubbed hard, as if she could reach the kids voices in my head and scrub them away too. But no one could get them out. She poured water over my head and washed me clean.

***

The moon hangs full-bodied and low, well past its nightly peak, flicking glimpses of figures emerging from the thickest black. Drums beat rampant, the pulse to the attack. White. Black. White. Black. Blacks powdered white, white power, in the night. Ghosts with blades drawn and led by the Creepy Man in white face. They encroach upon the Mukuyu.

THE STORY

In real life in parts of Africa, people who are born albino -- without pigment melanin in their skin -- are believed to be magic and so are hunted by witchdoctors for their body parts to be used in black magic potions and worse. In this fictional tale, a young albino American woman, Aliya, volunteers and helps children in Tanzania, but it is revealed in time that she is also an activist, involved in actions to draw attention to and stop the atrocities facing albino people. She goes missing and her father, Jalil, a retired special ops and private securities contractor, hurries to her rescue. As he follows her trail, he learns more about the plight of albinos and the root cause of the demand and all the troubles in this third world. He learns much more about his daughter and surroundings through the people she knew and other mysterious characters he meets on the trail: Kennen the young Irishman who works with her at the orphanage, the African political activist Rhadi, Fahamu the sorceress, Bui Bui the witchdoctor, Delilah the orphanage house mom, Rolf an old comrade of Jalil's from Sweden, Luamke the magistrate, Akida the local police chief, Fiona the stubborn Irish civil rights attorney and big sister to Kennen, and the Elder who sits and watches under the old Mukuyu Tree. While in pursuit, Jalil is also faced with his own issues of color and haunted by his past as he is running out of time to save Aliya from the darkness that has taken her -- from the depths of Africa all the way to Germany. There he comes face-to-face with the evil that covets his daughter for her skin.

______

When I asked her about the time taken to write the book, she says…

"I first read an article in BBC on the plight in 2009. I was finishing up another project at the time and so put it in my story idea box. I put a lot of story ideas in there. The ones that don’t let me go, that keep calling me back to them get taken back out of the box and start sounding out and plotting. I always work on many projects at once. The one closest to being finished gets the most attention. I was also unsure if Pigment would be a screenplay or a book at first, so I wrote both versions. The first draft of the novel was completed in 2014. But I changed it significantly since then, through to the beginning of this year." - Renée Topper

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RENÉE TOPPER

The most interesting thing about her is that her stories are more interesting. Well, that makes up for a good writer, which she absolutely is.

TWO BIG THINGS OF HER LIFE

I made it past 25.

I’m persistent if not consistent.

HER FAVORITES

GENRE: Fiction (both realistic and non-realistic)

BOOKS:

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran – For its truth and pure beauty

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold – For its interplay between two worlds, the perspectives of the characters in each, and not to mention the emotional pull

TO BUY THE BOOK “PIGMENT - The Limbs of the Mukuyu Tree”by Renée Topper … CLICK HERE.

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Seven Eleven Forgotten - Barnaby Hazen 'The Happiness Switch' - Christine Ellis

______

“Heal yourself through the power of your good feelings.” - Christine Ellis in ‘The Happiness Switch’

My friend, Christine Ellis, from Brussels - Belgium, Author of the book “The Happiness Switch: How to Transform Anxiety, Depression and Other Negative Moods by Focusing On and Cultivating Good Feelings” herself suffered from anxiety and depression for more than two decades. As she had a series of revelations about how her emotions were working, she thought of sharing her stories in order to help others going through the same. The purpose was to relieve suffering. To show people that there is a well of love, of goodness, of health and of utter well-being at the very core of who they are. To remind them that they are pure, blissful spirit poured into the flesh and bones form, not the other way around.

Yes, for her it is important to recognize that she has done something with her life and that something is to help someone reconnect to their sense of well-being.Healing them from some sort of pain. This sense of purpose comes from way back, when she was witness to her father's struggle with cancer, her mother's depression, aunts and uncles’ tortured life that had loneliness, alcoholism and all kinds of soul-twisting pain. Back then, in her early childhood, she felt responsible for all of it, like it was somehow her fault. She says that some of that guilt still lingers in her. But then, she accepts that, this is where her enthusiasm comes from. Relieving suffering and connecting people to love are worthy life-goals. She feels that the path has taken her to do that through writing.

“I am good with words. People respond to them. So I am using the words to teach - and, ultimately, love them back.” - Christine Ellis

The Desk

Over the years, some of her family members had very strong opinions about her writing. Sometimes mocking and sometimes being jealous, they put her down by saying that she was not going anywhere with it. It did puzzle her but made her more determined, with her mother’s support on her side. But she stopped sharing that part of her life with them.

“It is no good discussing something that brings conflict.” - Christine Ellis

She likes to write in her office at home, at her desk to which she is quite attached. It belonged to a great-uncle of her husband’s. It has a big hole in the back, where a German officer shot his rifle or gun during the Second World War. This great-uncle was a teacher, who taught Latin in school.

“I love objects like this - full of stories. I have the impression that it is an old friend. It has adopted me, this desk. I am part of its life as much as it is a part of mine.” - Christine Ellis

She works at her computer, which was set up by her husband, at the table - and she feels loved when she sits there, even if she is not writing.

BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHRISTINE ELLIS is a former teacher who discovered, after being diagnosed with depression and PTSD, a lasting way to transform her life each and every day: focusing on good feelings.

She now writes books and designs online courses about good feelings and feeling good.

She has more books in the works about feelings and how to manage moods and build dreams and heal... One of them is coming out in March of 2017.

All of her stories have a happy ending.

Christine lives in Brussels, Belgium with her husband and young son.

HER INSPIRATIONS

Words are beautiful. Words are magical - they carry emotion. They carry information. They are capable of carrying wisdom that can thus travel very far - and for a very long time. Books have always been with me and have given me worlds upon worlds, especially early on when my horizon, in "real" life, was very small. I am home in those worlds, which are as infinite as the Universe itself. There is LIFE there, there is friendship, there is love, there is great healing. I connect to all that and it resonates with a very deep part of me in a profoundly fulfilling way.

HER CHALLENGES

I had some sort of belief that people will not be attracted to a book that talks about feelings. Perhaps it was there because the same people who made fun of my writing were also making fun of emotions. "Too much drama... why talk about feelings? Just LIVE! DO! Why do you need to talk about it?"

As always, the biggest challenges have to do with self-confidence (or self-doubt).

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

"The human mind has long been likened to a garden. Wise men tell us to cultivate good thoughts and weed out the bad ones. Indeed. It is the highest of practices. High it may be. But easy, it is certainly not."

“Practicing just “feeling good” by contemplating pure good feelings will not only make you stronger but it will spill over into everything else.”

"Have you ever tried to write down all the positive feelings that you feel on a regular basis? How long do you think the list is?"

“Just because something is good for you, doesn’t mean that you will do it.”

THE BOOK

How to use the built-in power of your emotional system to shift out of depression, anxiety and other negative states

I suffered from anxiety and depression for more than two decades. I was even diagnosed with PTSD at some point. I tried for a very long time to get a handle on my moods and become the sunny, happy person I was occasionally, but I always bounced back. After the birth of my son, I was determined to get better. And better I got. I had a series of revelations about how my emotions are working and that it is actually possible (and it becomes easy!) to guide them.

I am not a medical doctor and I have no medical training though. What I offer you are my own stories and my own method. I'm just a regular teacher, mom and wife who has figured out how to live well inside her skin. Or, better said, inside her mind.

The book will guide you:

1 - How to generate positive feelings and emotions at will

2 - How to stay in good feeling states, moods and emotions consistently

3 - How to coach yourself out of “the blues"

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT CHRISTINE ELLIS

I jumped out of an airplane on my 27th birthday. Yes, of course I had a parachute. But I was incredibly scared. I would not do it again but I don't regret having done it. It was part of a "Face Your Fears" campaign I was running with myself: I confronted some fear, no matter how big or small, every single day for a year.

TWO BIG THINGS OF HER LIFE

Loving my son and my husband.

Having a few life-long friendships.

HER FAVORITES

GENRE: Books

It is hard to choose. I love literary fiction, mythology, psychology, self-help, economics, children's books, fantasy etc. The genre really does not matter much. It is the book itself.

BOOKS:

"The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell. He made me see patterns in life, human behavior, and societies... that I had never seen before. He changed the way I looked at life and opened my horizons immensely. I love everything he wrote but this was the first book of his I ever read.

"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. I was 14 when i read this book for the first time and I still think of it as one of the best I have ever read. It is beyond epic. It is life itself. There is love in it, the kind that hurts... it has a strange sense of humor too. It is not sentimental at all... you have the impression that you are watching the Universe come into existence for those people in the book - and then slowly dying again... only to come back to life.

TO BUY THE BOOK “The Happiness Switch” by Christine Ellis… CLICK HERE

– Written by Shashi

CEO & Partner ICUBE Projects

Speaker | Author of “Songs of the Mist” | Haiku Poet

Writes India’s #1 Spiritual Blog “Shadow Dancing With Mind”

List of SPOTLIGHT authors of Dec '16

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV HOME NEXT

Pigment - Renée Topper Mock, Stalk & Quarrel - Readomania

Chennai Colors: N Lingusamy - Haiku Writer, Director and Producer of Tamil Movies

READER: The English Teacher by R K Narayan

TEDx Chennai - ERASING THE BOX

Writing Fiction - Story Mirror Creativity Workshop II

The Purpose - Language has the power to change you...!

READER: You suffer reading the book 'The Days of Abandonment' by Elena Ferrante

SPOTLIGHT: "Shadow in the Mirror" by Deepti Menon - A Psychological Thriller

"HOW TO BECOME A BEST SELLER" - Story Mirror Creativity Workshop III

SPOTLIGHT: ‘Initiated to Kill’ by Sharlene Almond - Psychological Thriller

SPOTLIGHT: ‘Throne of Lies’ by Sara Secora - Young Adult & Fantasy Fiction

SPOTLIGHT: ‘Journey from Guwahati to Machhiwara’ by Rajiv Bakshi - Memoirs

GOODBYE 2016: 38th Edition of Shadow Dancing With Mind

SPOTLIGHT: ‘Broken Shadows’ by Tarek Refaat - Suspense & Thriller

SPOTLIGHT: ‘TJ’s Last Summer in Cape Cod’ by Garfield Whyte - Coming of Age

SPOTLIGHT: ‘Through the Mind’s Eye: A Journey of Self-Discovery’ by J.P. Willson - Self Help

SPOTLIGHT: ‘Seven Eleven Forgotten and Other Stories’ by Barnaby Hazen - Literary Fiction

HAPPINESS HACK: Nature of life and love...

THE MONK KEY: Ganga and the Old Peepul Tree…

SPOTLIGHT: ‘PIGMENT - The Limbs of the Mukuyu Tree’ by Renée Topper

SPOTLIGHT: 'The Happiness Switch' by Christine Ellis