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February 2, 2015
by Neelima
1 Comment

Bird by bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (Part 2)

Your can read the part 1 here.

In this post we look at the Lamott’s Instructions on Writing.

To start the writing process, do short assignments. Keep writing about the past with an imaginary gun to your head. One step at a time, one scene at a time, one passage at a time. One bird followed by the next.

Lamott throws in little tricks like the one inch frame to help the scene emerge. She tells us that dialogue is writing down exactly what people speak. She advises us to research things we don’t know and ask around. Connect the dots. Write letters about your characters so that you can figure them out. Talk to Broccoli.

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You have to sit long enough with your thoughts and you will know what it is you are sitting there for. Never listen to that voice in your head that says you can’t write anything sensible. Writing is a kind of self-hypnosis in a way- you write and then unhypnotize yourself and have lunch.

The part about the book that I loved the most was the Index cards section- I cannot believe that someone can be so meticulous and devoted to her craft. Lamott places index cards everywhere: by the bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, by the phones, the glove compartment of her car, just so that she never loses her words. Like a journalist researching her everyday life, she moves from card to card, creating snapshots of her life and of those around her

Do you have the photographic memory that does not require note taking? Memory can go away- I’m talking real memory and of course hard drive memory, the back-up that can get lost. Writing notes can save you- and writing notes by hand brings pictures to your mind that you can translate. Taking notes makes you focused and this habit gives you permission to think like a writer 24×7.

So a writer is someone on whom nothing is lost.

You could be in an office with a cupboard stacked with books and files. There could be a sign that says Out for Lunch. Write all of it down, take everything in and turn it into a piece of prose. After a while, you learn to find the right things.

Although writing a book may be like “leveling Mount Mckinley with a dentist’s drill” (you can’t get Lammot’s turn of phrase out of your head!), it’s easy once you start and persist with a capital P.

January 30, 2015
by InstaScribe
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Visual Friday: First Love

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January 29, 2015
by Neelima
6 Comments

Bird by bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (Part 1)

When a book like Bird by Bird flies into your nest, you tend to get excited, especially since everything you’ve heard about this book is so good.

The book lives up to this.

In the true spirit of good reviewer, I had a pencil in my right hand just so that I could keep jotting down the important stuff that makes this book memorable. However, I put my pencil down a great deal as Anne Lamott makes you smile and reflect and then smile again. Pencils get in the way.

Lamott tells us all the things that creative writing literature emphasizes- plot, character, setting, dialogue, etc. In this post we look at the Life in Some Instructions on Writing and Life.

Lamott tells us how she nearly lost a book contract. When her novel didn’t work, she sobbed, and she almost gave up. She did, however, arrange her book sections into a garden path of chapters and rewrote much of it again.

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Her honesty is baffling- why would you want to confess failure? And even if you do, how can you do it and look like a winner? Makes you think.

Lamott does not breathe fire down her students’ necks telling them what they should be writing. She tells her story, and if a teacher can do that well enough, then she’s a good teacher. Her father was a writer as well, she tells us, and she loved reading like he did. The first book she wrote was a gift for her dying father. And the second book she wrote was for a dying friend.

So writing is Not about agents and publishers. It’s about giving back, telling the truth and going back to your memory so that you can find things and yourself as well.

And while you are it, get rid of the green-with-envy internal monologues and the facebook insecurity so rampant now that everyone is a *writer*. Lamott admits that she is jealous too, human. There is nothing we can do about these fruitless stabs of envy- it is inevitable every time you see a “friend” get published or read work better than yours or commiserate about the unfairness of it all.

We can be nice to ourselves, even compassionate. Especially in writing groups. You don’t need to cut an author to size with the sword critiquing, Lamott says. You can point the way with the sword as well. She is benevolent; I like that. Lamott is a teacher first, so she cares for her students.

The real difficulty often lies post publication when you admire your “publishedness” in the mirror whichever way you turn. So the only reason to write is because it helps you write better the more you do it, and read better.

Good reasons all the same. In Part 2 of this book review, we look at Lamott’s writing process.

You can read the part 2 here.

January 28, 2015
by InstaScribe
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Quotes Wednesday

Though all society is founded on intolerance, all improvement is founded on tolerance.

By InstaScribe

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January 27, 2015
by punjacked
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Readers Can’t Digest – Week 22 (19-Jan to 25-Jan)

1. More than 7,000 groups have signed up to take part in Harry Potter Book Night, which takes place on 5th February.

harry potter

2. S&S and HarperCollins have both launched direct to consumer initiatives in the US.

delivery

3. Apple claims that iBooks store is attracting a 1 million new users a week.

apple

4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn has been named the top-selling e-book of 2014 for e-books by Sainsbury’s.

gone girl

5. James Patterson has given away 1,000 Free Copies of Self-Destructing e-Book.

destruct

January 26, 2015
by Neelima
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Of a Hangman and Hobbit @Talking Terrace Book Club – January 2015

terrace(color)

“Vampires are more photogenic- maybe better on TV?” says Jaya who does not want to get started on her attempt to read Twilight. She wants to discuss more serious reading.

Tughlaq is a drama written by veteran Girish Karnad. You can watch the play here in case you are curious about why a best loved play is about a 14^th century Sultan in the Delhi Sultanate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn_UsBd8JW0.

The Hangman’s Journal dominated the discussion. It’s a slender book written in mellifluous prose (a little too mellifluous?) by Shashi Warrier. The story about the hangman in the kingdom of Travancore and later on in post-independence India provides an interesting narrative. The author entrusts the hangman with a journal where he writes much more than about his life of hangings; he writes about the present as well. And as it is with writing, the hangman begins to look at his life differently once he has penned those words.

For the more morbid, there are some details of hanging that provide interesting fodder, such as the skill required for an expert hanging- a single mistake could lead to strangulation, which is far more painful.

The premise sounds very interesting though (no, not because I am morbid!) and I’m tempted to read this one.

Abhaya is still on his #ReadWomen2014 list though this year he hopes to read more about history and maybe something contemporary as well, in keeping with the India after independence theme. On his list were several books: River Sutra, Unsettled, Shakuntala, Sultana’s dream and Padmarag.

River Sutra by Gita Mehta is a series of stories with a single thread of the Narmada river binding them. It gives a reasonable portrait of India and throws in some folklore for good measure- apparently seeing the Narmada is good if you have any ideas of renunciating your sins. In spite of some lovely stories, somewhere for Abhaya the idea of a novel fails.

In Shakuntala: The Play of Memory by Namita Gokhale, the premise here is one woman and several lives. The historical backdrop in the story is a part fictional idea based in the 8^th century. A woman is allowed to pursue a life of hedonism and Shakuntalas, not one but several, are stories in themselves.

Many women writers use narrative in interesting ways- “even in Unsettled:The Search for Love and Meaning you go back and forth in time,” Abhaya says. Unsettled is the first paranormal romance he’s read.

Sultana’s dream and Padmarag is a remarkable find. Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain was a famous Muslim feminist in her time and lived in what is now Bangladesh. She was ahead of her time (she wrote in the early twentieth century) and wrote science fiction besides creating a female utopia where men were in purdah and women ruled the roost. Imagine that!

What was I reading? Good old The Hobbit!

I’ve always loved elves, trolls, gnomes, goblins, and now hobbits. Probably this is what made me want to write about female vampires like Yakshis in the first place. You might say, “but you haven’t read The Hobbit already? You’ve seen the movie then?” Not really. I wanted to read the book first. The premise works with me- what happens if all you like to do is be safe and then you are dragged along on a rollercoaster ride of an adventure? Moving out of one’s comfort zone may not suit many-particularly Bilbo Baggins. I like him for that—and for the fact that he finds the Ring that makes Tolkien go into creative overdrive.

What have you been reading? Tell us about it. You just may be reading something really bizarre and you might feel like over sharing it. All ears!

January 23, 2015
by InstaScribe
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Visual Friday: 10 Longest Books in the World

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January 22, 2015
by punjacked
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Literary Awards with Prize Money over $50,000 – Part 2

In the previous post, we looked at eighteen rich literary prizes with prize money over $50,000. Here are eighteen more. You can read the Part 1 of this article here.

1. Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing

It is a lifetime achievement award for military writing given annually by the Pritzker Military Museum & Library and sponsored by the Tawani Foundation of Chicago.

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Tim O’Brien

2. Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

The prize honors a living U.S. poet whose “lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition”.

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Marie Ponsot

3. Wallace Stevens Award

The award was established in 1994 to “recognize outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry”.

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Robert Hass

4. Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature

It is an annual prize awarded to an outstanding literary work of Jewish interest.

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Matti Friedman

5. The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award

It is given to poets for their collections of poetry written in the English language, by a citizen or legal resident alien of the United States. It is presented to a mid-career, emerging poet who already possesses an established body of work.

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Afaa Michael Weaver

6. Al Owais Award

It is a bi-annual prize for artistic and cultural achievement in the Arab world.

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Radwa Ashour and Mohammed Ali Shams Al Din

7. São Paulo Prize for Literature

It is a Brazilian literary prize for novels written in the Portuguese language and published in Brazil. It was established in 2008 by the Secretary of Culture for the State of São Paulo.

Prize Money: R$200,000 (Around $70,000)

Recent Winner: Daniel Galera

8. Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award

It is awarded bi-annually to a living author whose work resembles Hans Christian Andersen.

Prize Money: kr 500,000 (Around $60,000)

Recent Winner: Salman Rushdie

9. Neustadt International Prize for Literature

It is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, World Literature Today.

Prize Money: $50000

Recent Winner: Mia Couto

10. Man Booker International Prize

It is an international literary award given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation.

Prize Money: £60,000 (Around $90000)

Recent Winner: Lydia Davis

11. Man Booker Prize for Fiction

It is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel, written in the English language, and published in the UK.

Prize Money: £50000 (Around $75000)

Recent Winner: Richard Flanagan

12. Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service

The awards reward and encourage the best of human performance worldwide.

Prize Money: $50000

Recent Winner: David McCullough

13. Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt

It is a prestigious award for achievement ‘worthy of honor in memory of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’ made by the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Prize Money: €50000 (Around $60000)

Recent Winner: Peter von Matt

14. Jan Michalski Prize for Literature

It is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language.

Prize Money: CHF 50,000 (Around $50,000)

Recent Winner: Serhiy Zhadan

15. Premio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América de Narrativa

It is a Latin American Spanish language literary award.

Prize Money: $200000

Recent Winner: Jorge Volpi

16. Premio Alfaguara de Novela

It is a Spanish-language literary award given to a chosen Spanish language title.

Prize Money: $175000

Recent Winner: Jorge Franco

17. Prix Formentor

It is an international literary award and it takes its name from the town of Formentor on the Spanish island of Mallorca that was famous for its literary gatherings.

Prize Money: €50,000 (Around $60000)

Recent Winner: Enrique Vila-Matas

18. Siegfried Unseld Preis

It is an international award for scientific and literary accomplishments. It has been arwarded biyearly on the 28th of September since 2004 in remembrance of the German publisher Siegried Unseld.

Prize Money: €50000 (Around $60000)

Recent Winner: Art Spiegelman

January 21, 2015
by InstaScribe
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Quotes Wednesday

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January 19, 2015
by punjacked
2 Comments

Literary Awards with Prize Money over $50,000 – Part 1

Do you think writers have it tough? Do you think they are crunched for money? Only until they strike gold. Winning one of these awards will make them rich overnight.

1. Nobel Prize in Literature

It is awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Alfred Nobel, produced “in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”.

Prize Money: kr 8,000,000 (Around $1,100,000)

Recent Winner: Patrick Modiano

2. Premio Planeta de Novela

It is a Spanish literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher Grupo Planeta to an original novel written in Spanish (Castilian).

Prize Money: €601000 (Around $700000)

Recent Winner: Jorge Zepeda Patterson

3. Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

It is an international children’s literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honor the Swedish children’s author Astrid Lindgren.

Prize Money: kr 5,000,000(Around $640000)

Recent Winner: Barbro Lindgren

4. International Ibsen Award

It honors an individual, institution or organization that has brought new artistic dimensions to the world of drama or theater.

Prize Money: kr 2,500,000 (Around $320,000)
Recent Winner: Peter Handke

5. Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature

It is an Arabic literary award for children’s literature. The prize money is split with 50% divided between the author and/or illustrator, and 50% to the publisher.

Prize Money: AD 1000000 (Around $272000)

Recent Winner: Afaf Tobala, Mariam Al Rashedi, Doniazad Saade, Noura Al Noman

6. Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language

It is a literary award established in 2012 by the Mexican government in honor of Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes.

Prize Money: $250000

Recent Winner: Sergio Ramírez

7. Sheikh Zayed Book Award

It is presented yearly to Arab writers, intellectuals, publishers as well as young talent whose writings and translations of humanities have scholarly and objectively enriched Arab cultural, literary and social life.

Prize Money: AD 777,777 (Around $211000)

Recent Winners: Jawdat Fakhr Eldine, Rami Abu Shihab, Mohammed Al Tahir Al Mansouri, Abdel Rasheed Mahmoudi, Mario Liverani

8. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation

It is a Saudi international literary award for the translation of works to/from Arabian.

Prize Money: $200000

Recent Winners: ZHU Weilie and Hannelore Lee-Jahnke

9. Miguel de Cervantes Prize

It is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language.

Prize Money: €125,000 (Around $150000)

Recent Winner: Juan Goytisolo

10. RBA International Prize for Crime Writing

It is a Spanish literary award said to be the world’s most lucrative crime fiction prize funded by Barcelona-based multimedia publishing company RBA.

Prize Money: €125,000 (Around $150000)

Recent Winner: Arnaldur Indridason

11. Donald Windham Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes

It is an American literary award which was established at Yale University in 2011 with the first prizes presented in 2013.

Prize Money: $150000

Recent Winner: John Vaillant, Pankaj Mishra, Aminatta Forna, Jim Crace, Nadeem Aslam

12. Lannan Literary Awards

They are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation.

Prize Money: $150000

Recent Winner: Claudia Rankine

13. FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages

The award acknowledges lifetime achievement and is awarded to writers of literature from Latin America or the Caribbean who write in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or English, or to writers from any part of the US who write in Spanish.

Prize Money: $150000

Recent Winner: Claudio Magris

14. Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize

The purpose of this prize is to “perpetuate and honor the work of the eminent novelist and also to stimulate the creative activity of Spanish language writers”.

Prize Money: Eduardo Lalo

Recent Winner: €100,000 (Around $120000)

15. International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

It is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC.

Prize Money: €100,000 (Around $120000)

Recent Winner: Juan Gabriel Vásquez

16. Camões Prize

It is awarded annually by the Portuguese Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (National Library Foundation) and the Brazilian Departamento Nacional do Livro (National Book Department) to the author of an outstanding work written in Portuguese.

Prize Money: €100,000 (Around $120000)

Recent Winner: Alberto da Costa e Silva

17. Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards

It was created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia’s publishing industry.

Prize Money: A$125,000 ($100000)

Recent Winner: Jennifer Maiden

18. Nigeria Prizes for Science and Literature

The prize describes itself as “bringing Nigerian scientists and authors to public attention and celebrating excellence in scientific breakthroughs and literary craftsmanship in the nation.”

Prize Money: $100000

Recent Winner: Sam Ukala

If you thought there are only so many of them, you are wrong. The list will be continued in Part 2. You can read the Part 2 here.

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