Words on my writing desk

Writing moments

2011-10-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

There are days like today, when I just want to self-indulge in the lonely space of my white Ikea desk where writing is my only goal and pleasure.

There are days like today when I contemplate on the words in my life and the life I put into words.

There are days like today, when Gabrielle Bouliane's poem is just the kind of jolt I need.

Share with me. Is there some place in your house, where you can just be ?

Take care.
Suma.

Weekend Dog-Yoga

2011-10-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

(Picture Source: facebook.com/pages/when-your-dog-make-you-smile-/325314921081>)

Three things I learnt from my dogs Duke, Buddy and Leila –

1. Walking is not a chore. It is therapy.

(Left to Right - Duke, Leila and Buddy)

2. Silence is the one of the best means of communication

(Picture Source: dogtrainingtipsguide.com)

3. Love in any form, in any language, only cares for joyful giving.

(Picture Source: dogguide.net)

Here’s a video you’ll love –

Share with me. What inspired you this weekend?

My Best,

Suma.

Author Spotlight Series - Rosanne Parry

2011-10-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine a girl who wanted to be a circus flyer in her childhood, developed interest in writing and she is now a published author of two best-selling novels ?

Meet Rosanne Parry, author of Heart of a Shepherd and Second Fiddle. She is very friendly and has a lot to share about her writing life.

( http://ia600701.us.archive.org/32/items/AuthorInterview-RosanneParry-BySumaSubramaniam_123/Rosanne_parry-Workspace1.wav )

Rosanne also shares her recently read booklist -http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1472137.Rosanne_Parry

Happy listening! I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Suma.

This year, October begins with Navarathri

2011-10-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

(Source: sathyasaibaba.wordpress.com)

- a festival that is celebrated by a large number of Indian communities, both in India and outside.

Navarathri means nine nights in Sanskrit. It represents the celebration of the Hindu goddess, Shakthi, also called Durga.

Shakthi fought with Mahishasura, a demon for nine nights. Demons possessed extraordinary strength during the night.

Shakthi killed the demon on the evening of the tenth day, which is celebrated as

Vijaya Dashami, also called Dusshera.

(Golu at home)

In South India, we have special offerings and prayer to the goddess on all the nine days of the festival.

We have a display of “Golu”.

A golu, as seen above is a step-by-step arrangement and exhibition of dolls – predominantly of Hindu gods and goddesses. There are also figurines depicting marriages, Indian independence, music sets, dance sets , different communities and so on.

The most important of all are a wooden figurine pair called “Marapacchi Bommaigal” .

(Source: hindu-blog.com)

We also need to make a “Kalasam”. The Kalasam is symbolic of a human who has the faculty to realize the pure consciousness.

(Source: learn-malayalam.com)

I love Navarathri. In my growing up years, my sister and I would wear long skirts and blouses made of silk and invite our neighbours to see the Golu in our house.

Here is a recent Tamil TV commercial that will give you a sense of what happens during this festival.

We would draw a colorful Rangoli / Kolam with rice flour outside our house and in front of the

golu. In the evenings, we would light oil lamps and place them on the Rangoli / Kolam.

(Source: wikipedia.com)

The women and children visiting our house would sing songs in Indian classical, Carnatic music.

Everyday, my mother would make different types of sundal, a dry curry made of beans, lentils or chickpeas. The sundal would be served as an offering to the goddess and then, to all the guests who would visit to see the golu.

(Source: chennai.in)

That's not all. All the female folks would receive a bag of goodies, called “Tamboolam” containing betel leaves, bangles, a blouse piece, a coconut, fruit, sindhoor (red powder) and turmeric.

(Source: indusladies.com)

At the end of the 10-day festival, we would carefully pack the figurines with lots of cloth. We would put them in a box and keep them in an airtight, safe place until the next year.

I hope you liked reading about Navarathri. Do you celebrate festivals? Tell me about your favorite festival of the year.

Best,

Suma.

One of the most refreshing end of summer sounds

2011-09-26T02:42:00.000-07:00

is the notes of squeals and laughter from the elementary school opposite my house. My dogs and I walk on the road around the school everyday. We watch children on swings, some playing soccer and others tennis on the playground during their most desired session of school – recess.

Growing up today is harder than ever for children. Most of them live in nuclear families and are isolated from their grandparents and extended family. They wake up and sleep to news of violence, war, natural disasters and horrific traffic accidents. Children face tougher challenges with the increasing rates of divorce, addiction, poverty, population, abandonment and trafficking.

Despite all of this, we have so much to learn from these little beings. Between adults and kids, the latter are clearly more joyful than us. It doesn’t matter how gloomy we are, the inner child within us bounces out in their presence. Imagine a child who wraps her arms around you. The warm nuzzle of her chin on your shoulder is just priceless.

Children respond to animals, pets, toys and animated characters by instinct. They approach life with indiscriminate love rather than logic and fear.

They explore the world of imagination. It helps influence their thoughts, their actions, it helps them heal. They use it all the time, when alone, at home, with friends, when they’re at school, at sports practices, art, music and dance classes.

Today, I want to share with you a TED Video by Adora Svitak, a young Seattle girl who talks about what adults can learn from children.

Share with me, I would love to know. What is your biggest learning from today's children? What do you like the most about them?

Best,

Suma.

Adopting Buddy - our second dog

2011-09-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

When we adopted Buddy, a black lab-shepherd-chow mix from the rescue shelter, we did it out of emotional impulse. Not just that, we did it with a quiet sense of dread, wondering how Buddy could possibly love us at eleven and a half years, which is over eighty human years. He was shy and feared every possible thing in the world including us. It was obvious that he didn’t have a good growing up life.

The night we adopted Buddy, the woman at the rescue gave us a yellow, dirty fleece toy. “Buddy came to us with this toy and he loves it,” she said. When I tried walking him on the road outside my house, on the 1-mile pavement leading to a stop sign, he couldn’t even move. How could he start walking when he was visibly bony and weak?

We weren’t even sure if he’d get along with Duke, our 10 year old yellow lab retriever mix.

We had a thorough physical examination done for Buddy the next day. At our regular private veterinary hospital, the doctor informed us about his partial blindness and a mass in his liver, the size of a half-watermelon.

We’ve had Buddy for almost a month now. August flew by quickly and we’re nearing the end of summer. After numerous food trials, we are now learning that his favorite food is chicken and rice. He could get his mouth around a whole packet of chicken strips and can persistently knock on the door of our backyard until we open it. He is now eating marginally well and feels a lot more secure and happy.

Buddy is doing road trips with his nose occasionally squeezing between the space of the front windows and our seats. He has brought us into the schedule of everyday dog-walks. Trips to off leash dog parks have increased to multiple times every week. He loves people and he loves dogs. He waits alongwith Duke at the door every single time we come in to the house and welcomes us like he hasn’t seen us in a million years.

He rests his face on our laps, pants on our faces as we ride in the car, loves jamming his head on the couch and is glued to our heels even on our way to the restroom. He has helped shape our physical and mental health – as a couple, as dog lovers, as family, as friends, as adults. All this in just over two weeks.

This evening, after we returned from a long road trip with the dogs, Buddy ate a medium fat burger, chicken strips, cheese sticks and biscuits. Duke had all these and pleased his palette with glazed doughnuts. Then, both of them claimed their favorite spots in the living room.

Raj (my husband) and I sat on the floor a few feet away from both of them. We were talking about Buddy’s major liver surgery tomorrow and the things we needed to prepare. Buddy and Duke didn’t want to leave their spots, but they couldn’t resist themselves. They came over and rested their heads on our laps, Duke on Raj’s and Buddy on mine. Their tails pounded the floor and they showed us their bellies with their legs stretched out.

Yes, without Duke and Buddy, we’ll have a fur –less clean house, not smelling of dog perfume, no drools on the floor, a clean garden, more friends visiting us, more money , frequent fantastic travel getaways without having to worry about a reliable dog sitter and boarding facility, no dog wash and no veterinary visits. We could do without dogs and have all these. Trust me, our lives would never be complete.

It’s strange how two wonderful animals, despite being the center of all our amused and annoyed conversations, all disappointments and unmet expectations, persistently teach us with all their hearts how to give and accept unqualified, unconditional love. Of course, we have poor learning skills.

There are times, when we ask ourselves, “Why these two remarkable beings would let us into their lives and how would we let them steal our hearts like this?” There is no answer.

Best,
Suma.

Reading THE POWER OF NOW - By Eckhart Tolle

2011-09-03T01:44:00.001-07:00

The book was recommended by a good friend and I’m listening to the audio version from my local library.

The POWER OF NOW is compelling and a powerful teaching. Eckhart starts the book by talking about how he took to spirituality. At the age of 29, he felt a deep longing for isolation and the feeling of not being able to live with himself any longer. He says that the most loathing thing was his very own existence. After years of learning from spiritual saints, he realized that something profoundly significant had happened to him but he didn’t understand it when he was 29. Then, a time came when he had no relationships, no dog and no home. He spent most of his time on park benches. People would come up to him and say they wanted what he had. That answer later grew into the book that we are talking about…THE POWER OF NOW.

The book originated by people’s questions often asked in classes, sessions and conferences. Sometimes in the process of writing, an entirely new thing came up that he had never thought of or uttered.

Eckhart uses terminology that is as neutral as possible to reach a wide range of people. The book draws insight into finding peace within our own deepest self and how we can feel it when our mind is still.

Eckhart elaborates the identification we have of ourselves with our mind. He talks about how we’re not being able to stop thinking and the way our mind-made self causes fear and suffering. He describes the mind as a superb instrument when used rightly. It is not so much that we use our mind wrongly, it is that we don’t use it at all. It uses us. Just because we solve a crossword puzzle or build atom bombs, we cannot be free of our mind when we want; then the mind is using us, we don’t even know that we are its slave.

Eckhart reflects on how people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, use the words “being” and “god” with great conviction as if they know what they are talking about; he further goes out to say that the word God has become a closed concept and it has become the mental representation of someone or something outside us. Neither God nor being can define god.

Eckhart’s answers are accompanied by visual images and mental movies. He reveals that we can free ourselves from our mind. We’ve got to start listening to the voice in our head and be there as the witnessing presence. The I AM realization, rather than I am THIS or I am THAT, arises from beyond the mind.

Here is the real deal. The book is about is about living in the NOW. I highly recommend it to those who are interested in the psychology of spirituality.

Write to me. I would love to hear. Are you spiritual? What moves you about spirituality?

Care for a cup of coffee?

2011-08-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Source: http://seattlesouvenir.com/seattle_coffeemugs/sale_coffeemugs.htm

There was a time when I fell into the category of people who “Never drank Coffee ”. But two things happened that changed my relationship with the drink.

1) I moved to Seattle

2) Reading books became a ritual

Seattle is often regarded as coffee’s Mecca. It’s the birthplace of Starbucks, Seattle’s Best and home of Tully’s.
There are coffee and espresso shops almost in every street within a four mile radius of my house. People here love coffee. They even buy fresh beans, grind them and brew their own coffee.

Source: http://electricoffeegrinders.info/tag/coffee-bean-grinder

However, the fact remains that Brazil is the world’s largest producer. Coffee in Brazil is grown at a maximum of 4000 feet in elevation and is said to be sweeter and less acidic than other types of coffee.

Source: http://www.coffee-makers-et-cetera.com/brazilian-coffee.html

India is the world's sixth largest producer. You’ll find coffee estates and farms in the Southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu. If you ever visit India, don’t forget to indulge in a cup of sweet, home-brewed, milky filter coffee made from dark roasted beans and chicory.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Filter_coffee_South_Indian_style.JPG.

If not anything else, this increasingly popular coffee art should entice you in a cup of latte.

Today, the view from my window looks bright with green branches swaying in the light breeze, up a cloudless blue sky.

I’m going spend the rest of my afternoon on a good book

And a cup of delicious white chocolate mocha frapuccino

Source: http://www.coffeeandtealover.com/2010/starbucks-coffee-glossary/

Do you drink coffee? What type of coffee delights your senses ?

Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.

2011-08-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (German poet, novelist and dramatist)

I’m doing The August postcard poetry fest this year. Poets and writers from various parts of the world come together in this exercise. We send each other colorful postcards adorned with original, handwritten poems.

When I was in school, my grandfather used to write letters to me. He wrote to me on long white sheets of papers, on the empty side of used and printed papers, on postcards and blue inland letters.

Picture Reference - http://www.indianstampghar.com/2008/12/new-inland-letter-by-india-post-5/

He was my mother’s father and I called him Thatha, grandfather in Tamil. Thatha was a retired Indian army man and a World War 2 veteran. I owe a lot of credit for my writing skills to my grandpa. He was a high school graduate. Thatha didn't have a degree in English. That said, his command over the language was impeccable. He always critiqued my letters and suggested areas of improvement.

He would write a letter once a week. The letters carried a lot of information. Sometimes he wrote about family, sometimes about life lessons and sometimes about world issues. He always wrote something nice about my grandmother in every one of his letters. Thatha wrote them because he cared about me and he was willing to spend time writing to me.

Picture Reference - http://writing.wikinut.com/img/3bbjcr7rh_19fsau/writing-letters

I miss the feelings when I’d wait for Thatha’s responses, dig his letters from the post box, recognize the blotted clots of ink from his pen and his familiar cursive handwriting on either sides of the envelope . Images of Mahatma Gandhi or the Indian national emblem filled the postage stamps.

Picture Reference - http://youcanstart.blogspot.com/2010/10/mahathma-gandhi.html

These days, getting a personal letter is such a rarity. All I see in my mailbox are tons of marketing leaflets. Writing letters as a traditional way of communication has become history. Emails and sms messaging are inevitably the fastest means of communication. We also have various options to keep in contact with our friends and relatives. It’s all just so convenient and quick.

Picture Reference - http://technorati.com/blogging/article/has-social-media-had-its-hey/

Personally, I embrace technology. Yet, I would still love to write and receive personal letters once in a while.

Which side of the spectrum do you belong --- Technology or reminiscence? When was the last time you wrote or received a personal letter?

Best,
Suma.

Do you have an appetite for shark fin soup?

2011-08-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Every year over 73 million sharks die for one reason only – their fins.

To give a little detail into the shark fin soup controversy, the soup is served as delicacy in Chinese weddings and banquets and is very popular in Hong Kong. It is believed that over 73 million sharks are killed every year and it is a cultural stigma to say no to shark fin soup.

I happened to see a video of shark finning on youtube where they cut the fins of a living shark and throw the carcass of the shark back into the sea. Seriously, would you cut off your legs while you are still alive?

Sharks have been living in the oceans for 400 million years , but because of the increasing demand of shark fins, their population has decreased by 90%. Who knows, they might even be all gone by the year 2050.

Alternatives for the original soup -
It is said that the shark fin soup has no taste. It’s really about the consistency. So, for all shark fin soup lovers, there is a type of imitation shark fin that’s made of gelatin and is a pretty close second to the original soup.

The senators of many states have signed bans against the shark fin cruelty.
My fellow blogger over at IClaudio has blogged about the book “Demon Fish” written by Juliet Eilperin.

In the book, Juliet travels to Indonesia, Japan, Africa and North America in pursuit of sharks and she addresses the big question : after surviving all five global mass extinctions, can sharks make it through another decade of co-existing with us?
Be sure to check IClaudio’s blog and Juliet’s book.

Don’t we all have a responsibility to our future generations… to let them see and experience the beauty of the ocean?

Do write to me. What is your opinion about Shark Finning ?

Best,

Suma.

The Indian Sari

2011-07-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

It is the most common form of clothing for women in India. Women drape the sari in different styles based on their community and region. Saris are usually worn over a "pavadai", petticoat and "ravikai", blouse as we call it in South India.

Here's a picture of my mom in a sari when she got married in 1979.

The last time I shopped big for saris was during my wedding. Here I am in a silk sari from the wedding, way back in 2005.

Saris come in various fabric types. These days, I usually wear saris only for Indian festivals and special occasions. In India however, women wear saris all the time as a way of life.

Here's a poem from my book, "Euphoric Natya" that takes me back to the time when I got married.

Shopping for bridal saris with my mother

I grew up thick in amma's sari,
my hands tied around her waist.
I felt her thighs by lying on her lap.
We cannot remain this way forever, so time slips away.

Its three months to my wedding
and we're at Chennai Silks, where diffused lights
glimmer yellow. The colorful saris, resting
on the wooden shelves dazzle.

I see amma's touch in everything.
Even the mirror bends invisibly,
accentuated and affirming. I could be amma,
twenty-five years ago in the same assessment of a sari.

I draw the Kancheevaram silk over my left shoulder.
We look similar, my face lent by amma.
The young salesman who stands
is pressing rainbow colors on us.

We get engrossed in juicy gossip at noon,
in family ties. Amma's sari crumpled,
slides from the dupatta on my shoulder -
I get up baffled by many colors.

I didn't know that I can't decide.
She doesn't want to leave.
She still sits on the black chair
looking at more designs;

I know now there is no going home.
We're going to continue looking.
Under the caring supervision of amma,
my sari is a beginning.

I'll swing and drape my body in silk.
I think the sari is not my own,
but I'll try it in Kancheevaram,
Dharmavaram, Pochampalli and Mysore silks.

I'll gather the colors like the flowers
in amma's sari- my eyes are drawn to them.
We'll do this together. Like amma's lap,
wearing for the warmth.

So, do you like saris? What kind of clothes do you wear everyday and for special occasions?

Best Regards,

Suma

Chakravyugam - a Tamil play

2011-07-11T02:06:00.000-07:00

I’ve blogged about Indus Creations previously and this weekend, I got a chance to see Chakravyugam, a play by this south asian non-profit theater group in Seattle. The story of Chakravyugam is cheerful, scary and relentlessly entertaining and a fundraiser for Aid India (http://www.aidindia.org/main/)

The self-consciously clever and witty dialogue and the instantly recognizable setting --- if you can visit a home in Tamilnadu of South India, you’ll swear you’ve been here before. The first time I saw the stage design at the start of the play, I was stunned and it just got better as it progressed as I spent the rest of the time at the edge of my seat so engrossed in the performance of the actors.

Chakravyugam respects the idiosyncrasies of its characters rather than exaggerating them or holding them up for ridicule. And the characters outgrow their own mannerisms and defenses, evolving from a light comedy story into a heartfelt, serious thriller.

Story

A good deal of the credit for this goes to the character Nesamani ( Sridhar Viswanath Caco ). Nesamani , who is an aspiring actor with the most hilarious dialogues, has fed many with stomach-aching laughter. He is able to seem, in the space of a single scene in the climax, hilarious beyond his limits and disarmingly mature. The naivety that peeks through his flippant, wised-up dialogues is essential, since part of the play’s point is that Nesamani is not quite as funny or dismissive as we think he can be.

It’s not simply that he shares a camaraderie with his sister, Karpagam( Chitra Venkatanarayanan) , brother-in-law Subramaniya Nadar ( Subbu Chandrasekaran) and nephew Dhanush( Jagadeeswaran Jayaprakash) , or that he decides to go to the highest court in the country, to fight the property management issue that his family has had for generations. Rather, Nesamani’s maturity resides in that he wants to take revenge and hold accountable the man responsible for his father’s death.

Character Development

The characters at first seem like familiar caricatures of a typical south Indian Tamil drama: Karpagam, clad in simple, beautiful silk and cotton saris, Subramaniya Nadar in plain white dhotis, Dhanush in modern jeans and branded shirts and Nesamani in tailor-made pants and shirts. But they also turn out to be complicated, intriguing personalities, too.

The shapeshifter Muniyan (Sriram Elayavalli) and villain Rajarathinam(Manoharan Kuppusamy) are uptight and materialistic. Khatra (Vidyashankar Balasubramaniyan) and Zahid (Dhigha Sekaran), the characters that play black magic tantriks could really scare some squeamish and easily spooked audiences like me.

Secondary and minor characters like Janaki (Chitra R), Divya (Aishwarya S), Sundaram (Krishna S), Rathnasamy Nadar (Krishnamachary R), Meenakshi (Madhu S), Senthil (Raj A) and others were at their best.

Script

The director – Manoj Sivakumar ’ and his writing team’s crisp, sharp dialogue-oriented script has a good mix of enjoyable humor and serious overtones. This is especially true of Rajarathinam and Nesamani – the protagonist and antagonist characters. Rajarathinam is loud and ruthless, while Nesamani tends the guttering flame of his deep interest in cinema, watching a number of Tamil movies and mimicking popular actors from the South Indian Kollywood film industry.

Production

The producer Venkat Krishnamachari’s modest, observant skills allows the personalities of the characters to emerge slowly and to change in credible and unpredictable ways. Not only that, Venkat possesses a very impressive leading ability and a great marketing teamto bring to the table.

Sound, Music and Lighting

For avid observers, the play had strong sound design and good score of original music. Speakers and lighting were appropriate for the scenes.

Set Design and Props

Few plays return us to a cinematic experience, to that magical moment when plays are like movies- larger than life. The previous productions of Indus have entertained, instructed and sometimes enlightened. Some have even attempted to overwhelm the audience and their efforts were usually a matter of volume. Something that the stage of Chakravyugam had this time was awe. The set design team( led by Gautham Pannala) has not only transformed the play into this experience with real people but has also confirmed its wonder with the second floor stage, props, creative design, special effects in the cave and black magic tricks.

The play was a bonfire of creativity so wild, so overwhelming, so enviable that to meet the expectations of a supportive audience was to feel the temperature in the theater rise. But while that adrenaline rush of expectation was a sign of hard work and long hours of planning, practice and prepping during Seattle’s rainy weekends, it transformed equally into an indication of greatest delight on the D- day.

The most lasting impression left by Chakravyugam is likely to be the deep satisfaction that comes from witnessing the nearly perfect execution of a difficult task by the cast and crew of the theater group.

If you are in Seattle next year, you don’t want to miss the next production and if you don’t live around here, there are dvds of Chakravyugam available for purchase that come with English subtitles.

Visit - http://induscreations.org/ for more information and support a great cause.

Best,

Suma.

Hiatus

2011-04-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

My friends! I attended the SCBWI conference this weekend and its been a big eye opener for me. I realized that I want to simplify my life. I'm going on a hiatus and I'll be taking time off from this blog. Im taking this break to focus on fewer things and streamline my commitments. So for now, I'm going to get my offline life back in order. I want to let you know that this is not a goodbye. I will have much to write about in the future. With love, Suma.

Picture Friday - The sculptor's story

2011-03-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, South India.

The carving on the stone pillar tells the real tale of a boy who was born in the 16th century and raised in the temple by Meenakshi, the temple goddess.

Picture Friday - Happiness is a warm puppy ~Charles M. Schulz

2011-02-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

He's a yellow Labrador retriever-colly mix with soft brown fluffy ears, a sniffing snout and an always wagging tail. His brown sugar eyes blaze with how to please and he can kiss you with faithful love.

Have a happy weekend!

Best,
Suma

Picture Friday - Serenity

2011-02-18T17:35:00.000-08:00

Cottage Lake, Washington.

“Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.”
- Quote from The life of Buddha

Valentines Day Giveaway

2011-02-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Vindhya !!

Please email me your address so I can mail your gift.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful support and fabulous quotes!

The answers to the misspelled words are :

1. indyjenisse - indigenous

2. Souperseed - Supersede (or Supercede)

3. Dilog - Dialogue

4. mockusin - Moccasin

5. konkometent - Concomitant

6. incorijebal - Incorrigible

Best,

Suma.

Picture Friday - The Flower Clock

2011-02-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

LalBagh Botanical Garden,

Bangalore, India

The ticking hands on the flowered dial seem to ask," The perfect time to do what you love is now. What are you waiting for? "

Valentine's Day - Giveaway Quiz

2011-02-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

“Sit and quiet yourself. Luxuriate in a certain memory and the details will come. Let the images flow. You’ll be amazed at what will come out on paper. I’m still learning what it is about the past that I want to write. I don’t worry about it. It will emerge. It will insist on being told.”

- Frank McCourt

In these busy times, we rarely have time for everything we want to do in our lives, so we have to make choices. And hopefully, our choices come from a deep sense of who we are. The more I blog, the more I seem to be able to appreciate you, the readers of this blog who happen to be with me at this moment.

Thank you my friends, for being there to believe, admire and strengthen these posts. It is the mutual respect we share, the desire to read, and wishes for more words on my writing desk that make these posts happen.

Isn’t it strange and beautiful to see how each one of us has something valuable to bring to this virtual world?

On that note, here’s a fun Valentine's Day giveaway quiz.

The winner will receive a pack of personalized goodies from me, including a copy of my poetry chapbook “Euphoric Natya”.

You've got to do two things:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post with your current favorite quote.

2. Tackle these misspelled words. Email me the words, correctly spelled.

1. indyjenisse

2. Souperseed

3. Dilog

4. mockusin

5. konkometent

6. incorijebal

Email your answers to : by 11.59 pm, Sunday, February 13th.

The lucky winner will be announced on Valentine’s Day.

Happy Quizzing!

Best,

Suma.

Picture Friday - Walking the (inner) dog

2011-02-05T15:56:00.001-08:00

A calm walk on the trail with Duke, my yellow lab breeds a clear path to an idea-crammed brain.

PS: I apologize for the delay:-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Best,
Suma

Character Development

2011-01-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Some of my writer friends rock in this area. They are so good in finding the emotional hook of their main characters in stories. You would just fall in love with the characters instantly.

I’ve been reading about this subject and I figured this will be useful to share with all of you.

According to Elizabeth Lyon in Manuscript Makeover, underdeveloped characters miss the following elements –

1. Backstory wound
2. Universal need / personal yearning
3. Strength and weakness
4. Clarity of theme

To relate Lyon’s points to actual fictional characters, let’s take the example of Neo’s character in the Matrix Trilogy movies.

Backstory wound

Neo doesn’t believe in himself and his abilities until he learns that his life has been an illusion, a computer generated world beyond anything even his own computer hacker sensibilities can grasp.

Universal yearning

Morpheus, the Oracle, Trinity and other characters in the story believe him to be “ the One”. When Neo fully understands who he is, he leads the battle to save the human race.

Strength and weakness

Neo’s strength lies in never giving up and his weakness lies in his own confidence.

The theme

Neo against his computer generated world, in other words, man against machine. There are also amazing instances in the movie where Neo and his friends possess superhuman strength and skills. The machines possess human qualities, like the way Mr. Smith replicates himself out of ego.

No wonder, the best made movies and stories are filled with deeply strong, memorable characters that make a lasting impression on us.

What is life without its characters?

Without you and me and all the beings that make up our world. Where would we be without each other? And when we share the ups and downs, the fun, the sacrifices, the victories and defeats that our journeys bring, we become strong, memorable and make a lasting impression on each other.
Don’t you agree?

On that note, which fictional character has influenced or intrigued you? Do keep me posted.

PNWA Literary Contest and more...

2011-01-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

The deadline for PNWA Literary Contest is fast approaching. If you have a manuscript or you're working on one, I strongly recommend sending it out to the contest. Here’s the link. You may enter multiple manuscripts for various categories.
( http://pnwa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=6 )

On the personal front, the funny part of being jetlagged and waking up at odd hours in the day is that my characters too arrive at odd times with names, stories and even astrological signs. Isn’t that cool?

So, here’s a poem that I wrote a couple of years ago. It fits my current state of mind perfectly. Happy Reading!

Winding back

The silent road outside my house
in Woodinville, USA
carries me somehow
to my home in Bangalore
where my memory wants to go.
We see people, so many of them,
walking, moving on cycles,
rickshaws, bikes and in trucks,
fruit and vegetable vendors
with their wooden carts,
housewives gossiping between compound walls,
boys barefoot,
playing gully cricket
in the middle of the road,
cement houses,
girls quarreling over a bucket of water
at the public roadside water pump,
crows cawing from lamp posts,
and the rag picker collecting plastic bottles
from the road-side dust bin.

My silent road asks me:
How will our people transcend
from years of shunning silence?

***********************************************************

Also, my friends, I’m happy to announce that I’m planning to start a new series titled

“Picture Friday” starting February 04, 2011 where I’ll be posting lines, poetry, short pieces of fiction, scenes or stories based on a picture from our everyday lives.

On that note, you may share with me any pictures that you'd like to write or would like me to write about.

Do you have any pictures to share?

Reading List

2011-01-09T11:28:00.001-08:00

“There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good
reader.”
- Stephen Ambrose

I usually come across writers saying they read books from the genre that they write. They read a lot of it. A lot before entering the concrete jungle of New York to sell one of their own.
Many of us love to indulge in reading work by other novelists and somehow the experience of the reading reflects in the light of our own writing.

On that note, I’d like to share with you my “To-read fiction list” for this year. It’s got some new ones and some repeats from last year’s books. The list is in no particular order and is bound to grow in the coming months.

1. The Toss of a Lemon – By Padma Viswanathan
2. Esperanza Rising – By Pam Munoz Ryan
3. Tell Me a Secret – By Holly Cupala
4. What I saw and how I lied – By Judy Blundell
5. Leaving India – By Minal Hajratwala
6. Something Like Hope – By Shawn Goodman

You also don’t wanna miss this video that I came across at the presurfers. It is an interesting robotic gadget to inspire reading in a technically savvy world.
(http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2011/01/take-seat.html)

Do you have any good books or gadgets to share ?

New Year

2010-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

12 am Friday 31st December, 2010.

I sit on a black cushioned chair at the loneliest moment of the night, when Im the only one awake at home. My pale finger nails fumble on the white letter keys creating words on a blank screen. The night has collapsed into strange privacy, the buzzing note of the fan above me is suddenly overwhelming, like a voice.

I didn't know I'd feel so alone on the last day of the year, right here between the silence of a sleeping house and the sounds outside the window. Re-visiting this space after a "blog vacation" somehow makes the loneliness special. It seems like the best thing to do as the last chore of the year.

I've spent the last two and a half months doing nothing more than planning a vacation to India and then holidaying with some of my favorite people back home. Not a whole lot of updates on the writing progressometer, so tonight urges for a resolution.

I wish I could write that "I resolve to blog everyday." This is not what I am. Really, I'm much lazier, Im a resolution breaker. But I'm sure sharing this with all of you, my friends will help me stick to a routine.

So here is my idea for this year.

I wish to begin and end each day with the one thing I love to do the most - write.

Outside my window, I hear fire-crackers bursting. Then, the sounds of people shouting,welcoming the new year. Then, the sound of a passing ambulance. Two-wheelers and rickshaws honking. The sounds of people celebrating. Here's wishing you a great year ahead!

Do you have a resolution you want to share?

Best,
Suma.

Iru Lives Oru Story – A Tamil Theatrical Play by Indus Creations

2010-10-10T01:34:00.000-07:00

A review

The Story -

The story is about two South Indian immigrant married couples who are faced with extremities of success and failure in their professional and personal lives.

Jay, a very successful executive in a corporate firm struggles to establish a work life balance. Raj, a hard-working software engineer takes a new job after consecutive layoffs. With mergers, acquisitions and a changing economy, tension builds. Jay’s promise to spend time with his pregnant wife, Charu is broken and this leads to impulsive behavior. Raj is laid off again and is prone to spells of sadness and mental agony when he faces his wife, Priya.

What follows between them is a firestorm of rebuke, separation and disapproval. Then, the two families must make a choice that will change their lives forever.

Raj and Jay’s only solace is a psychiatrist, to whom they pour their heart out. This is where they meet for the first time and begin a new friendship. Priya’s interest in art and Charu’s fascination in interior design brings them together and helps them discover their true identities in their new world.

The Theatre Group -

Indus Creations is a south Indian Theater group based in Seattle. This is their fifth production. The story is adopted from a play hosted by Krea Creations of Bay Area. This play was also a fundraiser for AID India and was staged on October 3rd, 2010.

So, what makes this production – “A Tamil Play” so great?

First of all, let’s start with the plot. Iru Lives Oru Story has two things going for it to make it incredibly accessible for local audiences: It’s a story that immigrants can identify with, and it’s two hours long. That said, the story is not “easy” – there’s almost enough drama to take you through a swing of emotions. But the fact that the theme is familiar and that it’s real, makes it ideal for local audiences who don’t even speak or understand the language.

It helps expose them to the fact that “serious plays” can also be incredibly entertaining. A great deal of this entertainment, however, does come from the expert work of the director, producer, script writer, cast and crew of the play.

The play’s major strengths were the script and the acting. The set design elements of the play added immense value. Worth mentioning were the fireplace and the kitchen - they looked very real and established the right mood for the scenes.

Costumes were well- selected and lighting was great. A special mention about the music – it enhanced the overall effect of the scenes in a brilliant way.

The cast is marvelous with the main characters – Jay, Charu, Raj and Priya – played by Dhiga Sekaran, Aishwarya Sundar, Arjun Sundararajan and Ramya Sriram. After all these five years on the Seattle stage, I must say some of these actors have clearly mastered their roles and are proving to be dynamic in their performance. Delivering their lines with appropriate body language and such ease is a joy to watch and experience.

Secondary Characters were equally strong, notably the powerful Kari played by Anand Narayanan. He delivered lengthy dialogues with a great sense of precision. RSVP played by Sridhar Viswanath scored major laughs and was one of greatest assets of the script.
Other minor characters – the doctor (Vidhyashankar - apt) , the receptionist (Shweta – cuteness) and Kari’s wife (Chitra - charming) made their presence felt.

For the director and producer, there weren’t any important opportunities that they missed to convey to the audience.

The script was powerful. That said, I would've liked to have seen more attention paid to the length of some of the lines in the script, especially for Kari and Charu’s character. I assume they sensed a need for empathy and anger in those characters at an elevated level.

Some practical aspects, the stage imposed constraints in movement for the actors with Kari’s office setting. But the actors were capable of dealing with the script’s requirements.

Ultimately, Iru Lives Oru Story succeeds because it does two essential things: it both gives its audience what it wants, and contributes to the greater good of the society through a non-profit fundraiser in support of AID India.

It’s fun, serious, thought provoking and hilarious - and at the same time, it’s done with strong voices, and a strong cast and crew. This makes for an extremely satisfying entertainment experience, feeling somewhere between a play and a normal day-to-day immigrant life.

I honestly can’t think of better words of praise for Indus Creations – so please, by all means, take your family or your friends , or really even have a travel plan between now and the next year to swing by Seattle to watch the next play by Indus Creations.

Book Review- My Sister's Keeper

2010-10-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

Watched the movie. Still working through the book. This is my first time reading Picoult's books and I've enjoyed the book so far.

My Sister's Keeper is a novel written by Jodi Picoult. The story is about a 13 year old girl - Anna Fitzgerald who sues her parents for the rights to her body when she is expected to donate a kidney to her dying sister, Kate.

What is interesting about the book is that the narrative switches every chapter from character to character. So at every chapter, I'm in the voice of one of the main characters of the story - either Anna, or her family member , or her mentor.

The narratives also include flashbacks on Kate's illness, Anna's and Kate's growing up years. Picoult has a great hook in this book and I love how she defines her characters so well right in the beginning. As a reader, I'd love to read more and more about these interesting people.

During the course of the story, we are taken through Kate's life, the times with her family from the day she was born and how Anna's birth benefitted her.
The issues centering the family are sensitively drawn. It is really fascinating to see how Jodi has grasped the language of her characters and how well she has captured them for real.
I can't imagine how difficult some of these decisions that the family has to make must be, especially, when we are constantly reminded that there is no right or wrong choice.

From the reviews of the book, I see that people either love the ending or really hate the ending. I can't wait to get there to see what I personally think of it.

For now, I'd say Its a powerful novel and I am seriously blown away by it.

Recommend - Yes.
Jodi Picoult is an amazing talent.

On a different note, it feels awesome to be back to blogging after a break and to read your lovely posts :-)

What are you reading these days?

The make-over

2010-08-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, it is finally done. The blog has a new look and I'm ready to post new notes again.
I've been so out of touch with the blogosphere for a month now. I hope to catch up with you soon:-)

I'll be posting a book review next week about My Sister's Keeper. Hope to see you around.

- Suma.

Just posting to say that

2010-07-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about a blog-makeover and I will really be back in a week.

- Suma.

Setting Goals and Meeting them

2010-06-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

We all have done this at some point in our lives.

Recently, I’ve been facing this challenge while working on my manuscript.
One of the main discoveries in my writing-critique meetings is my peers know when a scene drifts and why. The problem and solution revolves around one concrete element : the scene needs a goal that triggers the main character to action. So, I’ve been reading about writing character-driven novels to counter this problem.

Here are a few points I read in an article in the Writer Magazine about the main character’s goals –
1. The main character needs one long-term goal that drives the external dramatic-action story.
2. One smaller goal in every scene that, depending on its success or failure, will move the character a step closer to, or farther away from her long-term goal.
3. Clearly articulated goals, both long term and short-term , will help keep you and your story grounded.
4. The main character needs to have a clearly defined goal to stay focused and ultimately, the story‘s clarity will translate to readers more easily.

Let’s take a look at the film, “Finding Nemo” for example.

The father clownfish character of Marlin goes through a transformation from an over-protective father to a problem-solving parent in the animated film. His goals are clearly defined – to find his son, Nemo. During his journey, Marlin makes several changes solely on the problems that he is faced with and the way he chooses to handle them.

In the whole film, he battles the ocean’s obstacles and the choices that he makes to react to those problems change his entire view on life and ultimately help him achieve his goal of bringing his son back home.

Well, isn’t this true of our lives –

1. We have our own established long term goals at the start of every year. We execute our plans with the help of other people, for causes or groups that we care for.

2. We identify the elements that would prevent us from achieving our goals , prepare for worst-case scenarios and the potential for loss.

3. Finally, we work towards shorter –term goals with specific tasks and objectives that will bring us closer to accomplishing our long term goals.

This is what I’m trying to put together in my draft at present and it’s getting there slowly.

So, what are your long-term and short term goals? And what tactics have you used to stay focused to achieve them?

Author Spotlight Series - Mitali Perkins

2010-06-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Time for another shining star.

Meet Mitali Perkins, author of Secret Keeper and most recently “Bamboo People”. She very graciously took the time out of her writing schedule to be interviewed.

Here's what she has to say:

http://www.archive.org/download/AuthorInterview-MitaliPerkinsBySumaSubramaniam/MitaliPerkins.mp3

Do write in.

Best,
Suma.

Lust, Caution - A review

2010-05-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

The book is written by Eileen Chang, a Chinese writer whose works are considered to be among the best Chinese literature.

I had to read the story twice because the writing is terse in many places. Of course, I read the English version as I don’t know Chinese.

That said, the key to understand the story better is to also watch the movie by Ang Lee.

The story is set in Shanghai and is about a young girl, Wong Chia Chi who is a student and member of a political theater group. She and the group members use their theatrical acting abilities in active resistance to the Japanese occupation in China in the period of 1938 - 1942.

Wong disguises as a married sophisticate of a business tycoon. She enters the circle of Mr. Yee who is a Chinese collaborator and nemesis of the resistance. Wong is assigned the role of influencing Mr. Yee by getting intimate with him. She carries out her task by participating in tea parties, gossips and mahjong games of Mrs. Yee.

During the course of the story, Wong finds herself both intensely attracted and repelled by Mr. Yee. The erotic scenes in the film are powerful and move through various emotions.

Eventually, Wong falls in love with the man she is up against and finds it hard to kill Mr.Yee. She is wrapped in deceit and betrayal and becomes party to it.

The story in the book is very short, but the film is three hours long and Ang Lee, the director has taken a good time exploring human behavior.

The story has a stark, unsentimental conclusion that could go either ways for readers.
I find the ending confusing and abrupt with the protagonist failing in the task she set out to do.

Overall, the story isn’t a fast-paced thriller but thought provoking if you like a long drama.

On a different note, I'm half-way through Mitali's Secret Keeper and will keep you posted on that soon.

What's on your reading list now?

Meme tag

2010-05-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

I got tagged on a meme in Danika's blog.

It was fun and here's a little of me for you.

The rule is to answer the following 5 questions 5 times and then tag 5 more people to do the same.

Question #1 – Where were you 5 years ago:

1. Lived in Bangalore, India
2. Slept every night on a cool red-oxide floor
3. Learnt to cook south Indian food from my mom
4. Fell in love with an amazing man who became my husband
5. Learnt to play the violin

Question #2 – Where would you like to be five years from now?

At home -
1. Shaping my imagination into reality through writing
2. Learning to play Beethoven
3. Believing in the road forward
4. Having the courage to follow my heart and Keep looking for what I love
5. Becoming an incurable optimist and contributing beyond myself

Question #3 – What is on your to do list today?

1. Write a scene draft
2. Read chapter 6 of “ The Secret Keeper” by Mitali Perkins
3. Walk my dog
4. Write pending email responses
5. Check the rose and hibiscus plants in my garden

Question #4 – What snacks do you enjoy?

1. Mom’s Papadums – dry roasted or deep fried discs of lentil crisps from South India
2. Doughnuts
3. White chocolate
4. Mom’s home-made Potato Chips
5. Roasted almonds

Question #5 – What would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Continue feeling bothered by poems and plot lines as they pass through my ears while watering plants in my garden, while cutting vegetables, while making a meal.
2. Experience the sheer joy of showing up to write every day. Without fail.
3. Love what I do.
4. Be inspired by some of the most extraordinary aspects of being that is
within the people around me.
5. Do what I believe is great work.

Consider yourself tagged -

1. Perception

2. Hema

3. Angelina Hansen

4.Arjun Rajendran

5. Vijaya Bodach

Even if you aren't tagged, just pick any one or more of the five questions above and do write to me.

Best,
Suma.

Saturday Morning at 10 am

2010-05-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

Its drizzling outside my window –

Which means I can’t sit and stare here

Or here

But, I'll manage to indulge in this book this weekend -

while Duke, my dog nibbles my feet under the couch

and as vegetables cook in a tamarind gravy for Bisibele Bath in my kitchen.

“Lust, Caution” written by Eileen Chang is a story of love, betrayal and manipulation set in Shanghai during World War 2. The book is also made into a movie.

I’ll post a review for it in my next post.

That said, I came across an old article about how some of our favorite writers write.
I’m sure you’ll find this quite intriguing.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703740004574513463106012106-lMyQjAxMDA5MDAwNjEwNDYyWj.html

Have a great weekend everyone

and

tell me what you did when it last rained.

Author Spotlight Series - Indu Sundaresan

2010-04-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

She's the author of Shadow Princess and is the first shining star of my Author Spotlight series.

She kindly allowed me to ask her many questions about her writing life and her newest historical novel.

Here's Indu's interview for you.

http://www.archive.org/download/AuthorInterview-InduSundaresan/InduSundaresan.mp3

I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
Suma.

I’m back from the SCBWI Western Washington conference

2010-04-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

and so wonderfully intrigued and inspired.

I would definitely recommend going to this conference, if you’re a children’s book illustrator or a writer writing children’s books mainly in the following categories –

Picture Books, Chapter Books, Middle grade, YA novels. Plenty of useful workshops,

networking opportunities and fun.

The keynote speakers at the conference were Laini Taylor, Jay Asher, Mitali Perkins and Peter Brown.

All of them had very different journeys, different surprises, different “aha” moments and unanticipated challenges in their writing lives. That said, they had one thing in common – a deep sense of love for writing and mountain moving persistence.

Now, I’m in that phase of a writer’s life when your own writing can make you feel like you’re having a mid-life crisis situation. Disconcerting in a million ways.

But, the conference proved a worthwhile checkpoint for reassurance.

I had a manuscript consultation on the first few chapters with author Sundee Frazier (http://www.sundeefrazier.com/) and received some really valuable feedback.

And this is how I feel about my story now –

Hope. You know, like the feeling of committing to a new love affair. *Grin* .

And here’s happy me with the wonderful author, Mitali Perkins at the conference. (http://www.mitaliperkins.com/) Love her stories.

Jolie Stekly, an SCBWI volunteer, blogged live from the conference all weekend, so check out the events here. (http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/)

So that was that.

I’ll be starting an author series from my next post. For now, check out best-selling author Indu Sundaresan and her books here. (http://indusundaresan.com/)

and tell me, what brought a grin on your face recently?

Happiness in three things

2010-02-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

1. Finally finished watching the fifth season of Lost - and I'm now looking forward to the sixth.

2. Walked my dog for the eighth consecutive weekend and keeping on it.

3. Signed up for the scbwi conference in April

On a different note, author Bob Mayer is giving a five week writing series starting March at the Bellevue Library. Pre-registration required.

Click here for more information.

http://www.kcls.org/events/author.cfm#mayer

So what things have brought you happiness in the last two weeks?

It is officially Monday morning .

2010-02-08T03:04:00.000-08:00

3.30 am and I’m pretending it’s not. Seriously. Writing at this hour is a lonely business. It is still best for me to write now, into the quiet of the night, with no distractions.

I’m sure it’s my current mood of, “Oh its February already-so get the writing done BEFORE the deadline”.

It seems like my addiction to being online is affecting my writing time. Wow. I’ve admitted it.

Finally.

I can think clearly now.

So, I’ve decided to remove some of the internet noise to help my concentration – for the most part. Thanks to my husband's continued support.

And here are a few things I’ve been doing -

Reading:

1. Indu Sundaresan’s “In the Convent of Little Flowers”. Two more stories to go.

2. Jodi Picoult’s “ My sister’s keeper” and “ Handle with care”.

3. Gin Phillips’ “TheWell and the Mine”

Listening to:

1. My friend Somas’ amazing singing in his blog - http://indianmusicfreak.blogspot.com/

2. Enya’s “Wild Child” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__0QZTI6W5A

3. M.S. Subbulakshmi ‘s greatest hits – Here’s a sample - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4FUQxn4CnY

Loving:

White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino

What’s on your “Reading” “Listening to” and “Loving” list?

I drove to Auburn today.

2010-01-24T21:27:00.000-08:00

Alone. To read poems for “Uniquely Auburn”.

So this is how my day began. My grandma passed away yesterday. That’s 7 to the family death count in the last one month. Very depressing and uncomfortable, and uhm…not at all how I wanted the day to begin.

It rained heavy and the sky was dull grey.
From the way I drove the car, you would know that I got lost a couple of times. I called down all the gods and goddesses that my mom had introduced to me since I was a child. Troubled my husband too.

And it took me about two hours to psyche myself up before I got to the Auburn Performing Arts Center.

Yay! I arrived on time at the venue.

And then it all happened.

Poetry, Music and creative performances by the local community.

Here’s a picture of us, the Striped Water Poets as we are called –

And this is one of my poems up on a poster at the center –

For the reading, I chose a couple of poems from my book. There was no room for hemming and hawing when the pool of light fell on me. It just fell in place.

There’s no better way to gain an audience for poetry than on this stage, where we gave a professional reading to around 400 people. I read into the mike and knew my grandma was sitting somewhere out there, listening.

The joy of reconnecting the power of poetry to the people : priceless. We gave them the pleasure of our poems: the words and sounds.

The night came sooner than expected and with it, there was heavy rainfall.

By now, I had gotten used to getting lost. Of course, I took the wrong exit and got on track by the next one again.

I reached home at 8.30 pm. Big relief. I’m so happy.

I can still feel myself tensing up when I started in the morning, but I knew it was going to be a day well spent and the memory of my grandma in the reading will forever remain.

So, how did your weekend pass?

Let's do poetry

2010-01-10T22:27:00.000-08:00

This is a simple, straightforward fun exercise.

I will write a line and then pass it to you, who will add another line.

In a group setting, the poem would then go to the third person who comments on this post and so on. In a two-person setting, the poem comes back to me.

So here, we go! My first line is inspired by the picture above.

" I paint the day's colors on a plain white canvas "

I look forward to reading your lines -

- Suma

It got a wee bit crazy

2009-12-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

So I took this much wanted Winter break on purpose. There are certain things that overpower all the hustle and bustle of everyday life –

Family
Friendship
The healing power of love

So here’s hope and new avenues to the New Year that is to come - to more reading - to more time with family and friends - to the times of self-imposed ignorance of a messy house and spend time writing -like- a crazy woman – and to the pursuit of the happiness of hearing from readers.

Here’s wishing you a very happy new year!

-Suma.

All day Poetry Marathon Event at King's Books in Tacoma

2009-11-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

and I was featured with a bunch of wonderful poets yesterday – November 14, 2009. This annual event is hosted by Maggie Kelly who is also a poet and a charming friend. Various poets from the area were invited and there were open mic slots too.

So I had poetry for lunch yesterday and it was quite something – powerful and super delicious.
This was my second time at the store - Something to say about King’s Books. They have a rare collection of books apart from the popular ones.

I found a copy of the book “FATELESS” by Imre Kertesz. It’s a novel by the 2002 Nobel Prize Winner that chronicles the story of a Hungarian Jewish boy named George and his response to his experience in a concentration camp during World War 2. The book is written in the first person and explores subtle details of the time period.

I also ran into a conversation about Bharatanatyam with Sweet Pea, from the store. Sweet Pea was drawn to the title of my book. He described his love for Indian Classical Dance.

He told me about how he’d long to see a Bharatanatyam sequence in Bollywood films, of how Indian Classical Dance is the one reason that makes him watch them even if he doesn’t understand the language and that some day he wants to pursue Bharatanatyam for the joy and love of dancing.

And so for the love of the dance, here is a clip from a Tamil movie - Salangai Oli that appreciates the beauty of Bharatanatyam. The song features actors Kamal Haasan & Jayapradha in Nada Vinodangal.
The song describes how music and the pleasures of dancing give ultimate peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te1dMYRWXOc

It reminds me how beautiful and rare it is of us to be drawn to an image on paper, canvas, stone and nature. How pleasing it is to read and write down stories and poems of a life-time of generations. How meditative it is to be drawn to music and dance, musical notes, sports, choreography, photography and just about anything that is so reassuring of the free and creative life within each of us that brings the world together.

So what creative art form keeps your interest these days?

Two months down with the plotting

2009-11-08T21:13:00.001-08:00

and I don’t feel completely comfortable with my story outline.

Often times, I’m not even sure why I’m doing it. Sometimes I guess I’m caught up with all the hype of doing the writing thing and being a writer. Nevertheless, people around me - my friends - my shining stars tell me that I’m in the right direction and I’m going to have to give it my best shot.

This whole writing experience gives me a feeling about life that is worth living for. Hell, I’d like to get this plotting exercise done sooner and start writing the novel.

I attended a great workshop by Robert Dugoni over the weekend on How to Write a New York Times Best Seller.

Here are some of his quotes from the class worth revisiting no matter what you’re writing , some of them are questions –

1. What is the name of the book you’re currently reading ?

2. Stephen King reads 80 books a year. Jeff Ayers (PNWA) reads 300 books a year. How many do you read?

3. Taking a writing course is not going to get you a NewYork Times Bookseller. You got to start writing.

4. You don’t want to write just a good book. You want to write a book that the agent/editor will want to represent and they will ask you for the rest of the book beyond the first fifty pages because they’re going crazy.

5. You have to be bulldogs about your writing in this industry. It’s not going to happen in your time.

6. You have to be able to accept rejections and move on. You must never give up.

7. What is your goal for today?

8. What is the one thing you want to be done to further your writing career by the end of the month?

9. What do you want to be done by the end of the year ? ( Not December , but a year from now , that is November 2010)

To the last question, my answer is I want to finish writing my current work-in-progress novel by the end of the year.

I know, I’m almost two months early before the New Year resolution time, but we all have goals and we don’t have to wait for the New Year to establish them and start pursuing our dreams.

I happened to watch Akeelah and the Bee over the weekend and I’d like to share some food for thought that Akeelah reads, quoting Marianne Williamson in the movie.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

So what do you want to be done by the end of November 2010?

I’m in the Initial excitement part of this right now

2009-10-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

and while I’m on it, I thought I’ll share with you a great picture from the Hero’s Journey (Joseph Campbell) that spells out the journey of the protagonist.

So, how do you know you’re meant to be a writer? Read about it in Author Theresa Meyer’s blog here:

http://www.theresameyers.com/blog/

Also, Robert Dugoni , one of my favorite writers is giving a series of workshops this month. If you’re a writer living in the Puget Sound Area, you would want to attend at least one of his sessions.

Details here:

http://robertdugoni.com/speakingengagements.html

And, I happened to attend the book signing event of the gifted Author Indu Sundaresan. So for the last couple of weeks I’m off to bed early to catch up on the brilliant collection of stories from her latest book, “In the Convent of Little Flowers”

Look forward to a review on the book and an interview with the author in the forthcoming weeks.

Tell me about your reading interests. Which book is lying on your bed-side table / reading desk ?

So many books are published

2009-10-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

and just how diverse reader’s interests are. It is quite a challenging task for an author to cater to every reader’s taste.

I sometimes wonder if us, the bookish types went through the mental exercise and wrote about the author and the book, we’d really have our own personal reasons for reading a book.

My reasons would center around these:

I’m interested in the book.
I love the writing and genre.
I’m interested in the author.

Reading is a huge part of a writer’s life. What’s interesting is that while I practice the craft of plotting my next novel, the entire reading experience is evolving. I start noticing the Point of View, word usage, ideas that trigger more ideas.

Strangely enough, I want to know how the story/ scene grew out of the author and if there were other characters in the story/ scene in an earlier draft.

And then, there are some idioms and phrases that work for me and some that don’t.

Now, that segues into this week’s fun from the Webster’s Idiom Handbook:

Here are a couple of American and British idioms that I looked up to share with you.

The idioms share a common meaning and some common words, but they use different verbs to form the idiom.

American Idiom and Example: Check something off (a list)

Eg. He checked off his grocery list as he chose the items.

British Idiom: tick something off

American and British Common Meaning: to mark an item on a list as done, completed

Note: The American English idiom tick someone off means to annoy someone or make someone mad, as in “His comments at the meeting really ticked me off.”

American Idiom and Example: It’s up to someone

Eg. She asked my advice, but it’s really up to her how she invests her money.

British Idiom: it’s down to someone

American and British Common Meaning: means “it’s your decision, responsibility, choice.”

Note: In American English down to you means you are the last one, the only one left, as in “Everyone else has gone home, so now it’s just down to you and me.”

Now you tell me. What is the latest idiom you’ve picked up or do you remember an all-time favorite idiom that you use or you've noticed someone using?

This is my favorite kind of networking

2009-10-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

and I haven’t blogged in a while.

I have my reasons –

1. Post conference hangover

2. Navaratri Festival

3. I’ve been occupied --- at work, at home, okay I’ve been active on Facebook,
but still.

…I just took a break...

But these aren’t reasons. They’re excuses.
Actually, I don’t have a real reason. I’m out of words.

That said, here’s a link to a great contest at Nathan Bransford’s blog –

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/10/3rd-s-o-sufpc-update-1.html

For more writing inspiration, here’s Michael Connelly’s interview with Stacey Cochran.
Michael Connelly is a bestselling author who writes detective novels and legal thrillers.

No, he doesn’t practice law.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NECw_d0Tpc&feature=player_embedded

Write to me. What have you been upto all these days?

Jim, Myron, Bob and I

2009-08-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

have started doing our writing critique group habitually again, after a post conference hiatus.

Last week we had a lot to share on our writing goals and outlines for the rest of the year.
Something I realized after our meeting last week is that I’ve got some good projects to focus on. I think what is common for me – is it’s quite easy to complain to a friend about how I haven’t been writing.

So, I started writing whenever an idea came to me the last few days, at work and at home and I have actually gone pretty far with some writing even if it was about varied subjects. It’s fun. A novel is a long piece of work and I know it cannot be achieved without marathon writing. I’m trying to develop a certain rhythm now that will get me to the end and not allow myself to completely come out of it.

For good reads, here’s a list of 100 best novels of all time from the website of Random House:

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

I also stumbled on this interview of Robert McKee for writing inspiration this week. You don’t wanna miss it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc5QRxZidNQ

Alright my friends, here is a memorable picture from the PNWA Summer Conference.

2009-08-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

Courtesy: Myron Medearis - my talented support/critique group member who is presently working on a Steampunk novel

The picture has some buddies from my writing class at the Univ of WA with Pam Binder, our ever inspiring instructor. We miss Martha in this picture who was also there to gather all the valuable information and insight in the world of writing.

The conference was fantastic - Useful sessions, helpful presenters, wonderful connections and fabulous writer-friends.

And and and and...here me read at the Auburn Good Ol’ Days this Sunday August 9 2009.

Here’s the official announcement for a poetry reading in Auburn Ave Theater for the Auburn Good Ol’ Days.

I’m one of the featured poets and I’ll be reading from my chapbook, “Euphoric Natya”

Do stop by to enjoy some Poetry and some fun writing stuff.

Here’s the fabulous line-up for Sunday August 9 2009 in the Auburn Ave. Theater

10-12 workshop on collaborative writing the whys and hows and other fun stuff brought to us by Jim Bertolino and Anita Boyle

12-1 featured poets with about 10 to 15 or so minutes stage time aka Poets on Parade:

The Voice, Shadowbyrd

Wicked Dick Brugger

Suma Subramaniam

1-2 more featured poets:

Nashira Priester

Chris Jarmick

William Kupinse, last year's Urban Grace Poet Laureate of Tacoma

2-3 more poets parading around:

David Ash

Anita Boyle

Jim Bertolino

3-5 our open mic poetry contest, cash prizes for first, second and third place, poetic and chocolaty gift baskets for all three winners

judges will be Jim and Anita

our MC for the Sunday will be Marjorie Rommel

simple contest rules:family friendly language, 3 minutes, judges decisions are final, order of participants is determined by the sign up sheet, prizes to be awarded on Sunday after the contest

remember, it's FREE!!!

There’s also a great line-up of local authors - both poets and writers from various genres on Friday. For more information about the two-day literary adventure visit
http://www.auburngoodoldays.com/adventures_in_literature.htm

The writing " process " is never done

2009-07-27T01:20:00.000-07:00

As I blog about this, its over midnight. Well, my husband and my dog are here with me, but I’m the only one awake. Okay, I’ll admit it, I don’t like to be awake on Sunday nights…especially because of Monday morning blues. I don’t.

But this is different than any other night, because of two main reasons:

1. I love talking to you this way and I missed you guys here last week.

2. I’m this close to finishing my revision. A few more story lines to add, a few left to tighten, some to tweak…and it will get there! Yay! I’ve been scrambling the last couple of weeks with a total revision throw down on my children’s story and the manuscript has gotten a heavy makeover so far.

On that note, here’s what I’m going to do this summer week:

**Chill out**

And btw, if you’re a poet, writer, blogger or even if you just love to scribble, here are some events to spice up the month of August for you.

Sounds like fun? Join me here:

1. August Postcard Poetry Fest

a. Where you need to be: Anywhere in the world
b. Link : http://www.poetrypostcards.blogspot.com/ or
http://www.concretewolf.com/august/

2. 3:15 experiment

a. Where you need to be: Anywhere in the world
b. Link : http://www.315experiment.com/

3. PNWA Conference

a. Where you need to be: Seattle
b. Link : http://pnwa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=5

See you next!

-Suma.

Report on Ehsaas 2009 published in Narthaki

2009-07-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have some exciting news to share with you.

Arpan is a performing arts organization in Seattle. On June 12th, the Arpanites put up a colorful show of Bharatanatyam ( A form of Indian Classical dance) called Ehsaas 2009 at the Town Hall in Seattle.

My report on Ehsaas 2009 by Arpan is published in Narthaki, an online journal focused on Indian Dance forms.

The report is titled “Ehsaas 2009: A realization through dance”

Here’s the link and happy reading!

http://narthaki.com/rindex.html

For more information about Arpan or Ehsaas or to support them, please visit: www.joycekpaul.com or http://www.joycekpaul.com/Ehsaas2009/index.htm

Dealing with rejections

2009-07-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

How emotional the writing business can be. Like everyone else, we writers are sensitive to a review of our work of “art” no matter how valid the criticism is.

Rejection letters haven’t slaughtered me so far, but each one of them has provided some interesting possibilities and opinions.

Now, why am I talking about this to you?

Well, I've had a story come my way on the rejection front.I received my critique letter from the PNWA literary contest yesterday. It stung me and my first reaction to it was emotional and defensive.

An hour later, when I read the letter again, I realized that I loved my story to an utterly freaking high scale when it actually deserved revision and re-writes.

I’ve decided to file the letter and here onwards, keep a record of the rejections I’m going to receive. It’s “my pride file”.

It’s not impossible to develop a thick skin and emerge from it, in order to make it to the other side.

The good news is :

I’m not alone.

I’m on the right track.

I have a chance to improve my manuscript for future publication.

I have another story that I’m working on right now to keep me distracted.

I have a fabulous critique group.

I’ve moved one step forward on the publishing road.

I do see hope ahead.

For inspiration this week, here’s a video from Author Magazine with tips from published writers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1h4rm57UIg

How about you? Did you have any kind of rejection experience lately? How did you handle it?

The PNWA Conference

2009-06-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

is a project that has given me some clear writing deliverables with a time-line. With summer round the corner and the long weekend approaching, it is going to be challenging to stay indoors and keep persevering with that important ‘manuscript’.

I’m not a complete organized writer, but creating short writing milestones at consistent intervals allow me to measure my progress.

So, here’s a power strategy I discovered. It is so much easier to be motivated when I’m accountable to you- my blog readers, friends and well-wishers.

It's a mutual feeling - I feel I can't let you down, and you feel you can't either.
So we both end up meeting our deliverables no matter what they are. Magic!

What makes this an even more powerful motivational strategy is that I have more than one buddy reading this blog. That's why I love blogging- it’s becoming very hard to stop this connection two weeks in a row.

For this week, here’s a link I got from Jeff Abbot’s blog about the writing spaces of science fiction and fantasy writers.

The setting for every writer is so fascinating that you don’t wanna miss it.

http://www.whereiwrite.org/

Also, here’s an interesting article about finding your readers in Waverly Fitzgerald’s website that I found to be very intriguing.

http://www.waverlyfitzgerald.com/articles/reader.html

For information on the conference click here: http://pnwa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=5

So, what are your milestones at this time?

Suma.

Indus Creations

2009-06-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

is a South Indian theater group in Seattle Area.

In 2006, this group was born from “Aranmanai Siruvayalil” , a play that transformed a handful of Tamizh techies in Seattle to brilliant stage performers.

In the next couple of years, the cast and crew grew in number. They cranked up great quality in the selection of stories, staging, acting and directing mainstream and suspense thrillers with “Kadavul Vandhirundhar” ( God had arrived) and “Ragasiya Snegidiye” (Secret Lover)

This year, they did it again, beating their own benchmark standards in staging “London Express” a complete laugh-out-loud comedy play.

They staged two successful shows on Sunday, June 7 2009 at Meydenbauer Theater in Bellevue, WA. The tickets were sold out at least four days before the play and there was a waiting list.

It’s important to note that the theater group is a non-profit org and the proceeds from the tickets go to support a cause every year.

This year, it was Unitus, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing innovative, market-based solutions to global poverty.

I loved it so much that I couldn’t wait to write this review for London Express:

At a time when the slump in the economy has almost everyone depressed, London Express is more than just a pleasant surprise.

It has jokes, well-executed clichés from Tamil movies – the most hilarious ones to spare us. The play is clever, confident, highly energetic and constantly engaging for a two hour thirty minute ride.

The plot is about what happens when the passengers of London Express, a flight to London are faced with a bomb threat at Chennai Airport.

Script:

The storyline was created by Manoj Sivakumar. The script for the play is the work of a six-man team also responsible for roles in direction and acting – Arjun Sundararajan, Manoj Sivakumar, Pradeep Ganapathyraj, Ramkumar Swaminathan, Sridharan Ramanathan and Sridhar Visvanath. Production was handled by the ever energetic Dhigha Sekaran.

These guys are endlessly inventive.

I caught up with some of the writers to talk about the script during its drafting process. One of things that I conceived was a significant challenge in the play was that there were multiple main characters and therefore several arcs to every character’s journey.

I’m no expert, of course, I’m merely an author of a book of poems and working on my first novel, but it seems clear to me that to sustain throughout any script, the plot must have a great deal of action and the characters must have an equally great deal of substance.

Somehow, these writers creatively managed to create that action around the plot and more importantly within the characters.

Some of the characters like Shankar Narayanan, Balram Naidu, Maragadhavalli and Shalini ended up coming full circle, but there was a curve of some description for the other characters as well. Even the linear characters were given the prominence they needed.

The six of them have put together a much smoother script than most solo script writers can manage. The characters have explicit authenticity in the accent. The dialogue has a cheerful in depth feeling. It also has a steadier and consistent comic attitude than the previous plays by the group. The loose ends were effectively tied up with a story line in projection screens.

Cast:

The casting and acting was brilliant. The characters themselves were not complex, but they had realistic, multiple dimensions – some of them like Balram Naidu, Shankar Narayanan,Shalini, Vinay, Murali, the terrorist, Thannikachalam and the stewardess also had conflicting dimensions that was a great delight to see.

Facing the audience and keeping one’s back away from the audience is an important element of professional acting. Some of them were so seasoned from previous acting experience that it felt like they merely needed a situation thrown at them and they took on a life of their own within the characters.

Their diction, delivery and expressions to a situation were more straightforward with a well defined character.

Kids – fulfilled the screenplay with all their witty, innocent ways.

Zorro - A good cheese spread and Tirupathi Laddu can make this sweet animal act with brilliance. How adorable. A dog like Zorro is such an easy labor of love.

Stage Design Direction, Stage Design and Props:

The stage setting had more to offer this time with a much more reactive and dynamic stage design – working LCD monitors, glass windows, the attractive Café Coffee Day setting, projection screens and a fantastically designed airport.

Every little change in the setting seems to have been well addressed - great attention to detail, for example, the textures of material used, the color of paint in the coffee shop, the props and so on captured great visual interest.

Transition time was very effectively utilized in most places.

The projection videos at a couple of places lingered for longer or appeared much before the actual sequence but this was soon taken care of.

The cast made excellent use of the props. They gave much power linking their stage actions closely with the props through effective movements and gestures.

Music and Sounds:

The fact that these guys created their own music for the title song was very creative and was a pleasant surprise.

The title song was audible, though the music overpowered the lyrics in many places. I hope this will be taken care of in the DVD.

The sound effects were mostly good and effective. Although in a few places, the effects lost sync and some voices were distinctly louder than the others, I’m not sure if this was a problem with the mike system.

Lighting:

was very cool and created great visual interest. I loved the dimming, brightening and the drama of it all.

Make-up and Costume:

Make-up was very authentic and so were the costumes. The hair-cut, dyes, colors were absolutely fabulous. It was evident these artists in the back stage and the actors made quite an effort to bring about the faces look so distinct according to the age of the character.

Overall, the play didn't allow me to leave my seat until the finish.

The dvd's should be out soon. Do get yourself a copy if you understand Tamil.

If you’ve read this far, you probably realize that I’ve fallen in love with this theater group.

The cast and crew that are involved with this non-profit organization truly deserve a word of praise and healthy nurturing.

Please help support Indus Creations.

If you wish to learn more about, contribute or participate in the events of this theater group, visit their website @ http://induscreations.org/

See you next week!

- Suma.

Life is a series of presentations

2009-05-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

says Kim Dower, a literary publicist on the Gregory Mantell Show. Kim is co-author of the book, “Life is a series of Presentations” in which she talks about eight essential presentation practices that we can use to get what we want in our daily lives.

The book offers inspiration on how to remain fueled by the passion we have for our ideas.

Here’s the link to the interview:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3973890897225410060

Now, I’m in the final stretch of writing the new children’s story and my brain is all wired to finishing it this weekend. So, back to work and I’ll see you next week.

Keeping pace

2009-05-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

After a great laid-back long weekend at the Oregon coast, I’m back to juggling among my greatest priorities – my family, my writing, reading and my job.

Okay, I didn’t forget to mention blogging, facebook, phone calls, friends, personal emails, cooking, doing the dishes and laundry among other stuff I can’t do without.

By the way, if you do have some writing to send out, don’t miss the submission deadline to Crab Creek Review, a Seattle journal.

The deadline is May 31st for postmarked submissions.

Here’s the link: http://www.crabcreekreview.org/submit.htm

So while I do the catching up for this week, this video should spring up an idea, give you a break or just keep you from doing anything else for two minutes. Enjoy!

What are your priorities like ? How do you keep pace with them ?

It’s a slow hike up the writing progressometer

2009-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

but something is moving forward.

“Have you written anything today?” is a common question from my husband that I have to be ready with by the end of every weekend.

Here’s an article written by James Thayer that you’ll enjoy reading. It’s about how many words we should be writing everyday:

http://www.authormagazine.org/articles/thayer_james_2009_04_09.htm

So I sat on my black leather couch at noon on this bright sunny Seattle day slanting numberless thoughts. Word after word, the story made its presence. My pale finger nails fumbled on the black letter keys. Words danced. My drooping eyes opened up wide. I took out my glasses and put them on again, crossed my eyebrows. Some new ideas took shape and I managed to make it.

Word Count for the week – 1027. I screwed a grin.

So, what is your progressometer like? How do you manage to make time for writing?

A day of procrastination

2009-05-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

This is how I spent a right-write day

waiting for the perfect word-flow:

and the perfect idea:

the perfect mood:

and then finally

wrote this poem which is a part of my next poetry manuscript.

Happy Reading!

(All copyrights of the poem remain with the author)

Okay Guys, Please check with me on the poem. I took it off the post because I hope to include it in my next manuscript.

***

So, what are your procrastination experiences? How have you found ways to accomplish nothing like the way I did?

I’m a weekend writer

2009-05-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

and usually, I get around 7 hours a week to devote to writing. I somehow manage to juggle this hobby with everything else that’s happening in my life.

Sometimes, it’s amazing at how much I can achieve during this time. There are however times, when I would have written just a small paragraph of fifty words.

I realize that the key is to have a fixed goal and finish at least one book this year. So I thought I’ll share my work-in-progress manuscripts with you.

My goal for this year is to complete any one of the following work-in-progress manuscripts :

Children's Short Fiction

1. A short story based on the Indian festival of lights- Diwali
2. A short story based on the Tsunami of 2004 in South East Asia

Mainstream Literary Fiction

1. A novel based on the Partition of India
2. A collection of short stories based on the lives of immigrants from India in US.

Poetry

1. A collection of poems based on the cultural differences in my life after my wedding.

Which one of my manuscripts do you think will make it to the publisher’s desk this year?

Take a wild or a well-thought-out guess. If your prediction turns out right, then you’re in for a giveaway when the book is published.

For writing inspiration this week, you don’t wanna miss this Philips TV ad. It weaves a clever and appealing plot and is more than just a marketing idea :

Also, for all you poets and writers out there, what are you working on and what are your writing goals for this year?

Winner of Suma’s three question Quiz

2009-04-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

The most exciting part of any contest is announcing the winner. First, here are the solutions to the quiz.

1. Unscramble the two words : ioeruhcp tayan

Ans : Euphoric Natya

2. According to one of my posts, who wrote the following poem:
Here a pretty baby lies
Sung asleep with lullabies
Pray be silent and not stir
Th’ easy earth that covers her

Ans: Robert Herrick

3. Which 4 books on my “to read” list have been made/ or being made into movies?

Ans: 1. The mist – Stephen King
2. Hostage – Robert Crais
3. Q & A – Vikas Swarup
4. Angels and Demons – Dan Brown

Congratulations to Pradeep Chauhan, the winner of the contest!!!

Pradeep Chauhan is vice-president of a staffing firm. He loves to read and write fiction and lives in Redmond, WA.

Also, I’m giving away surprise runners-up prizes for two contestants who got most of it right –

1. Robert Rowan

Robert Rowan is an architect and a fiction writer, living in Everett, WA. His area of interest is science-fiction.

2. Venkat Krishnamachari

Venkat Krishnamachari is a software engineer, social worker and a Tamil poet living in Kirkland, WA. His area of interest is politics, poetry, drama and social service.

Congratulations to all the winners! Thanks to all the fabulous people who participated.

It was an enjoyable little contest and I absolutely loved judging it.

Pradeep, Bob and Venkat : Please email me your addresses so I can mail the prizes out to you.

Talking about judging, I'm on the judges’ panel of the New Poets Society poetry contest(http://new-poets-society.org/) for the second time.

It’s a poetry contest for the gifted, creative kids of the Eastside schools of Seattle. Today is the awards’ ceremony and the giveaway is around $3000 dollars of scholarship money along with gift certificates and other goodies.

It is a humbling experience to be judging for this contest. It’s amazing to see the quality of writing that comes out when children are allowed and encouraged to write what they care about, for causes that move or inspire them. The ideas that fill their minds must be told and it is directly or indirectly our responsibility to inspire and encourage their writing.

If you wish your school or your kids’ school should participate in the contest, please have your school send an email to me or info@new-poets-society.org .

My next post will be about my work-in-progress manuscripts. Hope you’ll come by.

So I dreamed of being a writer

2009-04-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

and now that I’m published, I sometimes have the experience of people looking at me a little differently than if I said I were a housewife or worked as a technical recruiter for my living.

More than one person has said, “Wow. Now I know a writer/ poet.”

The thing is, I’ll only be a “recognized” writer if I network with my readers and you tell everyone you know to read / buy my book.

Talking about writers and books, here is a comic strip you don’t wanna miss. It’s hilariously real.

So for a refresher, I thought I’ll have a little contest, with one signed copy of my book to the winner. If you already have a copy of my book, you can still enter the contest.

I’m offering up this challenge to you:

Suma’s Three Question Quiz:

1. Unscramble the two words : ioeruhcp tayan

2. According to one of my posts, who wrote the following poem:

Here a pretty baby lies

Sung asleep with lullabies:

Pray be silent and not stir

Th' easy earth that covers her.

3. Which 4 books on my “to read list” have been made/ are being made into movies?

Feel free to email me your guesses, I mean your thoroughly-researched answers. Or have some fun and post what you think I may have posted.

Deadline: Please email on or before Saturday, April 25, 2009.

My email ids : suma@sumasubramaniam.com or suma_v_s@yahoo.co.in

I'll give away one copy of my chapbook to the person who gets all the answers correct (selected at random).

Happy Quizzing!

National Poetry Month

2009-04-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry first introduced in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry. It is celebrated every April in the United States and Canada.

Join me for the Napowrimo and also the PAD (Poem-a-day Challenge). The ideas are simple. You write a poem everyday based on the prompts proposed.

I’m not so regular but I’m getting something written and its fun, fun, fun. It’s a great way to hurl words on your word document or in your journal without letting the days slip away empty.

And before you know it, you might end-up finishing the first draft of your poetry manuscript by the end of the month.

Here are the links:

http://readwritepoem.org/

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/

Good luck with all the Poeming!

Earth Hour 2009

2009-03-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight, millions of people around the world are coming together to raise awareness on global warming.

It’s the Earth hour moment from 8.30 -9.30 pm today – March 28, 2009.

Wherever you live on earth- Remember - turn off your lights.

Sure, it’s hard to get started;
Many countries, overlapping time zones;
One planet, in trouble.
Our responsibility,
millions of us.
Certainly, it’s not the end of time –
just the time as you believe
I love the earth –
I’m sure you do too.

Visit http://www.earthhour.org/ for more information.

Apologies to an Apple

2009-03-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is a poetry collection written by a talented eleven year old poet Maya Ganesan.

Maya is a Seattle poet. It happened in October last year. I got a mail from the publisher, Katherine when I was in India on vacation to write a review for her book. I immediately fell in love with her poems and her style of writing.

It’s remarkable to see the talent this budding writer has developed. She has creatively used everyday situations in her own imaginative ways and has written some wonderful poems. Her poems are well-crafted and thoughtful.

I heard Maya read at Parkplace Books on March 11. She paused at all the right places and read like a pro.

To support this budding poet, visit her site at http://www.mayaganesan.com/

World Builder

2009-03-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Talking about holding any secret knowledge about what makes a beautiful story or novel better than the rest, this amazing short film by Bruce Branit transcends something.

It has nothing to do with any kind of “stream-of-consciousness” clichés.
It has a strong sense of emotional involvement that cares about my feelings as well as my intellect.

It is a strange, wonderful reflection of how writers create in their world. Writers are indeed world builders. Watch it to the end.

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

A bunch of books

2009-03-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

In my attempt to control my unruly reading habit, I’m doing my “To read in 2009 list” as books are piling up over my writing desk and the pine side tables in my bedroom.

The list is in random order :

1. Partition Dialogues – Alok Bhalla
2. The Mist- Stephen King
3. In the Convent of Little Flowers – Indu Sundaresan
4. Hostage – Robert Crais
5. Apologies to an Apple – Maya Ganesan
6. The Weekend Novelist – Robert J Ray and Bret Norris
7. Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul
8. The book of American Idioms and Phrases
9. Manuscript Makeover – Elizabeth Lyon
10. Damage Control- Bob Dugoni
11. Angels and Demons –Dan Brown
12. Q & A – Vikas Swarup

Since I just got the Barnes & Noble card, I’ll judiciously consider adding more to the list the whole year through.
And for all the raving and credit for buying books, let’s see if I make it through this list by the end of the year.

A Writer’s Block Exercise

2009-02-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

Take a passage from a book, a favorite or a least favorite, and rewrite the passage in a different style such as noir, gothic romance, pulp fiction or horror story.

It works. Here’s what I did with the exercise:

Paragraph from Stephen King’s “The Mist” :

Kids don’t fight shock the way adults do; they go with it, maybe because kids are in a semi permanent state of shock until they’re thirteen or so. Billy started to doze off. I held him, thinking he might snap awake again, but his doze deepened into a real sleep. Maybe he had been awake part of the night before, when we had slept three-in-a-bed for the first time since Billy was an infant. And maybe- I felt a cold eddy slip through me at the thought – maybe he had sensed something was coming.

My exercise draft:

My husband Bobby doesn’t analyze daily chores the way I do; he goes with it, maybe because he gets into an unmindful state of mind after we reach home from work. Bobby started playing XBOX 360. I pulled the wires out, thinking he might realize I was upset, but he put the wires back in and started indulging himself in the game even more. Maybe he hadn’t realized I was upset the night before, when we had slept in different rooms for the second time since we were married. Or maybe- I felt a strange whirlpool sweeping me at the thought- maybe he had sensed something was wrong.

And the film finally made it to the red carpet

2009-02-23T19:21:00.000-08:00

Slumdog millionaire swept the Oscar awards last night

– you got to watch it if you still haven’t.

Many congratulations to the writer Vikas Swarup whose novel Q&A has been adapted for the screenplay.

The film won eight academy awards in all :

- Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire
- Best Direction – Danny Boyle
- Best Music (Song) – AR Rahman
- Best Music (Score) – AR Rahman
- Film Editing – Chris Dickens
- Sound Mixing – Resul Pookutty
- Cinematography – Anthony Dod Mantle
- Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Simon Beaufoy

Hats off to Loveleen Tandon who co-directed the film with Boyle and to the fantastic cast and crew that came together to make this very special and memorable movie.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

A review:

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British Drama film, directed by Danny Boyle, co-directed by Loveleen Tandon. It is an adaption of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize-nominated novel Q and A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. The film has been nominated for the academy awards. AR Rahman has earned three academy nominations for the soundtrack.

The film is set in India and tells the story of Jamal, a young man from the slums of Mumbai, who participates in the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? – Kaun Banega Crorepati. He wins the grand prize money of two crore rupees ( five hundred thousand dollars) after answering a series of questions that are somehow linked to significant instances in his childhood. This raises a lot of suspicions among the game show host and law enforcement officials.

I especially loved the element of freshness in the story. The way the young protagonist, Jamal is exploited affects his journey during the entire course of the film.

The screenplay is outstanding and keeps the film engaging and dynamic. There are several elements of screenplay that makes the film a strong contender for the Oscars. It has romance, viciousness, poverty, Modern India, wealth, fraud, humor, vengeance, heartbreak, joy and pain all in one basket.

The movie has great energy and is a blast!

Air Raid

2008-12-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

---By Yoshihara Sachiko

When people were being killed
how could the sky have been so beautiful?

I had never seen such a gorgeous sunset.
Even the clouds were going up in flames.

When I crawled out of the shelter
a fragment of the night sky hissed obliquely by my ears.
Overwhelming light flared in eight glass windows,
one color fighting against another,
all reflected sumptuously as on a screen-

the red struggling to redeem
the blue of day from the black sky,
purple looming, green dashing, orange flowing,
colors of all kinds mixing, shrieking -

was it the southern part of the city
that was bathing in golden rain
falling brightly, god knows from where?
Was it an alien world enclosed within the glass?
Was it silent, dark, heated air
that whirled about, encircling
the dumbfounded little Nero?

How could a war have been
so beautiful?

Translated by Edward Lueders and Naoshi Koriyama

The Mumbai Attacks

2008-12-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

India has been badly hit by blasts this year।

Here is a brief list that I got from an internet site:

November 26: Mumbai terrorist attacks kill over 130, 250 + injured
October 30: Explosions kill at least 64 in north-eastern Assam
September 30: Blasts in western India kill at least seven
September 27: Bomb blasts kill one in Delhi
September 13: Five bomb blasts kill 18 in Delhi
July 26: At least 22 small bombs kill 49 in Ahmedabad
July 25: Seven bombs go off in Bangalore killing two people
May 13: Seven bomb hit markets and crowded streets in Jaipur killing 63 (ANI)

It’s about a week since the news about the attacks on Mumbai was flashed on television channels all over the world। There is so much experienced, felt, said and written about the attacks that it is almost regarded as India’s 9/11 by many।

An attack of this nature in any city is an attack on the entire country। We as citizens of India are too bogged down by the word “resilience” and “Politics”. It is high time we realize that we need a national consensus - the major national parties should at least come together on the act of terrorism. It’s the need of the hour and the citizens must demand it from the system.

For a long time now, after the Partition of India, laws have been followed from the point-of-view of Hindus and Muslims by certain groups in the country। We have not just lost many of our martyrs in the turmoil but the country has seen a lot of violence in the past one year at the cost of many, many lives. A terrorist exploits a violent society and today we feel helpless - our anger has to be taken into account. We have to express this message in a strong way.

Going forward, our security forces and intelligence require adequate equipment and training.
About ministers stepping down from their responsibilities and changes happening in the administration, this is something that was anticipated। Whether this is going to unite India, I don’t know.

Yet, it is a wake-up call for us and our leaders। We have to focus on de-politicizing terrorism।

Why should we be struck by the fear of death and insecurity in a country we call our home?
Only hope remains that we and our children will live to see a peaceful India.

Empire of the Sun

2008-11-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

A review :

One of the best movies based on War from the point-of-view of a child.

A film by Steven Spielberg based on an autobiographical book by J.G.Ballard.

The book centers around the point-of view character Jamie, played by Christian Bale. Jamie lives under the protective cover of his upper class English parents in China. He starts as a unique child with dreams of flying. The film portrays the journey of Jamie and the beautiful transformation that he undergoes in a desperate time. Jamie moves on to experience the freedom of flight and becomes free of the earth towards the end of the film.

The film begins with the Japanese sweeping into Shanghai and occupying it right after Pearl Harbor during World War 2.

Circumstances turn Jamie from riches to rags as he is separated from his colonial parents. He meets Basie (John Malkovich), an American opportunist who's always waiting to make bucks out of the war during the whole course of the film. Both of them land up together in a prison camp.

Jamie discovers himself in the course of the film. He uses his clever survival skills and ingratiates himself to others who Jamie believes will eventually take him back to his parents.

It is intriguing to see how Jamie reacts with innocence and excitement to "P 51 Cadillac of the sky" and the tail of a Japanese fighter plane when refugees throng to get their share of the next meal.

The film is filled with visual responses that are touching and evocative of the tension and emotions experienced in the explosive time period .

The theme of the movie is about the death of childhood innocence and the birth of wisdom in Jamie's youthful mind.

I would definitely recommend this film. It follows the Writers Journey in every way and is worth watching more than once. I did.

August 3:15 experiment and Postcard Poetry Fest

2008-08-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

With the coming of August, I'm involved in a process that keep me writing at 3:15 am and writing postcard poems along with many poets participating in these two events.

I was describing the elements of these two August events to one of my friends the other day, whose name I prefer not to quote. She stopped typing on her computer, listened with keen interest and asked, " How weird poets and writers can be. What do you get out of participating in these events ?"

I leaned forward and said, "Satisfaction." She looked at me, smiled and didn't say a word.

I felt I must write about the impact that these events have made on me.

I am intrigued by the connections that are created among people in these two exercises. Somehow my mind becomes intertwined and I come to know things about poets and writers that I have no rational reason to know - of the present world, of things that don't get written as a chore everyday. Of course, I may not always know all of the whys and wherefores, but I get the sense that something is happening with the world and people's lives.

I always feel that the great high privilige and comfort of this invisible bond is the time spent on it each day of August, no matter who we are, what we do and how distant we are from each other. I know that I can take comfort in writing at an odd hour of the day and writing on a postcard to a friend as I settle into old slippers - remembering not to take even old slippers for granted.

That's what has made me take up these two events again these year. They are a great support to writing and are valuable companions that provide so much fun.

At a time when snail mail is almost extinct, it feels absolutely amazing to receive a poem written just for me on a beautiful postcard from a poet friend.
Getting up at 3:15 in the morning becomes a subconscious exercise when I imagine other intuitive poets and writers waking up with me and writing in their journals at the same time.

No matter by which culture we are influenced, we poets and writers take this time to experiment with these two activities, explore the mysteries behind them and discover who we are.

It is always exciting to write about the hidden themes of our everyday lives, stages that we are going through and the times that keep us going.

For more information about the 3: 15 experiment and the August Postcard Poetry Fest 2008, refer these links :

3: 15 experiment : http://315.monkeystyping.org/

August Postcard Poetry Fest : http://poetrypostcards.blogspot.com/

PNWA Conference in Seattle

2008-07-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

The PNWA conference took place last week July 17- July 20, 2008 at the Hilton Hotel in Seattle.
To top it all, it was my birthday on July 18, I couldn't have asked for a better gift than the conference itself!

I had a great time at the conference. It was a wonderful place to network with agents, editors and writers of similar interest. Blake Snyder spoke on the last day. I couldn't help but be influenced by his seminar. He spoke about his famous beat sheet structure that he discovered from Hollywood movies.

The workshop sessions were very interesting. Learning the theory and writing practices from some of the best writers of the industry just reassured the fact that the best writing has always been known and said in the world.

The most exciting part of the conference was the agent/editor appointments. I had my appointments with Emmanuelle Alspaugh, Eva Talmadge, Michelle Grajkowski and Heather Osborn. All of them expressed interest in my novel...and I was all smiles when I realized I had for real sold my idea to them.

So now comes the hard part, writing and making the manuscript work for the audience. Pam Binder, my instructor at the Popular Fiction Class in the University of Washington was so happy for me and encouraged me to finish writing it. So here I am now, working through my manuscript...wish me good luck!

Here are some useful websites worth visiting for those who want to learn more about writing:

Blake Snyder : http://www.blakesnyder.com/

Bob Dugoni : http://www.bobdugoni.com/

James Thayer : http://www.jamesthayer.com/

Pacific Northwest Writers Association : http://www.pnwa.org/

Happy Writing!

My first Chapbook - Euphoric Natya

2008-06-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's exciting!

My poetry manuscript, “Euphoric Natya” is selected as semi-finalist of the Chapbook Competition conducted by Finishing Line Press and I have signed a publishing contract with them.

Everything is a go!

About the publisher, Finishing Line Press is an award-winning small press publisher in Kentucky , US. More details : http://www.finishinglinepress.com/index.htm

About Euphoric Natya, the book is an artistic melding of a lifestyle and culture that keeps home alive for me. The poems express patterns and rhythms of local voices creating a feel of distinct snippets of life in India. The book traces my radical roots back to experiences and emotions that leave me both pleased and undeniably cold.

If you’d like to support my humble beginning , place an order here : http://www.finishinglinepress.com/2006newreleasesandforthcomingtitles.htm

You will receive promos for pre-publication sales. I will send you an email when the date for the sales draws near.

The pre-publication sales start from July 22nd
The book will be released on Oct. 3, 2008 (this is the week the books will be mailed)

You could forward this page to any of your friends who would be interested in getting a copy of the chapbook. The book is available for sales now. To buy this book from anywhere else, just send me an email.

Las Vegas

2008-01-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

How God would do it if he had money

The secret affinity between gambling and the desert: the intensity of gambling reinforced by the presence of the desert all around the town. The air-conditioned freshness of the gaming rooms, as against the radiant heat outside. The challenge of all the artificial lights to the violence of the sun's rays. Night of gambling sunlit on all sides; the glittering darkness of these rooms in the middle of the desert. Gambling itself is a desert form, inhuman, uncultured, initiatory, a challenge to the natural economy of value, a crazed activity on the fringes of exchange. But it too has a strict limit and stops abruptly; its boundaries are exact, its passion knows no confusion. Neither the desert nor gambling are open areas; their spaces are finite and concentric, increasing in intensity toward the interior, toward a central point, be it the spirit of gambling or the heart of the desert - a privileged, immemorial space, where things lose their shadow, where money loses its value, and where the extreme rarity of traces of what signals to us there leads men to seek the instantaneity of wealth. ~Jean Baudrillard

A poem by Amjad Nasir

2008-01-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Jordanian poet
Work : experimental modernist
(Translated by May Jayyusi and Charles Doria)

Loneliness

at night
yes night
when walls start breathing
and concrete fogs spread
seeping between fingers, into nostrils
when we find no one to talk to
when in vain we search out wrinkled faces, scarred hands
when in rooms hermetically sealed we scream
where echo does not echo
when we raise our hands and no shadow falls
when at the door we hear no knock
and none pass beneath the window
when we hear no marmots gnaw in the cupboard
or love groan in the next room
when we rush to the dresser drawer
but fail to find the family photo album
when we look for a gun, knife or rope
yet hit only plaster wall
which in total silence cracks
when we think of our names but do not think of them
when all this happens alone at night, God,
in a sealed room
what shall we do?

A poem by Sami Mahdi

2008-01-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

Iraqi poet.
Work : Arabic poetry dominated by ambiguity and complex imagery

The Inheritance

Between the earth and the sky
I draw a map for a newcomer.
Before I die
I give him his inheritance :
the glow of love
a ladder
and a living room full of friends.

Back to Writing

2008-01-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

While the perennial postcard fest is on the run, Im so glad and grateful to Denise Calvetti Michaels for having me read with her at Soul Food Books on 15th October. That was the fourth time I was featured, after having read at Whidbey Island, Auburn Good Old Days and Tacoma Distinguished Poets Series.

My interview with Mani Rao has been published in the Winter issue of Word, the newsletter of Washington Poets Association and here is the link :
http://www.washingtonpoets.org/2007_winter_newsletter.pdf

There are newer accomplishments coming my way this year and I will let you know about it soon.
In the meanwhile, I am learning the craft of fiction at the University of Washington and believe me, my instructor Pam is so good at it. I really adore her style of delivery and simple ways of explaining complex subjects about the craft. It has all gotten into my writing these days and Im still improving :-). I can see how much of difference it has made to my scenes. How many rewrites it takes to transform a crappy scene to something memorable....if your guess is many, I am with you. Kudos to all the great poets and writers of our time.

Resolution for this year : I got to write atleast one hour everyday....this time I promise.

Postcard Poetry Fest

2007-09-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

In the month of August, I took part in the Postcard Poetry Fest that was organized by two of my very good friends and poets, Paul Nelson and Lana Hechtman Ayers.

It was a very interesting project, where I was on a mailing list of 31 poets from different parts of the world. The exercise was to write a poem based on the theme "POETRY OF PLACE" , relate it to the picture on the postcard and the postcard I received from someone else on the mailing list. Then, I had to write the poem on the postcard and send it to the next person on my mailing list.

It was an amazing experience to receive and send postcard poems to someone in the mailing list. I probably knew a handful of people while I didnt know many others, but we all connected through the voice of poetry. It felt very good to receive postcard poems at a time when the mailbox is most of the time filled with junk mail or bills.

Yesterday i.e., on 22nd September 2007, Saturday there was a party arranged for the postcard poetry fest poets in Cafe Vega, Seattle, WA.
It was a wonderful evening where poets met poets and shared postcard poems and their experiences about the August postcard poetry fest. The party was organized by Paul and Lana.
Denise Calvetti Michaels, a beautiful poet, who had a mesmerizing voice spoke about my poem and quoted that it was her favorite of the lot she'd received. She truly made my day!

It was interesting to see the different themes that were drawn out of the postcards and how the poems connected.

Now, there is a perennial postcard poetry project that Lana and Paul have designed, in which there is a longer list (almost 200 now) of people from different parts of the world participating in the Postcard Poetry fest.
I have indeed joined the list again....and even Srinath! (my husband...he was motivated at the party to write some lines of poetry too!)

It's going to be great and what a way to reach out to the common man. Let our thoughts and opinions fly across oceans, not caring about winds and touch poets from different parts of the world with the message of peace and love.

I wish Lana and Paul all the very best with the project and I hope to participate in it for a long time.

Striped Water Poets

2007-09-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.”T. S. Eliot

On September 18th 2007 , Tuesday :

" Hi Suma, Hope you are well. Did you want to come to SWP tonight? I am also offering to drive John Williams and will have to adjest our time accordingly, " writes Lana, a wonderful poet and my great friend.

I reply, "Hi Lana, Yes, I'll join you to SWP tonight. Let me know what time you can make it home. I haven't met John Williams before, but it would be nice to hear him read. "

How sweet of her to give me a ride all the way from Woodinville to Auburn every week!

SWP is the abbreviated form of Striped Water Poets. We are a group of poets
who meet every Tuesday at 7 pm in Auburn and have a friendly round table critique group meeting.

The poems discussed have great variety and spring with strong emotions in daring voices. The members of SWP come from all walks of life and are open to poems of any subject under the sky from political conflicts to love poems, free verse to forms and Haiku.

The lead facilitator is Gerald Mcbreen who writes stunning romantic poems. He always keeps things on track and gets to the business of running Striped Water Poets. Every week, there is a different facilitator and the poets take turns to facilitate and run the meeting.

The members of Striped Water Poets were also featured in Auburn City Hall, during Auburn Good Old Days Festival, where we read out our poems for everyone to hear.

I am one of the newest members of Striped Water poets and I’ve found the critique group meetings very helpful. The regular meetings provide in-depth discussions and give a real boost. It is surely worth our time and at the same time enjoyable.

If you love to read, write and discuss poetry, this is a wonderful environment that would support your interest. Even if you don’t have a poem to share, you could just observe, listen and share your opinions. You can give constructive feedback and support the poets.

Striped Water Poets is an excellent group that can relate to these words of Robert Frost, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”

3:15 experiment

2007-09-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

It was the night of 31st July when it began. I set the alarm of my clock to 3:15 am like many others who participated in the experiment from different parts of the world. "How am I going to carry it forward? " I thought, knowing how lazy I'd been for a long time, "How am I going to wake up to the alarm, and force myself out of the warm comforter, follow the trail upstairs and start writing a poem? " I shrugged , not thinking about it anymore and sunk into the silk pillow of my king-size pine bed.

Before I knew, it was 3:15 am. The alarm rang, and my husband pressed my shoulder with his eyes closed. I turned on the lamp on my pine side-table and slipped out the bed, sped upstairs, sat on the chair, grabbed the notepad and scribbled with the pencil on the writing table.

3.15 am
1st August

Between sleeps

Don’t touch me with your
savage hand
Don’t Don’t
play the strings of veena
running your finger
on the confusing lines in my palm
or squeezing me in those hidden places.
It is going to be sunrise soon,
and I want to close my eyes just one more time

I’d just sleep, sleep and sleep
under the plush blanket ,
my head resting on the silk pillow
to get back to that unfinished dream
and relive it just one more time.

please don’t touch me.

"Not bad for a poem between sleeps," I thought.

And the experiment continued for 3o more nights....I could complete a long, pending manuscript and also make drafts of some first poems.

Some days, my eyelids refused to give in and I wouldn't know what I wrote on the plain, white page on the notepad.
Some days, I would've written something that I would love to read to someone.

On the whole, it was an experience, worth taking and it was just amazing to see how people who lived in different parts of the world, and worked from different time-zones could come together and pursue an experiment with the same purpose.

In a world where we see the showbiz of war and terror, night and day on TV, here were people who didn't mingle on a pizza in an Italian restaurant or coffee in Starbucks, but, instead, huddled together in the middle of the night, screaming their minds on the computer, on a piece of paper, on a notepad with their pens, pencils and keyboards. It's a different kind of togetherness which may seem totally alien, totally unique, but it's the togetherness of poets sneaking up on time in their own spaces. We jumped off cliffs, built our wings, flew past oceans and hung out together!

For more on the 3:15 experiment, and to read my scribblings visit the website of the hosts :

http://315.monkeystyping.org/

A poem by T.S. Eliot

2007-09-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

HYSTERIA

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved
in her laughter and being part of it, until her
teeth were only accidental stars with a talent
for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps,
inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally
in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by
the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter
with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading
a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty
green iron table, saying: "If the lady and
gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden,
if the lady and gentleman wish to take their
tea in the garden ..." I decided that if the
shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of
the fragments of the afternoon might be collected,
and I concentrated my attention with careful
subtlety to this end.

A poem by Jayanta Mahapatra

2007-08-16T13:12:00.001-07:00

Sanskrit
By Jayanta Mahapatra

Awaken them; they are knobs of sound
that seem to melt and crumple up
like some jellyfish of tropical seas,
torn from sleep with a hand lined by prophecies.
Listen hard; their male, gaunt world sprawls the page
like rows of tree trunks reeking in the smoke
of ages, the branches glazed and dead
as though longing to make up with the sky,
but having lost touch with themselves
were unable to find themselves, hold meaning.

And yet, down the steps into the water at Varanasi,
where the lifeless bodies seem to grow human,
the shaggy heads of word-buds move back and forth
between the harsh castanets of the rain
and the noiseless feathers of summer -
aware that their syllables' overwhelming silence
would not escape the hearers now, and which
must remain that mysterious divine path
guarded by drifts of queer, quivering banyans:
a language of clogs over cobbles, casting
its uncertain spell, trembling sadly into mist.

A love poem from Old India

2007-07-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

A poem by Shilabhattarika, translated by Andrew Schelling

the cane groves of Narmada river

Nights of jasmine and thunder,
torn petals,
wind in the tangled kadamba trees---
nothing has changed.

Spring comes again and we've
simply grown older.
In the cane groves of Narmada River
he deflowered my
girlhood before we were
married.
And I grieve for those far-away nights
we played at love
by the water.

A poem by Thomas Hubbard

2007-07-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

To Be, Or Not to Be
- By Thomas Hubbard

To be an American Indian
you must trace ancestors
clear back to the roots, the authorities tell me.
You must produce the papers, official papers,
birth records, government records.
Records, that is, of the invaders' government.

Records of that same government which
forced natives off their land,
crushed tribes, ruined habitat,
spread disease and pollutions,
tore apart families, broke treaties and
wrote it all down in their crooked history.

They say I need records from that same government which
captured families halfway around the world and
brought them here, no matter how many were lost at sea, and
enslaved them, sometimes worked them to death,
sold off their mates and children and then
bragged about "...this country is built on our hard work."

They suggest I seek out church records,
records of that religion which set out to
destroy American Indian culture, and customarily
beat American Indian children for speaking their own language
in those schools where they made native kids
into god-fearing Christians.

They say that for me to be a legitimate American Indian,
I must dig up my roots for government inspection,
to show that my ancestors surrendered to the invaders and
obeyed the invaders' new laws, reporting weddings and births
to those same racist invaders who pretended piety and
looked upon American Indians as less than human.

Trouble is,
the invader' government and
all its records
have nothing
to do with
my roots.

My roots
live in the earth
in the past, and
I had rather stay
renegade than
dig up my roots.

A poem by Stephen Dunn

2007-06-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

Five Roses in the Morning
- Stephen Dunn

March 16, 2003

On TV the showbiz of war,
so I turn it off
wishing I could turn it off,
and glance at the five white roses
in front of the mirror on the mantel,
looking like ten.
That they were purchased out of love
and are not bloody red
won't change a goddammned thing ---
goddamned things, it seems, multiplying
everyday. Last night
the roses numbered six, but she chose
to wear one in her hair
and she was more beautiful
because she believed she was.
It changed the night, a little.
For us, I mean.

A poem by John Keats

2007-06-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

- By JOHN KEATS

“Poetry is Greek and Latin to me,” said one of my friends once. He did not open a single page of the book I presented to him. As adults, we sometimes abandon this talent and enter the spirit of playing games, designing software, searching money stocks, assuming that poetry is irrelevant. We enter into a temporary world, where we jump with joy at a match of cricket, or get carried away by a friend’s funny experience. According to Psychologist and scholar, James Hillman, each of us is born with an ‘accorn’ or image of our calling and we spend our lives unfolding towards it and driven by it. Hillman says, that a daimon (described in Plato’s Republic) comes to earth with each of us, assigned to see that we fulfill our purpose and live our pattern. But sometimes, there exists a conflict between living sensible and living for the moment. The following poem is a Shakespearean sonnet, by John Keats and is based on such a theme. John Keats (1795-1821), was an English lyric poet, who was regarded as the epitome of the Romantic writer. Keats was born in London on October 31, 1795 as the son of a livery-stable manager. His first book, Poems, was published in 1817. Some of his greatest works were written in the late 1810s, like "Lamia", "The Eve of St. Agnes", the great odes including "Ode to a Nightingale", Ode To Autumn" and "Ode on a Grecian Urn".

Lets now take a look at the Shakespearean sonnet in context.

When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain
Before high piled books, in charact’ry
Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of reflecting love --- then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

In this poem, Keats lists the things that he believes gives life meaning. He lists things that he would regret having not done if he had died. The poem describes the fear that the author holds inside himself, and as it progresses, the poem gets difficult for the speaker as it gets tougher to justify the fear to a universal situation, and finally he ends it on a note of defeat. Keats almost stands all alone, stranded at the end of the world, before death has even made such isolation necessary.

In Lines 1-4, Keats describes his fear of dying young, much before his chance of ‘harvesting’ the fruits of his labor for poetry.

In Lines 5-8, Keats describes philosophically, his romance for learning the riddle of his own existence. Although whether or not he lives ‘to trace their shadows’, or to realize the ‘truth’, he knows, he would not be able to uncover the mystery if he dies, and he will then die in sheer ignorance.

In Lines 9-12, Keats speaks of the love of his beloved, which he fears he will never experience after his death. He suggests that love has to have a ‘faery power’, ie., the power of fairies who are immortal. He fears he would lose it all.

In Lines 13-14, his fear of death leads to the ultimate question of Keats’ very own existence. He finds himself standing at the edge of the big, wide world, and the two things that he holds very important in life, ‘LOVE’ and ‘FAME’, dissolve into a space of vacuum or ‘nothingness’.

It is interesting that Keats, who also died at a young age of 26 in the year 1821, spoke about the fear that he would cease to be.

Reading this poem was a way of filling myself with the sounds of contemplation about life and death. Depressing as it was towards the end, where his sense of words communicated heightened experiences of the world, the thought sifted into another perspective of looking at things we like to do, or do with complete satisfaction, before one dies. And for poets, it would rather be, to write another poem. Why not write poetry, to create a world where we hear our voices sing tunes of a melody of words? Why not celebrate life and poetry, to experience depth, more than death? Why not just write poetry?

Feedback

2007-06-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

To turn interesting ideas into writing that continues to evolve for years requires a lot of discipline...Sometimes we write, we make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving our other writing. Writers who do this kind of writing work are the moving force behind generations. My job is to create this space for that opportunity, to clear out the rest of the opinionated thoughts and keep it at bay.

A poem by Rabindranath Tagore

2007-06-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Authorship

You say that father writes a lot of books,

but what he writes I don't understand.

He was reading to you all the evening,

but could you really make out what he meant?

What nice stories, mother, you can tell us!

Why can't father write like that, I wonder?

Did he never hear from his own mother

stories of giants and fairies and princesses?

Has he forgotten them all?

Often when he gets late for his bath

you have to go and call him a hundred times.

You wait and keep his dishes warm for him,

but he goes on writing and forgets.

Father always plays at making books.

If I ever go to play in father's room,

you come and call me,"What a naughty child!"

If I make the slightest noise you say,

"Don't you see that father's at his work?"

What is the fun of always writing and writing?

When I take up father's pen or pencil

and write upon his book just as he does,

- a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i, - why do you get cross

with me then, mother?

You never say a word when father writes.

When my father writes heaps and heaps of papers,

mother, you don't seem to mind at all.

But if I take only one sheet to make a boat with,

you say, "Child, how troublesome you are!"

What do you think of father's spoiling sheets and

sheets of paper with black marks all over on both sides?

A poem by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser

2007-06-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

A Happy Birthday

This evening, I sat by
an open window

and read till the light
was gone and the book

was no more than a part
of the darkness.

I could easily have switched
on a lamp,

but I wanted to ride
this day down into night,

to sit alone and smooth
the unreadable page
with the pale gray ghost of my hand.

-- Ted Kooser U.S. Poet Laureate

Writing to me

2007-05-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

After a long break, its good to be back with new energy to start blogging:)

From Human Resource Management to poetry and short stories has indeed been a quantum leap for me in the last one and a half years. I have been writing for quite some time now and the whole experience is something that I really enjoy doing. I like getting up in the morning thinking about a poem. If no idea strikes, I’d write about how my day is and how I feel. I’d write stories. It has given me immense pleasure, and I feel a sense of satisfaction after my first draft.
And that’s not all, I seem to like going back to it every time, because it is not just a job- but an enjoyable job.
There are times when I finish one whole poem in an odd moment, and other times when I get caught up with a single word for many weeks. Writing hasn’t been easy. It has needed great concentration to read, and even more to write. My first efforts haven’t been always rewarding. Nevertheless, even the most layman work occasionally lifts into the distinct and different, and kindles a warm response inside me. And that is worth a great deal, despite what the literary market has become in the recent years. With all the contemporary plays and films, experimental writing, anti-realism, individualism and intellectualism, the literary market place has opened its arms to the increasing literary craftsmanship.
I’m enjoying this literary life, curling up with books, attending poetry readings, joining literature circles and societies and making wonderful friends who share similar interests. There are so many of them…Good poets and writers…who earn little or nothing from their efforts…but the pleasure of writing has been a sufficient reward.

The whole writing process is an exploration and Im surprised at where the journey has taken me. So I will just write and continue celebrating it.

As Gloria Steinem put it, “Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else,” that is what writing is to me.

2006-06-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

“Another” –Robert Herrick

“Each memorable verse of a true poet has two or three times the written content.” --- Alfred de Musset

The experience of reading different kinds of poetry is unique and special. This is especially true, when the poet tries to describe feelings and emotions on one hand and on the other is also trying to shape the experience in a condensed form that talks to the reader without beating about the bush.

Poetry sometimes uses restricted forms of language. The content of a line or a few lines is often conveyed in a single word. This article is based on one such a poem, “Another”, written by the English Poet, Robert Herrick in the 17th Century. Herrick was a pastoral lyricist who wrote around 1300 poems, exquisite and unrivalled. His poems cover a wide range of emotions and subjects and he is notable for the technical mastery of the interplay of thought and rhythm of his poems. The artistic derivation of his poems has raised numerous questions about writing creative poetry and also the function of poetry within the framework of human experience. Let’s take a look.

Here a pretty baby lies
Sung asleep with lullabies:
Pray be silent and not stir
Th' easy earth that covers her.

The poem is small, but one that demands careful reading. Herrick has not just illustrated simplification of language with brevity and concision, but also has caused a dramatic shift in the fourth line, describing the baby as actually dead. In the first three lines of the poem, the sleeping baby is described in all wonder. The marvel persists as the baby sleeps listening to lullabies and the air around, as still and silent as can be. However, the fourth line describes the earth covering her, producing a bristly emotion of change, giving a sudden alteration of perspective. The earth covering the baby instead of her bed cover leaves the baby buried inside the earth. The spark of the reader’s imagination suddenly into a new and unexpected descriptional metaphor of the earth turning into a death bed is the hallmark of the poem.

It is a simple poem that needs nothing but alternative thought. The effect of reading it with alternative thought almost reverses the reader’s perspective of the poem. It is reality itself, left for the reader to grasp from the idea of the poem. Thus, the objective element of poems like these, helps the reader understand the very essence of poetry. A poem like the one above is a simply wrapped package that appears unremarkable at first glance, until you read it. Once read, it gives the poet a chance to tread further in uncommon forms of writing and gives the reader a chance to think by alternative means and perspectives.

So, poetry need not always use flowery expressions and words. Even the simplest possible kind of configuration in the words of a poem, which encloses a group of words as if it were drawing stars together to form a cluster and suddenly bringing a lightning of change, is to be appreciated and acknowledged. The appeal is one that would pilot poetic expressions to excellence through a very simple form and style. As the saying goes, “Poetry is thoughts that we breathe, and the words that we burn,” its all about the best words in the best order, coupled with a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and distilled word power.

2006-06-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

SOUNDARYA LAHARI
(Article from Sollin Selvi, Abhinava Saraswathi Smt.Sivananda Vijayalatshmi)

By the Grace of the Supreme Mother I am now venturing in giving short notes on some select verses from the Holiest of Holy, Beautiful among the most Beautiful Soundarya Lahari.

Soundarya Lahari, composed by Sri Adi Shankaracharya, holds a high place in liturgical literature on account of its poetic, devotional and mystic aspects.

Soundarya Lahari combines in itself hymns of devotional prayer, a Mantra Sastra and a spiritual (meditative) mode of worship of the Supreme Mother. As a hymn of praise it is suited to the novice in spiritual exercise. As a mantra Sastra it fulfills the material and spiritual needs of the seeker. As a Tantra Sastra it elucidates a spiritual discipline, guides and leads the aspirant to liberation also which is the summum bonum of human existence.

Soundarya Lahari – the very word – conveys the great meaning. It is a Flood of Beauty. The first 41 poems of this book of 100 verses are called as Ananda Lahari – Waves of Bliss.

The second portion is called as Soundarya Lahari – waves of Beauty. It contains a magnificent exposition of the beauties of the charming form of the Divine Mother from head to foot. It is an exquisite and delicious literary master- piece also.

If people read and recite this Stotra with all faith they can find many details of the worship of the Supreme as Mother – The Dynamic aspect of Brahman – as Sakthi, Her Potency, manifestations for worship, modes of meditation internally in the microcosm.

This Stotra combines in itself the ecstasy of a Bhakthi Stotra and efficacy of a Mantra – Sastra.

The first sloka starts with the word ‘Siva’ – an auspicious expression – This is a beautiful and benedictory invocation of the Supreme Being.

- 2 –

SIVAS SAKTHYA YUKTHO YADI BHAVATHI
SAKTHAHA PRABHAVITHUM
NA CHETH EVAM DEVO NAKHALU
KUSALAHA SPANDITHUMAPI
ATHASTWAM AARADHYAM HARI HARA
VIRINCHADIBHIRAPI
PRANANTHUM STHOTHUM VAA KATTHAM
AKRUTHA PUNYAHA PRABHAVATHI

Siva is capable to create everything United
O Shakthi
with Thee alone without Thee
the Energy all-powerful
He is incapable of even a stir
That is why
Thou art worshipped by the Trinities
Hari, Hara, Brahma and all celestials.
How then could people Bereft of laudable deeds
Praise or Worship Thee?

The first sloka describes the real power of Shakthi or Divine Energy. Absolute Brahman is called as Siva, the all pervading, primal cause of the entire universe, full of Bliss, auspiciousness, prosperity and happiness. It acts only when it is in union with the Energy – the Supreme Shakthi.

Shakthi is not different from consciousness – chit – Their relation ship is inseparable – Avinabhava Sambandaha – Through Her action a spandana – a stir is created. Static Energy and the Kinetic Energy act together. Shakthi acts through Siva. Siva acts according to Shakthi’s Will. Their union is revealed in the animate and inaminate - in the entire universe. This is the secret of creation.

-3-

The 16 vowels in Sanskrit syllables represent the Shakthi aspect for articulation. The 35 consonants represent Siva – says the Agama. The consonant Sh when mixed with a & i in the vowels become Shi. The consonant V when combined with A becomes Va. In the making of the word Siva itself we see Sh + a + i, V + a – giving the full form for that word. It is no exagiration to say that the whole world has sprung out from Shiva – and Shivaa – (i – e -) father and mother of everything. This is the inner meaning that is conveyed by the first two lines of the sloka.

Those blessed souls who have reached higher orders of evolution are classified as Devas. All such Devas and even the Trinities act according to Devi’s Will and Power - who is the creatrix of the entire universe.

Only through meritorious actions, we can develop proper devotion towards Para Devatha – the Mother of all Lokas - Sarva Loka Janani -

With staunch belief and deep devotion let us try to worship Devi. There are three types of worship. They are Kayika – bodily; Vachika – Vocal; Manasika – mental.

Pranam denotes bowing down in all humility, with total surrender of all ego. This is a form of bodily worship.

Shuthi – means recitation. Those who are not capable of the above mentioned three types of worship can easily take to this recitation method. This is suggested in this sloka.

If we are determined to bow at the feet of Devi and recite Her Name, Mantra or Stotra – We will definitly become blessed souls – Punya Atmas. The Mother of the entire Universe will make us all Krutha Punya Atmas – people of meritorious actions. This is guaranteed in this sloka.

Let us understand the inner meaning of this sloka, make obeisance to Her, repeat this Stotra and attain all blessings that are vouchsafed to sincere devotees.

The writer can be contacted at samvitkala@yahoo.co.in

2006-06-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

This is one of my favorite poems of Robert Frost’s collection. Published in his 1923 collection, New Hampshire, the poem describes beautifully that overpowered intensity of human passion and human hatred eventually leads to the same set of consequences. It is a stunning denunciation of the power of emotion within an individual.

The Style of the poem

The poem has been written primarily in rhymic iambic tetrameter, although three lines are in iambic dimeter. The rhyme scheme can be represented as abaabcbcb ie.,

Line 1 rhymes with line 3 and line 4
Line 2 rhymes with line 5, line 7 and line 9
Line 6 rhymes with line 8

One can argue that nature is mere background in this poem, but nature demonstrates the main motif, theme, symbol, motivation and prime mower for many of his best works. To draw such a great inspiration from nature’s imagery and decorating the poem with metaphors is just the superficial side of Frost’s poetry. On close examination, the description of nature’s imagery actually probes the reader to discover the meaning hidden underneath the superficial surface.

Fire and Ice can be related to Agni of Indian mythology and the Ice Age respectively.
In Indian mythology and sacrificial ceremonies, as ordained by Manu, Agni (or fire) is the deity of primary invocation. Yagnas are performed in India where Agnihotras are continually burning on fire, which people keep lighted throughout their lives --- for their nuptial ceremony, the performance of solemn sacrifices, and the obsequies of departed ancestors, and even for their own funeral pyre. Few or perhaps none, of the almost innumerable ceremonies of the Hindus are complete without invocatory oblations to the all-pervading element of fire, or Agni. Ice can be related to the ice age, ie., the period of time when the temperature of the Earth is very cold. Many ice ages have occurred throughout Earth’s history. Earth’s orbit, alongwith several other elements have influenced ice ages. Looking at what awaits us in the future, assuming that we don’t cause our own destruction through war or mismanagement of our environment, an ice age too is a distinct possibility.
After taking a journey though fire and ice, we can better appreciate the idea of Robert Frost and his relation with nature and human emotion. The poem is bounded by a profound sense of meaning to the destruction of the external, physical world through fire and ice, and the internal, spiritual world with desire and hate. The beauty lies in the unification of the extremes for the common purpose of destruction.