Nasim Marie Jafry's Blog, page 21

MJ Hyland on MS

The other night, I had rolled up an old The New Review from August - as yet unread - to nudge a high up daddy-long-legs and noticed an article by writer MJ Hyland - I loved Carry Me Down - on her diagnosis of MS.  I did not know she had MS and immediately abandoned the daddy-long-legs and sat down and read the article, a no-nonsense, gorgeous piece of writing on the shock of finding out she was not 'invincible' but in fact had multiple sclerosis. Hyland refers to her initial response to...

Being grabbed by one sentence

This spring and summer I've been reading fiction and non-fiction from Pakistan and India. As I've said before,  I feel slightly 'fake' mixed race but, at the moment, I feel very pulled to writing from South Asia. I have the books above on my side table and others I'm reading/have read include Mohammed Hanif's brilliantly cheeky and dark satirical novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes (am impatiently waiting for the paperback of Our Lady of Alice Bhatti to be released); Aboard the Democracy T...

Writing about writing

Is there any process or human endeavour that has as much written about it as the act of writing? It seems to be endlessly discussed, a subject of fascination. I enjoyed this recent article. Still, when (famous) writers reveal their tips, I half want to run away, as so much of this advice relies on physical wellbeing: Get up early, write so many hundred words, don't leave your desk 'til bla bla bla. The only thing I find in common is we all write in our pyjamas and drink cold coffee. And I rea...

Always the bridesmaid...

Found out last night I'd been shortlisted for the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize (officially announced next month). Of course would love to have been in the winners' category, but this is the first flash fiction I've ever submitted to an award, so I'm happy (I still feel *very* inexperienced in writing flash). Last year, I was shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize, so it maybe feels a wee bit 'always the bridesmaid', but I'm just pleased I can still write meaningfully as my output has...

Blood, sweat and tears

I rarely watched sport until the Olympics and the Paralympics, now my head is full of athletes and I cry at least once a day, yesterday it was Ellie Simmonds, I happened to turn on TV and her race was on. I think with Paralympians you get even more of a sense of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into this moment, a moment that can  truly make or break you. Jody Cundy may not have been very professional with his outburst - I'm not wasting four fucking years of my life - but I full...

Betty

I think all of us felt a child-like wonder seeing the beautiful Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony a few weeks ago, and it was charming to hear Thomas Heatherwick, the designer, speak at the book festival. He told us that the project had been code-named  'Betty' - after someone's dog - to keep it under wraps. Have been following Jon Snow's excellent  Paralympics reports on Channel 4. All of the athletes inspire sheer awe, whether their disabilities have been present from birth...

Four years

Four years to the day, The State of Me was launched, one of the happiest and most surreal and exhausting times of my life.

Miss Smilla's feeling for oranges

Today is Independence Day in Pakistan. My dad was born in Nagpur, in 1919, his family moved to Karachi after Partition. Had he lived he would be 92. Nagpur is known as the city of oranges, this delights me as my Danish stepdad, almost 83, has a thing for oranges, he will point to them in the fruit bowl and say, They are so juicy and nice. I joke that he is like Miss Smilla, and tell him he has a feeling for oranges as well as snow.

Technology in fiction

Interesting article here on the role of technology in fiction. I think technology should probably be acknowledged in contemporary fiction, but I hate when it is over-referenced, it feels clunky.
Allison K. Gibson, the author of the article, writes:
Fiction allows for a certain level of restraint, after all, where the author need not include a protagonist’s every bathroom break or end each scene with the characters saying goodbye. Why then, if it’s common practice to avoid including other ungl...

Too much lactic acid in your legs

Last night, during athletics,  Colin Jackson was speaking about aerobic and anaerobic pathways. When you have ME your pathways are fucked. Made me think of The State of Me, chapter 17, extract below:
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stranger         Can you not build up your strength with gentle exercise?
me                   No! Your muscles aren’t producing energy normally. If you climb the...