Anju Gattani's Blog, page 8
May 3, 2012
Fragrance and fast revisions
Hi,
So I got the jasmine plants I was looking for last week, planted them and I'm thrilled to say they're alive and doing well.
As for the edits on Bk II... slower than expected. I go back and think to myself if I had written this better... I wouldn't have to put so much time in the edits/revisions and therefore would have completed it faster. But how could I, when I didn't know better in the first place?
For years I struggled to understand the childhood fragrance of the flower I loved. But I had no idea how to plant, nurture and take care of an outdoor plant. How could I, when i didn't know better in the first place? But as time went on... I learned (over the last 2 summers) and took the effort to understand precisely which flower brings back my childhood days.
And now I understand. It took a while. But I'll get there.
So I got the jasmine plants I was looking for last week, planted them and I'm thrilled to say they're alive and doing well.
As for the edits on Bk II... slower than expected. I go back and think to myself if I had written this better... I wouldn't have to put so much time in the edits/revisions and therefore would have completed it faster. But how could I, when I didn't know better in the first place?
For years I struggled to understand the childhood fragrance of the flower I loved. But I had no idea how to plant, nurture and take care of an outdoor plant. How could I, when i didn't know better in the first place? But as time went on... I learned (over the last 2 summers) and took the effort to understand precisely which flower brings back my childhood days.
And now I understand. It took a while. But I'll get there.
April 27, 2012
Jasmine Friday!
Hi,
We're on Friday and I'm wondering what to do over the weekend? The first is to hunt for night blooming jasmine flowers and plant them in the backyard. I have no clue how to do this so I'm tweeting it out in the hope someone will respond.
Why night blooming jasmine? Because they're one of the many childhood fragrances which take me back to a time of being carefree, young and... well... absent-minded.
You know, when you could do anything at anytime and NOT hold yourself accountable? When there were no computers or modern-day technology and you actually did things outside the house.
Well, here's to the hunt for my childhood this weekend!
We're on Friday and I'm wondering what to do over the weekend? The first is to hunt for night blooming jasmine flowers and plant them in the backyard. I have no clue how to do this so I'm tweeting it out in the hope someone will respond.
Why night blooming jasmine? Because they're one of the many childhood fragrances which take me back to a time of being carefree, young and... well... absent-minded.
You know, when you could do anything at anytime and NOT hold yourself accountable? When there were no computers or modern-day technology and you actually did things outside the house.
Well, here's to the hunt for my childhood this weekend!
April 26, 2012
Social Media
Hi,
I've been wondering about social media and despite all the technical do-hows and know-hows... I've concluded there are some basic rules that work for all types:
Be thoughoutful when u send out a message
Think before you tweet/FB/post online
Think of your audience
Keep words to a minimum
Build questions (in readers' minds) to a maximum
Remember it's your account but it's NOT about you
It's about other people out there and their message to the world
When you proactively join hands or share their message, then they will tune into yours
The rules may be different for people in any country, but the message is the same: We all like to be liked and should strive to like others first before being liked ourselves :)
I've been wondering about social media and despite all the technical do-hows and know-hows... I've concluded there are some basic rules that work for all types:
Be thoughoutful when u send out a message
Think before you tweet/FB/post online
Think of your audience
Keep words to a minimum
Build questions (in readers' minds) to a maximum
Remember it's your account but it's NOT about you
It's about other people out there and their message to the world
When you proactively join hands or share their message, then they will tune into yours
The rules may be different for people in any country, but the message is the same: We all like to be liked and should strive to like others first before being liked ourselves :)
April 25, 2012
Back to Book II
Hi,
Back to work on copy edits of Bk II in my 'Winds of Fire' series and I wonder how much longer this is going to take? I feel like I'm reading and evaluating the meaning and necessity of each sentence again with a microscope and wondering why I hadn't done so before.
Obviously, because I was writing at the time. Now, I'm editing. And I need a different pair of glasses to 'see' the written word with.
The good thing is the pace and momentum of the story is as I had last left it, over a year ago. Dialogues, pacing, characters, setting and narrative seem to be OK... so onward I go!!
Back to work on copy edits of Bk II in my 'Winds of Fire' series and I wonder how much longer this is going to take? I feel like I'm reading and evaluating the meaning and necessity of each sentence again with a microscope and wondering why I hadn't done so before.
Obviously, because I was writing at the time. Now, I'm editing. And I need a different pair of glasses to 'see' the written word with.
The good thing is the pace and momentum of the story is as I had last left it, over a year ago. Dialogues, pacing, characters, setting and narrative seem to be OK... so onward I go!!
April 24, 2012
Weight Loss - wait!
Hi,
Just wrote a blog post on weight loss maintenance yesterday and learned so much! I didn't realize that you had to have inner peace, for example, to keep the weight off. Or that you had to continually restore your body on an ongoing basis for the weight to stay off. I had thought those were just essentials to the original weight loss strategies.
I also learned about how high-stress lifestyles cause weight to stay on because the body is in a fight or flight mode and continually high on adrenaline! - which 'holds on to' your fat preserve.
After all this, I've got some things to really think about and nail down... lifestyle change or change in perspective - I wonder which?
Just wrote a blog post on weight loss maintenance yesterday and learned so much! I didn't realize that you had to have inner peace, for example, to keep the weight off. Or that you had to continually restore your body on an ongoing basis for the weight to stay off. I had thought those were just essentials to the original weight loss strategies.
I also learned about how high-stress lifestyles cause weight to stay on because the body is in a fight or flight mode and continually high on adrenaline! - which 'holds on to' your fat preserve.
After all this, I've got some things to really think about and nail down... lifestyle change or change in perspective - I wonder which?
April 23, 2012
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
Hi!
It's been over 2 months since I last blogged and I've been wondering where I've been?
I flipped over the pages of my copy edits for Bk II and realized where the time has flown. Then I pulled out the first draft of a work-in-progress - 3rd novel - and understood where my head's been.
And then when I looked over the author talks and events I've participated in, I realized I've been talking to people face to face... not just over the internet... and making new friends as I go along.
Having said this... I've realized that there truly is no place like home. And blogging on Goodreads is like, in a way, coming right back home!
So I'm hoping to keep up with my blog posts and keep in touch with all of you again!
It's been over 2 months since I last blogged and I've been wondering where I've been?
I flipped over the pages of my copy edits for Bk II and realized where the time has flown. Then I pulled out the first draft of a work-in-progress - 3rd novel - and understood where my head's been.
And then when I looked over the author talks and events I've participated in, I realized I've been talking to people face to face... not just over the internet... and making new friends as I go along.
Having said this... I've realized that there truly is no place like home. And blogging on Goodreads is like, in a way, coming right back home!
So I'm hoping to keep up with my blog posts and keep in touch with all of you again!
February 9, 2012
Picking up
At first I thought my work-in-progress was going to be a hard and dry run. I had last worked on it in 2008 and then abandoned it for several reasons. Life, other books, a job and no time to work on it.
It's been 3 years since and I've been pulling open the pages of what I last wrote and trying to sink back in the story. Since then much has changed.
Not the story.
Me.
I've learned a lot along the way. The research for this book, again, has been huge and I'm on the last leg of it. The manuscript is half done and I've got half left to go. But I'm plugging away because there is no other way for a writer but the write way!
It's been 3 years since and I've been pulling open the pages of what I last wrote and trying to sink back in the story. Since then much has changed.
Not the story.
Me.
I've learned a lot along the way. The research for this book, again, has been huge and I'm on the last leg of it. The manuscript is half done and I've got half left to go. But I'm plugging away because there is no other way for a writer but the write way!
February 7, 2012
Away from desk
I've often wondered how other authors get back in a project they've been away from? I'm in that situation right now and trying to figure my way around as I jump back in a manuscript from 2009.
At first I dilly-dallied for a while... unsure whether I could get back in. That means I was on FB and Twitter and whatnot for a while - procrastinating.
Then, I took the plunge and dived - head-first. I started rereading what I had done... revising and editing... and trying to build the mental picture in my head.
Chapter 1 was torture... now I'm on Chapter 4 and plugging my way through. The last leg of research remains and I wonder when I'll relive the joy of pounding out the original manuscript?
What do you think?
At first I dilly-dallied for a while... unsure whether I could get back in. That means I was on FB and Twitter and whatnot for a while - procrastinating.
Then, I took the plunge and dived - head-first. I started rereading what I had done... revising and editing... and trying to build the mental picture in my head.
Chapter 1 was torture... now I'm on Chapter 4 and plugging my way through. The last leg of research remains and I wonder when I'll relive the joy of pounding out the original manuscript?
What do you think?
January 31, 2012
N Y Times Bestselling Author
I spent the day yesterday with N Y Times Bestselling author Haywood Smith and what a day it was! I watched in fascination... Yes, folks. I couldn't believe I was sitting there, right next to her, before her magnificently busy desk / workspace and watching her connect in full swing with social media.
Haywood Smith is an incredibly talented woman with the gift of humor, compassion and passion for the written word. Not a moment goes by when she's NOT thinking. She is so warm and caring and this love of story telling and truth streams from the keyboard at her fingertips to the final words on her page.
I know this because I watched and listenend as she blogged and thought through ever word. She truly cares for her readers and is a master craftsman.
She also has 3 lovely cats - one of whom talks - and yes, this cat talks... and I am thinking of suggesting Haywood take her trio to future author talks... what do you think?
Haywood Smith is an incredibly talented woman with the gift of humor, compassion and passion for the written word. Not a moment goes by when she's NOT thinking. She is so warm and caring and this love of story telling and truth streams from the keyboard at her fingertips to the final words on her page.
I know this because I watched and listenend as she blogged and thought through ever word. She truly cares for her readers and is a master craftsman.
She also has 3 lovely cats - one of whom talks - and yes, this cat talks... and I am thinking of suggesting Haywood take her trio to future author talks... what do you think?
January 25, 2012
Social Media
OK... I admit it took a while but I just figured out how to connect Twitter and FB so that when I tweet it's on my Author page only... and not on my profile page.
Kristen Lamb's book got me up and going to figure it out now. There's still a lot to do and understand by I'm taking baby steps and hopefully will get there soon.
Writing and rewriting a book was hard enough... but now to have to do all this? Hmmm... what next?
Kristen Lamb's book got me up and going to figure it out now. There's still a lot to do and understand by I'm taking baby steps and hopefully will get there soon.
Writing and rewriting a book was hard enough... but now to have to do all this? Hmmm... what next?
