Mira Prabhu's Blog, page 65
July 26, 2015
Striking the Motherlode
I picked up a fantasy novel but never read it until very recently, when i really needed an escape after a death in the family…then I simply could not put it down. A world so lovingly created…a harsh and elitist world operated by masters running a slave population…the author is Brandon Sanderson, the highly successful author of Mistborn (he novel I refer to) and The Way of Kings fame…check out his tips on writing by scrolling down for a link…and don’t forget to read this great post along the way too! Thank you, D. Wallace Peach and Chris Graham!
Originally posted on Myths of the Mirror:
image from flightfox.com
Well, I have a gift for you today. NO, it’s not a book. Phew!
A friend of mine shared a link with me, and when I opened it, I gasped. My knees turned to syrup, and I wiped tears of delight from my eyes. I’d struck writing gold.
Brandon Sanderson, the highly successful author of Mistborn and The Way of Kings fame, teaches a master’s level class at BYU for fantasy and science-fiction writers. The class is so popular that only a small number of interested students actually get to enroll. In response to the flood of despair, the entire series of winter lectures were videotaped and are available on YouTube at zero cost.
image from thebooksmuggler.com
You don’t write sci-fi or fantasy, you say.
I will assert, while skipping in circles with excitement, that the ideas he presents are 99% applicable to all fiction writing. He…
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July 23, 2015
Should You Give Up Writing?
Interesting post on that fearsome syndrome known as “writers’ block”…should you give up writing? What a question! Read on for more…and thanks for a great message, Ronovan!
Originally posted on I’ve always found the different ways that we scribblers describe our experiences with writer’s block very interesting. Also the different ways the seasoned writers suggest getting over it. Some suggestions are to work around your block, or force yourself to write through it, even if what you write is rubbish. Other advice is to write something completely different. We won’t mention those rather hurtful cries of, “Stop being such a wussy. Adorn yourself in adult underwear! Plumbers don’t get plumbers block!” All of these things can work with a bit of effort and confidence, but one bit of advice that you seldom see is to take a break from writing completely. As if a week away from writing anything will totally strip you of the ability to write at all. It is true that if you don’t do something for a good long while, you could get a little rusty…
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July 22, 2015
No Success Without the GRIND
“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. ~Rocky Balboa
Kristen Lamb nails it again…yes, no success without the Grind. Writing a novel, for instance, is a monumental undertaking – not just in terms of the work involved, but also in terms of receiving not just positive but negative feedback, and then learning to make the most of it, of reworking, rewriting, and moving forward nevertheless – until one has a product that rings true. And the same principle applies to all aspects of our lives…read on…and thank you, Kristen Lamb.
Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:
Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Anamorphic Mike.
What do you want? How badly do you want it? What are you willing to sacrifice? These are the questions we must ask not once, but daily. There is no success without the GRIND.
Or perhaps, the G.R.I.N.D.
Give
Every day we have something to give that will keep propelling us forward. I love, love, love the movie Rocky. This is among my favorite quotes:
The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and…
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July 17, 2015
British English Translated
British English Translated….‘A bit of a pickle.’ — Translation: We’re thoroughly screwed, as a result of a catastrophically bad situation with potentially fatal consequences. Thank you Nicholas Rossis!
Originally posted on Nicholas C. Rossis:
Image: f3.quomodo.com/
As you may remember, I spent many of my formative years in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. One of the first things I realized upon arriving to that fair city was that speaking English for years in Greece had not prepared me for the thrill of actually communicating with the natives. Specifically, I was caught unawares of the wonderful nuances that make all the difference.
“How are you today?” I’d ask my fellow students.
“Aye, not too bad, actually” they’d reply.
“Why, what’s wrong?” I’d ask, clueless to the fact that this is a Scotsman’s understated way of saying, “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
So, when I found a hilarious post on The Idealist Revolution website on the subject, I just had to share as a helpful guide to my American friends, anyone setting their scenes in the UK and anyone wanting to visit…
British English Translated: what they say and what it means
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July 16, 2015
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows…
Suffer from kuebiko?
Rubatosis??
Mauerbauertraurigkeit???
Well, first you might have to find out what these words mean, via “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”: A goldmine for lovers of the bizarre complexities and richness of the English language.
Authors United … In What, Exactly?
“…I know that Amazon is not my friend. I’m well aware of that. Amazon is a tool I’m using to further my career. Just like Twitter is, and Facebook, and blogging. My success comes down to the effort I put into my career. The avenues into which that effort is put today may not be the same avenues into which that effort is put tomorrow. I change, I grow. Simple as that.” Veronica Bale’s interesting take on what is going on in self-publishing today…read on! Muchas gracias, Veronica!
Originally posted on Veronica Bale's Blog:
Recently, I came across a post on Joe Konrath’s blog about Authors United’s latest antics (for purposes of full disclosure and giving credit where it’s due and all that, I’m stating up front that I found this post through the blog of fellow self-published author Nat Russo.) In this post, Mr. Konrath eloquently tears apart a letter from Authors United to the Assistant Attorney General, imploring him to declare Amazon both a monopoly and a monopsony. The post is well worth a read – not only is it pretty spot on, but it’s also downright hilarious. From what I can gather, taking on Authors United is something Mr. Konrath does well, and does often.
For me, though, as a self-published author whose entire career would not even have gotten off the ground without Amazon, I was compelled to take a closer look at who Authors United is, and what their fundamental issue with Amazon is.
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July 14, 2015
Advantages in DISadvantages—Does Our Culture Really Value “Normal”?
“What was fascinating about Gladwell’s book, is he talks about the staggering percentage of successful “geniuses” who suffer from dyslexia. A recent study puts it at about a third and the list includes people like Richard Branson, the British billionaire entrepreneur, Charles Schwab (financial genius), Craig McCaw (cell phone pioneer), the founder of JetBlue David Neeleman, John Chambers the CEO of tech giant Cisco, etc. Einstein was a dyslexic, so was Walt Disney.” Read on….Kristen Lamb’s interesting take on being different.
Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:
Image via Amber West WANA Commons
Last time, when we talked about Barnes & Noble, I mentioned a book by Malcolm Gladwell David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. This is a really interesting book because Gladwell peels apart our common perceptions of what an advantage really is. Sometimes, that which others claim is undesirable really isn’t.
It is merely different.
Right now I am at a weird crossroads and admittedly I am a bit scared because I am deviating outside the “accepted.” For those who don’t know, my son The Spawn (Age 5) has had an interesting road. When he was two and a half, he had all four front teeth knocked up into the maxilla and had to have them surgically removed. Twenty thousand dollars in maxo-facial surgery later, we had a little bat.
This created some problems. Obviously, his speech suffered the…
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July 13, 2015
12 Signs That You’re a Booklover
12 SIGNS THAT YOU’RE A BOOKLOVER…thanks Natasha Orme and Chris Graham!
Originally posted on Natasha Orme:
You’re a booklover right? Sure you are. You just can’t get enough of those books. Reading when you wake up, reading when you go to bed. Some people have even called you a bookworm. It’s not a bad thing. The world of books is a rich and enlivening. One that is filled with magical kingdoms, romance, heartbreak, adventure and everything and anything you could possibly imagine. But how do you know for sure you’re a booklover? Well that’s easy…
You can’t resist a book. You’ve gone to the doctor’s and you’re sat in that stuffy waiting room as the minutes tick by every so slowly but you spot a mini library in the corner. A dilapidated bookshelf, crammed full of little delights. What’s your reaction? You scan the titles for one that sounds right and before you know it, you’re sat in the corner, reading and so absorbed that you…
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July 2, 2015
Revealing Hidden Codes That Cause Suffering…
As a young bride in Manhattan, I spent my first couple of months shopping, cooking and wandering goggle-eyed around that fascinating city.
One day I happened to bump into my next door neighbor (we lived in a relatively small mid-town apartment building at the time). “It’s got to be you cooking all that Indian food,” he said with a friendly grin. “Spicy odors disturbing you?” I asked. “Oh no,” he said. “I LOVE Indian food…in fact my tummy growls every time I pass your apartment.” “Come get some if you’re hungry,” I said. “Plenty of leftovers.” And he did.
My new buddy turned out to be a writer who made his rent and food money working as a freelancer/temp on Wall Street and in the city’s many law firms. Under his guidance, I soon signed up with an agency that taught me the basics of WordPerfect—the software currently in use in corporate Manhattan. I had never used a computer before. In fact, the first time I hit the print button and saw a piece of paper rolling out of a laser printer with what I’d typed during my training at the agency, I shrieked with excitement—to me, a true lover of the power of words, this was pure magic!
In the months ahead I became a pro at Wordperfect—a software that entailed one becoming proficient with a slew of keystrokes in order to get a document professionally done. What intrigued me most was the Reveal Codes function—hit ALT+F4 and I could see all the codes installed to make the page look as it did. With Reveal Codes on, editing was easy—all I had to do was to delete or add codes to produce the look I wanted on my page.
One fine day as I peered at my Reveal Codes screen, searching for an elusive bug that was causing me trouble, it struck me with a blast of “knowing” that it was time to search my own life for troublesome hidden codes. Growing up as I did in an ancient culture where codes are installed deep within each of us—potent codes that remain hidden until one has the guts to step out of the matrix and look unflinchingly at the trajectory of one’s life—I realized that unseen bugs were generating all my suffering.
Given my general hypersensitivity to life, I realized I had no other option left but to get onto the inner path; in fact there were times when the prospect of permanently escaping mundane reality appealed to me so strongly that I was frightened. Investigating, and then deleting the hidden codes causing my anguish, I decided, had become a blazing necessity.
As life continued to throw me difficult challenges, I threw myself into the task of cleaning out the Augean stables of my psyche. I was aided along the way by venturing into AA: although not an alcoholic, I had definite addictive issues. Fortunately I lived in Manhattan, where the lines of who could participate in an AA meeting were relaxed.
Now the fourth of the 12 steps is to make “a searching and fearless moral inventory” of one’s self, and when one is wrong, “to promptly admit it”. I took this step seriously; over time, I delved deeply into my earliest memories, dredging up painful stuff and not letting go until I had cleaned up my entire relative life. The steps go on to encourage seekers of peace to make amends for our past sins, no matter how clueless we were at the time we committed them, and then to walk free with our heads held high. And for me, thank god, this process worked, though not without a lot of slips and lashings of raw pain. Finally I came to peace with the past and with my own shortcomings and began to sense the presence of higher power within my own flawed mortal frame.
It is all that relentless inner work, I believe, that brought me to the feet of one of the greatest sages that ever lived—Ramana Maharshi—and to the base of the sacred hill he worshiped as the transcendent god Shiva himself. Here the burning of old destructive codes—in the form of vasanas or imprints from present and past lives—goes on, as I practice what Ramana called Self-Investigation or the Direct Path; it is a path of wisdom (jnana) that leads us from our relative angst to the gnosis that we are no less than the luminous, blissful and immortal Self.
Recently I and my comrade on this brilliant inner path walked around the mountain and spoke of the necessity for doing relative investigation—which is to relentlessly investigate our attitudes, views and actions, and to destroy that which does not serve us in seeking moksha (permanent freedom from desire as fear); simultaneously, the lover of wisdom must also practice the higher investigation into our true nature, which is sat-chit-ananda, or pure existence-consciousness and bliss. At some point in our mortal timeline, as the two investigations working together burn the monstrous human ego down to ashes, one is rewarded by the permanently knowing that we are no less than the Divine in human flesh.
Greetings from Arunachala, whose promise to the genuine seeker is to help us in this awesome task of transforming our darkness into light!
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June 30, 2015
200 Ways to say “Went” Infographic…
Wormed, wriggled, zipped and zoomed – yes, 200 ways to say “Went” – thank you Chris Graham and Amanda Patterson!
Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
From the blog of Author Amanda Patterson
