Skip to main content

Writing away to glory - Part I

People have such profound misconceptions about themselves. Mine is/was that I can write. And recent developments (such as the one below) have further fueled that carnal desire within me.

Ever since the Rs. 5 crore cheque was presented to Amish Tripathi as an advance for his 'yet to be titled' book on a 'yet to be thought of' topic to be published in an 'open time frame', wannabe writers like yours truly have been truly inspired.

It does not help that his holiness Lord Shri Krishna in a highly divine moment has tried to show us the path to enlightenment by preaching - "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 47). Lesser mortals like us however, have found our inspiration in the following verses - "That Aston Martin is the reason why Thou was born and no SOB can deprive your holiness from owning her. Go slog it out now!"

But as much scorn you might want to pour at the materialistic intent of Philosophy - II, it also motivates you to act (albeit in a slightly unconventional way - through associating an above average reward and using some impact words). Shall we quickly then democratize this and leave it at - "to each his own (Philosophy)"?

So I realized that Rs. 5 crores can create enough angular velocity to propel me out of my existential living. Consequently, one needed to disturb the inertia and 'act'. Here is a proposed plan -

  1. Plan a 3 book series. You can always keep adding more later. Anything less and you don't make enough money on the brand you created.
  2. Un-employ yourself. Meaning 'get yourself fired' - just for that added drama. Sounds so sexy to read in a write-up that "Mr. Amish Tripathi - the author left his high flying job for creative pursuits." The by-product is that you create the time to write the goddamn book(s)!
  3. Shut up and write!
  4. Everything else - right from begging the publishers to take a look at your manuscripts, getting them published to persuading prospective buyers - are challenges that you can think of later. For now, it is still back to 1, 2 and 3. Please don't think so far ahead!!
  5. Might involve selling your kidneys. So in the interests of your health - DON'T think anymore and focus on 1,2 and 3.
  6. I say NO thinking....SLAP SLAP!

I will detail out the choice of topics in my next blog. Keep reading.

Comments

  1. Lethargic Intellect20 August 2013 at 07:26

    #6 means u r more than half way there to be a famous writer. All the best.... :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

War of worlds

So if you are the average Joe spending time on commute-work-sleep-repeat, you ought to know this. There is an entire galaxy of superheroes out there vying for your attention and money. They will save your world for as less as Rs. 270 + 18% GST if you book your movie tickets online on weekdays. Move on Superman and Spiderman. There are far too many of them with special powers. And if you have not been following their global expansion through their franchises, you are doomed. You ask why? Try this at your risk. Fed up by the demands of the world, you take a day off and decide to watch a movie. Let us call it 'Justice League'. You haven’t seen the reviews in advance. What follows over the next couple of hours is that you are introduced to a bunch of good and bad guys with great abilities go against each other in conditions that look intense. The cost of making a mistake is huge and with odds stacked heavily against them, the good guys are pushed to the edge and beyond. But...
Post a Comment
Read more

The ecstasies and obscurities of an MRI scan

"Mr Mitra - your turn. Do you have any metallic objects with you? Anything like a gold chain, belt, wallet etc.?" "No" I said. "Then please remove your slippers and lie down." The consulting radiologist pointed to the patient table. "So how long will this take?" I asked trying to be brave. "About 30 minutes." The reply was extremely business like. Before I knew, the assistant had finished padding my head and strapping my feet - all of this before I could exhale. "This is the nurse calling switch - just in case you need to summon us." Flashback. Couple of weeks back, tired of a persistent headache (caused by daily doses of Arnab Goswami, playing stick tennis, text mining the Facebook and a nagging migraine) I went to see a general physician. It seemed safe for him to recommend a CT scan originally, but which was later 'upgraded' to a MRI scan upon further consideration. I did go through some bouts of depression a...
Post a Comment
Read more

We are fans. Mind it!

Mitron   - Please delay your moral pangs. This time it is not Wikileaks. But a nondescript agency (Touch Weekly) yesterday has published a list of Lindsay Lohan’s ‘romantic conquests’. From the late Heath ledger to Colin Farell to Justin Timberlake, there were 26 high profile beneficiaries of her affection. Reactions... Me : How the hell did Arnab miss out? Swami : This is Congress' ploy to keep NaMo out of this elite list. Don't you all see the names that were scribbled out deliberately? Those were all NaMo on different occasions. I have proof and I will move the courts. There is an Italian connection! Kejriwal : Thankfully, I don't  not need to ‘clarify’ anything on this one. As it is, coughing and road shows take up most of my time. The remaining goes into servicing the WagonR. Siddhu : Thonko taali! Move on fellas. National pride is at stake. More stink needs to be raised. More blogs need to be posted. The T20 world cup is about...
Post a Comment
Read more