Origins Blogfest
Co-hosted by DL Hammons, Creepy Query Girl KatieMills, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish,
To share when, how and why my writing began.
A nervous hi, takes a seat...
"My origins...from India, so I guess ..." jumps up in alarm as
Robyn Engel from Life By Chocolate, present here on persistent pleading butts in.
"Rek, Rek...%&#$@" does a face-palm, accuses me " You hoodwinked us all this time!! Took you to be a smart, witty woman who knows her ifs and buts..."
I , as usual, burst into tears melting her kind heart. She pats my head (in a petting way) " Come now, here, have a chocolate."
Pouting "Hello, trying to lose weight here."
She mutters" More like losing steam and our audience."
"Alex! Tbone!" she hollers, literally yanking them off their chairs...giving them a 'don't mess with me' look
"Be my guest!" and thunders her way out.
I whimper, still licking a dark bit, "Robyn, Wait!"
Tbone clears his throat, "Look Lady, We don't have all day...220 odd others waiting, so cut the crap!"
In a stronger, cocoa dipped voice, "Written essays and poems in school and college and such...read books too. Summer vacations meant my cousins would hide away their books lest I spent less time with them."
Alex looks at Tbone, a telepathic exchange, 'Next time, our Blogfest is by invitation only!' and emphatic nods.
"My 8th grade(13yrs) English teacher liked my story, especially about a ranch horse...it reminded her of Black beauty...she loved my first line for another one, the one which went,"Under the star lit sky, with only the full moon for company, here I lie in a corner, a street dog."
Looks around for applause, none...stammers on, "But never aspired to be a writer, a published one at that."
Alex ""Finally!" Tbone "No grovelling for sympathy!"
"Ok." "Written on and off for two decades now, till I joined Twitter in 2009 after my ... hmm...still a very bad word here 'D'. Met two cool bloggers (now friends) T.S Hendrik and Aditya, followed their blogs for a year before taking the plunge."
'"Joined some creative blog groups for poets and flash fiction writers, their encouragement helped as did that of my first few followers...then gave into my ambitious, pestering brother's advice and took up writing full time in 2010."
"Moving out of Mumbai meant I could only hold a part-time accountant's job since I never managed to crack my C.A (C.P.A equivalent) final exams. I lick my wounds with the hard fact that in the 90s only 3% of 15,000 students got that elusive title every year, maybe because of fewer job openings then... sigh...but on the flip side, I have a lot of time to read, write, research, submit and get rejected, photograph, fabric paint, mess around with different software applications and blog now."
Alex softly "Lets get back to writing."
"Did I mention I got a commerce degree just because Arts is not a cool career option for the great Indian Middle Class! To cut the long story short...finally found the courage to get around doing what I love and what I think is one of the few things I am good at. So, if my books get printed or not, sell or not....I am and will be an Artist/Writer!!"
Alternate version
There was a little girl who was a bit different, impulsive, hot tempered, rebellious dreaming false worlds when she should have been studying some more. The daydreams grew larger, more verbose and sometimes silly. As the space between the grey cells shrunk, she took to writing on pieces of paper... some saved, some frittered away carelessly...she never showed them to anyone lest she be mocked at by the uncaring. Then it happened, the stuff that her fears were made of. Unlike other kindred spirits, the more she read others, the less pieces of her own got written till a day when the dreams knew better and took flight to the nether regions of her mind, a self imposed exile.
Time flew, walked, crawled, the dreams peeked out now and then and verses took shape that were protected fiercely for years and yet the best ones cast one day into the fire of battered self esteem (especially the ones dedicated to her fiancé-husband who broke her spirit)....and then after years of grey bleakness, the tumultuous life led her back to the road she had long ago abandoned, the only one left she could travel through, to save her sanity. The journey was risky, shaky, encouraged by loved ones who had secretly read her amateur works...she trots along enjoying the passing scenery.
* My heartfelt apologies to Robyn, Alex And Tbone.... One of my beta readers (aka cousin sister Nimmi) feels that my writing: poems, flash and short stories had one thing in common - sadness. At her request I am trying my hand at humour and other streams.
*Sorry to have put you to sleep...wakey, wakey....time to blogfest surf....
Before I leave....some cool Blogfests to be a part of if you haven't joined yet. ...
WRITERS' PLATFORM-BUILDING CAMPAIGN By Rach Writes
a way to link writers, aspiring authors, beginner bloggers, industry people, and published authors together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms.
The challenge starts on Feb16 and flash fiction work posted on three days and winners chosen. A chance to get some good books or a critique as some of the prizes.
Last year they created a E book with over 180 entries , the proceeds going to a charity.
Joining Link Open Till Feb 15.
CHALLENGE YOUR BLOGGING SKILLS - every day for 26 DAYS all of April
Post on any topic but based on the alphabetic order. Last year over 1300 bloggers participated...a great way to met more people
Sundays are the Sabbath days here.
Links open till March 31. They even have a video contest related to the challenge, open for entries till Mar 11
Evil Genius Blogfest By Golden Eagle to celebrate two years of blogging.
Create a story, in any format whether that's flash fiction or poetry, where the aforementioned character does something qualifying them as an evil genius. You can also choose an already-existing person, perhaps from one of your favorite books or movies--just tell us why you think they're the best.
Word limit for entries: 400. There will be prizes too.
On February 27. Link closes By Feb 26
