FREE THAT SEAGULL IN YOU

That Unforgettable Story: Bestselling Author Anu Lal at Capitol Mall, Kannur, Kerala

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a small volume of fiction written by Richard Bach. Some of you have read it. Some of you haven’t. It’s a highly readable novella with a seagull named Jonathan Livingston as its titular hero. The totality of the essence that shines through this story is not just about a seagull and the quest for success. More importantly, one must look at this book as a motif that corresponds to the inner voice of an individual. When I read this book, as a young student of English literature, I immediately associated it with a writer’s journey. I contemplated on the many nuances Mr. Bach, who I consider one of my gurus, must have employed to reveal his own life through the pages of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The reason I considered the possibility of an autobiographical element in this book is that in every writer, there is a seagull.

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Those very few successful authors are able to free the seagull engraved in their consciousness by the same creative power that generated their life force. Is it possible to live without consciousness? Perhaps, but think about the quality of life one must be missing under an unconscious state of existence. Every writer goes through stages of evolution. We evolve into being who we are. This evolution need not be biological. It could be spiritual or intellectual. Just like an ordinary person having lost his consciousness, a writer struggles if one does not free the seagull within one.

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What do I mean by “the seagull within us?” The seagull within us is our inner voice. This same voice sometimes gives a character in one of our stories, a unique individuality, and the narrative a significant identity. Voice is literature has a different meaning. It is not literally an audible sound. But in a novel or a story, ‘voice’ is the narrative style and peculiar alignment of thoughts and words. In order to achieve a unique and poignant voice on paper, one must achieve the same in life outside the paper.

There may be a multitude of concerns that haunt you each day—electricity bill, water bill, cable and internet bill, food, family, house maintenance or mortgage, etc. Often, these many concerns put a lock in the cage in which our inner seagull resides. This inner seagull came with us while we were born, within the same package that is we.

Once we realize our karma that is the cause of our restlessness, the path that we need to travel, we must take the courage to let the seagull free. Let it fly, away and above, everything we have known and seen; let it find new horizons; let it guide us. Let your inner voice take up thoughts that were, until then, impossible for you to handle, or improbable. Let your imagination accompany that inner voice. This is where fiery books were written.

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In the last decade of the previous century, a woman had a dream-like idea. It was highly improbable and senseless. Had she been living in Kerala, her own self-respect might have prevented her from penning down this story. But she lived in Europe, and she took the courage to free her seagull that is in her. In a few years, her book became a phenomenon. You must have heard of her, everyone does. She goes by the name, J. K. Rowling.

About The Author:

Anu Lal is the author of Wall of Colours and Other Stories, Book-1 in the Hope, Vengeance, and History Trilogy. He resides in India. His upcoming book is Clenched Hands, Bloody Nails. His second book You Should Know How I Feel has been a bestseller in Amazon India.

Blog: http://anu-lal.blogspot.in/

Author Page: Here

Twitter: @Anulalindia

Say It, Write It, Love It

So many people begin with the words, "I've always wanted to write a book but... ". They stop themselves before they have even get started. How do you know you can't write, if you've never sat down to do it? Fear is a powerful feeling but what is an even more powerful feeling is the pride you experience when you finally do sit down and write that first full page.

The first words are the hardest, making you question every letter you use, but they will become more fluid as you relax. Writing is a seductress, luring you into her bed, drawing you in with the freedom to create beautiful worlds, driving ambitions, moving emotions and before you know it, you'll be in love before you even hit the sheets.

Time is the biggest commitment you need to start, time and the will to try. Don't think of writing a whole book, if that's too overwhelming. When the great pyramids were built, it took twenty years. Few workers were there from start to finish so for them it became a job of moving one stone at a time.The job was cut down to size. So, start with your one stone. One page at a time.

You may then say, "Oh, I wouldn't know where to begin." Okay, fair enough, so ask yourself this, where do you like to start a good movie? Do you want to sit in a dark theatre, munching on your popcorn, looking forward to a drawn out introduction of a character's entire life leading up to the action that finally comes his way? You'd need more than a couple of hours and some extra soft seat cushions for your butt if this is the case.

You start where the real story begins when the character's life takes its dramatic turn. In the "Wizard of Oz", we don't start the story when Dorothy is born, or when she's growing up, no the story starts when she's facing the threat of losing her dog. The drama in her life has taken a quick step forward taking the viewer with it. Still, if the story lingers there too long, the viewer will become more interested in the box of Milk Duds in his hands then with the story so the pace has to keep picking up speed.

Once you find your start, trust your instinct to keep the momentum going. You may find after a few pages that you won't want to stop, and even with one page a day you'll have a full novel by the end of the year. Writing is an amazing process begging to carry you along if only you just let it. Don't go putting unnecessary pressure on yourself, you can write for just your eyes only, if it helps, or let someone you trust read it but you won't know how it feels until you try. I promise there is no greater gift you can give yourself.
Doreen McNicol
http://www.rachelwicks.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7355705

Born to Be Write…

Unlike some…I wasn’t born a writer…it went something like this…

My God…she’s illiterate…I can almost feel my mother’s disappointment as she heard those words shortly after my birth…she can’t read a word…she can’t even make her letters…stupid baby…

And…things didn’t change anytime soon…

Frustrating months followed…despite the best efforts of all concerned…my reading skills did not begin to develop until I was probably four years old…even then…it was just a few words…here and there…I could write my name…but…that was about it…

Although…I know it was difficult…the decision was made…shortly after my sixth birthday…I would be placed in an institution for the functionally illiterate…AKA…first grade…

For the next twelve years…I endured test upon test…and received appropriate interventions based on the results…exercises in spelling and grammar…were given to build up my vocabulary and make sense of my thoughts…

I made progress…and was soon to be released…but…I still had the occasional misplaced modifier…and dangling participle…I wasn’t ready to go it alone…my parents found another institution…college…

The tests were more difficult…the interventions more strenuous…after checking in and out of several institutions…looking for the one best suited to my needs…I finally settled in…and treatment began in earnest…

They gave me the best…teachers and textbooks…but…despite their interventions…I still suffer from the heartbreak of grammar faux pas…from time to time…

And…yet…I write…daily…

Jane Carroll

Note…I am currently undergoing comma therapy with a professional editor…and rely heavily on massive dosages of grammar and spell check…just to make it through the page…

A Lost Heart

Rest assured when I say “A Lost Heart” it does not mean what you think it means.  It does not imply a lost love, or anything romantic at all.

When my late British West Indian Mom said those words, she usually meant “to give up on something or a person”.  How do those words apply to me as a writer? 

Here's my story:

Back in April 2008 (04/05/2008) I started a blog on a site called “Writing Dot Com”.  I did this because I had a co-worker who is an avid writer, had an account there, and recommended it to me.  Like a curious cat, and since I've NEVER been a member of such a site in the past, I decided look into and try it.  First with a free account, then moving on to a paid account, then posting my own personal blog.

Back then my blog was a source of therapy because I was going through many rough areas in my life.  My blog helped me to talk it out. 

Back then I had been taking care of my Mom who had been mentally and emotionally ill, for 35 years and was (and still am) working on a job which was/is extremely stressful. Eventually, as one of her old doctors predicted, Mom became much too ill to handle medically and I had to make the decision to place her in a nursing home.  Plus I had to deal with my own personal demons.  So you can best believe I was burning up the keyboard with HEAVY blog entries. 

While I was doing this my blog was open for WDC (Writing Dot Com) members who were very supportive and encouraged me to publish my blog as a book.  Why?  Because it would be helpful and encouraging to others who are in the same fix.  I briefly toyed with the idea, but wondered, who would read this?  Who would believe this stuff?  I didn't think anyone would read and take what I have written seriously. 

Truly I've re-read some of the stuff and it scared me. Indeed were I to edit and publish this, I might drive readers AWAY instead of TO the book.  Sad to say, those who suffer mental/emotional illness are  considered a pariah to some, and a source of ridicule to others. Yes, even in this day and age.

Unfortunately, on 08/04/2010 my life was “reset” as my Mom passed away at 0400am that morning.  Had it not been for God, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ I would've totally lost my mind.  Since I am her only child, and she had no close relatives, I was the only one left to  make her arrangements.  That's where my Christian family stepped in with helping hands in every area. I am eternally grateful to God and to them for that.  Since then my personal life has about-faced and taken a totally different direction.

What has happened to the blog since then?  I no longer make entries in it.  Why?  I've “lost heart” to continue.  I've lost “the fire in the belly” so to speak.  I am no longer inspired to blog about my life in that manner any longer.  So I have closed the blog.

It kind of saddens me because as I read over some of the past posts. Even though some are horrifying, they are precious and bring tears to my eyes.  Why?  I had unknowingly documented the last three tumultuous years of my Mother's life.  Had I known that, I would've blogged much more about her.  The real person she was before several nervous breakdowns, crippling mental and emotional illness and eventually death, stole her away from me. 

Alas, I have lost the opportunity. . . . .

Shaharazod A Sekk, an aspiring writer. . . . . .

Radical Scribblings  

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Writing Page is: Cafe Sekk 

Twitter:@WriterShari

Write it Down

I took a yoga class a few days ago, and in the last (i.e. the best!) part of class, when you just lie there and relax, I was suddenly struck by an idea for a scene to include in the new novel I’m writing. The timing was unfortunate, but I couldn’t help when I came up with the idea! As soon as the class was over, I literally ran to the front desk and asked for a piece of paper so I could write it down.
Now this may seem a little extreme, but I’ve learned from experience that no matter how much I think I’m going to remember something I want to include later in a book, I never do. Here are some of my typical forgetful predicaments, which you may have experienced yourself:

• If I come up with a great idea in the middle of the night, I won’t remember it in the morning.

• If I come up with the idea at a yoga class, inevitably I’ll run into someone I know on the walk home and start chatting, or I’ll stop at the grocery store, and boom, I’ve forgotten all about it.

• If I come up with it when I’m out with friends, forget it.

That’s why I (and you) should always WRITE IDEAS DOWN.
I usually keep a little notebook in my purse and a set of sticky notes by my bed and also in my car. If I find myself without anything to take notes on, I send myself a text message. In fact, I sent myself a text message the other day to write this blog post, and I completely forgot about it until I just saw it on my phone!

You may come up with the best line of your entire book while you’re shopping this weekend. If so, what are you going to do about it?
-Maria
Maria Murnane writes romantic comedies and provides consulting services on book publishing and marketing. Learn more at www.mariamurnane.com
This blog post originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. Reprinted with permission. © 2011 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

Keep up your Chin

If you're reading this blog, there's a strong chance it's because publishing a book is very important to you, whether you do it independently or with the help of a traditional publisher. In fact, it might be the most important thing you've ever done or will ever do. It's definitely the most important thing I've ever done, and I'm extremely proud of being an author.
While you may be extremely passionate about your title of "author," however, not everyone is going to feel the same way. In fact, no matter who publishes your book, it's important to remember that no one is going to care more about it than you do.
As you set out to promote your book, you're going to expose yourself to rejection. Not everyone is going to call or email you back. Not every review is going to be great. A lot of your own friends probably won't even buy a copy. But if you let any of that affect your motivation, you're going to run into trouble.
I have a newsletter to which people subscribe on my website, and I send one out every month or so. No matter how many new people sign up, the occasional "unsubscribe" notification always hurts my feelings. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it does! So believe me, I know this advice isn't easy to take. Just remember the old adage: you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.
When it comes to book marketing, the best advice I can offer is this: try a lot of things, focus on what seems to work, and stay positive. And when you feel down, remember this: No matter what, you've written a book. So be proud of yourself!
Maria Murnane writes romantic comedies and provides consulting services on book publishing and marketing.  
This blog post originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. Reprinted with permission. © 2011 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

James Lee Burke- How Writers an Learn from other Writers

I'm convinced you can't write well unless you read books by writers who have figured it out and learn from them. Classic writers like Hemingway and Faulkner and Wolfe and Steinbeck. Present day writers like Michael Connelly, Nelson DeMille, C.J. Box, Lee Child, Stephen King and Robert Crais. All very different. All highly accomplished. All able to touch something human in us that goes beyond adventure and trouble and crime and spies and bad guys and good guys and all that.
I'm a big fan of James Lee Burke. I've read all of his Dave Robicheaux novels. I just finished Feast Day of Fools, Burke's latest in a series featuring an aging, small town Texas sheriff named Hackberry Holland.
So, what's so great about Burke's writing? What can I (and maybe you) learn from reading a book about dysfunctional, psychopathic characters who consistently carry out brutal and heinous acts as a routine day's work? Why would we want to read about people like this?
 Because Burke is much more than a creative writer with the required skill sets of crafted scenes, powerful dialogue and twisting plots. He's a master at revealing the human heart and the demons that reside within all of us. He's an absolute master of natural description, immersing the reader in the desert harshness of Mexico and Texas or the lush coast of Louisiana or the hard streets of New Orleans. He's a master at revealing the depths of a character in a simple paragraph, of choosing exactly the right words.
Here's an example from Feast Day of Fools. Hackberry Holland, Burke's protagonist, is watching his deputy Pam Tibbs at a crime scene.
In moments like these, when she was totally unguarded and unmindful of herself, Hackberry knew in a private place in the back of his mind that Pam Tibbs belonged to that category of exceptional women whose beauty radiated outward through their skin and had little to do with the physical attributes of their birth. In these moments he felt an undefined longing in his heart that he refused to recognize.
It paints an instant picture of Pam Tibbs. From prior parts of the book we know she's not beautiful in the conventional sense. Burke could have just said she wasn't particularly pretty, not that her beauty had little to do with the physical attributes of her birth. I think the ability to describe a character with a phrase like this is as good as it gets for a writer. To me, it borders on genius.
The paragraph reveals Hackberry. It tells us the essence of who he is. He longs for connection he cannot define. More, he refuses to acknowledge it's there. He must control his emotions or things might turn bad for him. He fears their power.
Two characters defined. All in seventy words. Hackberry, over seventy years old, struggles with unresolved feelings about Pam, who is half his age. Along with the dangerous and evil characters Burke spreads across the pages, we find ourselves engaged with a protagonist aware he is long past his prime, taking it one day at a time, struggling with unexpressed and powerful emotions and doing the best he can to see that justice is done.
Dave Robicheaux is another character any aspiring writer can learn from. He's gentle and full of love for his wives (they get killed every now and then) and his adopted daughter, Alafair. He's full of destructive anger that comes raging out past the walls of polite manners he's built to contain it. He's from a nightmare of a dysfunctional family that was laced with love, sex and alcohol. He's driven by demons many of us might find familiar. He's a Vietnam Vet. He struggles to stay sober and sometimes he slips. He has deep integrity. He cares. He seeks and believes in social justice. He sees Confederate ghosts slipping through the mists of the Bayou.
One hell of a character. Read James Lee Burke and learn.
Alex Lukeman, Author of WHITE JADE and THE LANCE. If you like thrillers, you'll like these. Ebooks and paperback.