A Busy Bee in Winter

— Posted inPersonal, Productivity — 2 min read

The rest of November and perhaps the whole of December will be busy with manuscripts both academic and literary. With the debut novel all wrapped up and safe, I will be initially embarking upon a rough sketch of my second novel. This will require about a month. Hopefully, from January onward I will be able to start working on my second novel with renewed energy and vigor. Winters every year usually see me as a busy bee. Maybe it is the cold weather, maybe its the coffee, maybe its the fact that I feel more energetic in the mornings. Living in a tropical country has its drawbacks and weather is one of them. Summers are usually spent in room cooled by the AC, with not much energy left to do anything else. Thus, writers who belong to tropical countries work double of winters. It is a sort of a joke !!!

In a nutshell, after autumn, winters are definitely my favorite season. Hopefully, I should be able to accomplish the goals I have laid out for me, since I am no longer on the social media, messengers, and all such contraptions that are usually roadblocks on the way towards achieving long term goals. Keeping fingers crossed and ready to remain the busy bee that I already am 🙂

person holding white ceramic mug

Mastodon & Vivaldi Social

— Posted inPersonal, Privacy, Technology — 2 min read

Frankly speaking I had no idea regarding the evolution of Mastodon before I stumbled upon it in Vivaldi’s blogs. It was quite an eye opener for me. I had hitherto read about Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Thunderbird and various other browsers and email clients being open source, but I’ve never really heard of an open source social network. Long ago, before Facebook came into existence, I was exposed for a short period of time to Orkut (the little known predecessor of Facebook). Thereafter, Facebook began to rule the world and I was drawn towards it like millions of others. Twitter never really appealed to me and neither did Instagram nor Snapchat. My dalliance with the social media has been rather sparse to say the least. However, for those who are keen on social media, it is rather heartening to hear that Mastodon has evolved into not only this open source social media site, but it also is not owned by any corporate tech giant and neither do they use the much abused algorithm to track users’ news-feeds. Further, the concept of a federated social universe is also rather novel is many aspects. Not being locked onto a single server frees the user to a great extent. It also relieves the headache of an individual’s privacy being compromised. Glad I heard about such new concepts such as Mastodon and “Fediverse”. Definitely broadens my perspective of the tech world.

Good luck to Mastodon and Vivaldi Social users. Good to know that the tech world is evolving and evolving rather fast. And it is indeed invigorating to know that the eternally cherished principles of freedom and individual privacy are here to stay !

woman sitting on cliff raising both hands

Returning Home

— Posted inLiterature, Personal, Productivity, Writing — 2 min read

The word or the feeling of “home” definitely has different connotations for each one of us. One person’s feelings can never replicate the other’s. As far as I am concerned, since childhood, vast libraries and bookshops always meant “home” to me. Being an introvert these places were where I truly discovered myself. With the advent of the digital age, I somehow got sucked into (like every other person of my generation) this quagmire of information and the resultant attention deficit syndrome. For me, the computer and the phone meant everything as I was getting all my information as well as soft copies of books (in the form of PDF files) from the same.

However, with my gradual understanding of how harmful everything was turning out for brain, the first that I did was to relinquish the hold that social media had on my mind. With social media gone, and with no TV in our house, I’ve gone back to my books with a renewed vigor. Paperbacks or hard covered books can never really replace E-books. E-books are definitely easy to carry around on trips, but the satisfaction of turning crisp or old (as maybe the case) pages is difficult to compare. With social media down the drain, also keeping a few days “phone free”, and whenever I am not writing, I plan to reread all the classics that are in my home library. Unless I read or an be a voracious reader, I do not think that I can become a standard writer someday. Glad I’ve managed to finally return “home”, albeit a tad bit late.

So much for now….au revoir !

person reading book on brown and beige textile

A Productive Weekend for a Chronic Procrastinator

— Posted inProductivity, Writing — 1 min read

Proof reading of the first book is over! Now the long path towards publishing. In the meantime, the characters of my second book seem to jump out from the back of my mind and surprise me at different hours of the day. I need to get the blueprint of the second novel on paper as soon as possible. The plot is rather unique and I hope that this piece of writing eclipses even the first one (which I consider till date to be my finest creation so far).

It has been a rather productive weekend and I am quite happy with myself for the same 🙂 Being a chronic procrastinator has its own pitfalls ! I am desperately trying to overcome this malady of mine. For other fellow procrastinators, I have a wonderful page to share. Kindly go through the following articles at your leisure.

Lifehack !

A bientot ! Au revoir !

red, white, and green traffic signages

The Internal Monologue

— Posted inPersonal, Writing — 2 min read

I am primarily an internal monologue addict. My writings chiefly center around the internal monologue of my characters with bits and pieces of dialogues introduced in between. Blame this addiction on two of my favorite writers of all time, Virginia Woolf and J.M. Coetzee. I’ve grown up reading their books and possibly somewhere down the line these two writers have impacted my mental makeup to a great extent. Also, I may attribute this to my own thought process of internalizing external experiences. As a child, I had always been a rather quiet one…in fact more of an introvert. Possibly this trait of mine has rubbed off upon my personality even as an adult. And it has had a major impact upon my characters too. Internal monologues help me to understand situations and the underlying philosophy embedded within the same to a great extent. It gives me the feeling that I am a part and parcel of the fictitious entities that I create. Also, I can give them a more rounded and solid voice in the process.

I am sure each and every writer has his or her own ways of dealing with their creations. Mine is embedded in the process of internal monologues. So much for now. Au revoir !

shallow focus photography of stack of books

Merci Beaucoup Vivaldi !

— Posted inBrowser, Productivity, Software, Technology — 2 min read

Came to the conclusion while getting my work organised today that since I’ve been using Vivaldi and all its attached services, my writing has become more streamlined and stress free. I know that there are various browsers out there and I’ve used quite a few of them including Mozilla, Chrome, Safari, Brave and Opera, but none of them incorporate as many features as Vivaldi does. Nor do they run as smoothly as the latter. The left hand tab of this browser is indeed a marvel. I mainly use the following on a daily basis :

  1. Vivaldi email to store my important files, since I use other emails for communicating. Also I find it extremely effective while downloading mails from other accounts. Previously, I used to use MS Office Outlook, but it did not keep a copy of the mail on the server for me to refer to while on the go. Vivaldi fulfills that need.
  2. The Calendar to plan my daily work and schedule.
  3. Contacts to store important contacts whom I mail frequently.
  4. The Notes tab to make important notes while I write and the Task tab keeps me on my toes at the end of each and every productive day.
  5. Last but not the least, the Vivaldi community helps me read wonderful articles on writing, travelling, and life in general. Also blogging at the of a day well spent at work, keeps the writer’s mind both relaxed and happy. Blogging is definitely better than scrolling through social media websites. Besides writing, blogging and cooking tends to bring out the zen in me 🙂

Thank you very much Vivaldi or shall I say Merci Beaucoup ! :}

flat lay photography of coffee latte in teacup on table

WYSIWYG

— Posted inPersonal, Productivity, Software, Technology, Writing — 2 min read

WYSIWYG or What You See Is What You Get is a famous acronym used quite frequently in the Internet parlance. However, though it may be true in case of most things including the world wide web and human beings in general, it is definitely not true as far as writers/poets/artists are concerned. We are definitely not WYSIWYG. There are layer and layers that tend to cover us. We are not easily decipherable. We hide and duck behind covers in order to keep our thoughts safe from people. We have stories and sometimes libraries of stories in our heads, while we juggle reality with some difficulty. Living a dual life can be arduous to say the least. However, we are also great adapters. We are like chameleons. We adapt to our surroundings with ease while keeping those characters in our minds safe and sound. Cushioned in secrecy from the outside world.

Just a little note about random thoughts that crop up during the course of the day. Nothing of importance in particular. By the way, I’ve started writing posts under my real name. It may seem pretty long and rather exotic to the uninformed. 🙂

Au Revoir ! Till I scribble again.

person using black typewriter

Too Lazy & Laid Back

— Posted inPersonal, Privacy, Productivity, Writing — 2 min read

Realized that NANOWRIMO is not for me, just like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others are not for me. Maybe it works out for many out there (hats off to them !), but it doesn’t work for me. Inspiration does not come every single day. It comes in spurts, in bits and pieces, on special days and certain times that I fondly call “rainbow-tinged moments”. Therefore, typing 2000 words per day doesn’t seem my cup of tea. I can only write at specific times when inspiration strikes me, or when the characters of my novel urge me on to give them life on paper. Those who may finish their books in November are wizards in the truest sense of the term. They are people whose brains probably work faster and better than mine. And I respect them from the core of my heart ! But its not for me !

I suppose I am too lazy and laid back when it comes to writing. I tend to spend hours framing my characters in my brain. I lie back in a comfortable chair or sofa, close my eyes, let the winter in filter in through the window curtains and think. And dream. And ruminate. And then after an hour or two I switch on my laptop and type in all that I could see…deep within me. I suppose someday my agent or publisher or whoever will be dealing with my books will definitely go bonkers over this attitude of mine 😀 But that’s me. Too Lazy and too laid back. The typical old world writer….too slow for this fast moving world !

Congratulations on yet another failure ! I guess I failed to keep up with NANOWRIMO ! 😀

white cat lying on brown textile

November Notes

— Posted inPersonal, Privacy, Productivity, Writing — 2 min read

November didn’t begin on a great note. I was assailed by a temporary writer’s block which led me to lose a few precious days. Having recovered from the above, I intend to give my fullest to this month. There are three main things that I need to focus on :

  1. Finish Proof Reading my 1st Manuscript
  2. Finish Writing the 2nd one
  3. Keeping my Academic Deadlines

The world comes with its ample share of distractions for the writer and each must tackle the same in a way that he or she deems fit. There is work and society and online distractions, not to mention buying groceries and completing other daily chores. The secret to focused and hard work is complete detachment from everything and everyone ! It is more like being in a perpetual state of zen. Having said that I have decided to “turn off” the world a bit.

  1. News must be filtered to the minimum. A writer has no need of the real world or this massive influx of information.
  2. So must the social media (if you do use any. I use none). And other modes of communication like the email, text messages, phones etc. Tell your family that you are working during a specific period of time. Friends can wait for you to get back to them.
  3. Cut down on social obligations too. Meet them next moth or maybe the next year. Society can wait !
  4. Finally, keep one day for every little chore that you do. 1 specific day for shopping groceries, 1 specific day for doing the laundry etc.

I am trying my best to acquire this zen feeling before I begin working in earnestness from tomorrow. The month cannot be lost. Nor can I lose out on my deadlines. I must write. No matter what !

Au Revoir !

person holding umbrella beside street

The Road Not Taken

— Posted inLiterature — 1 min read

A temporary drought of inspiration led me to an old favourite poem of mine by Robert Frost. Sharing it on my blog for one and all. Maybe this poem reflects my current state of mind.

green forest during daytime

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.