Artist Lydia Chai posts an intriguing piece at contemporary art magazine Arteri on the completely black page in Lawrence Sterne's c18th novel Tristam Shandy, and asks :And in the interest of research, she even dissects the page physically ...Is the page covered in ink because Tristram has filled it with an elegiac outpouring of words? Or does the black page indicate a blank? ... How much time ought we spend on this black page? Is the page a moment, or an eternity?
More in Starmag today on the move by KarnaDya Solutions Sdn Bhd to bring chick lit into the Malay for a local readership. Dzireena Mahadzir discovers that the company is linking up with Harlequin (the world's biggest publisher of "women's fiction" - most usually romances) to translate titles from its Red Dress Ink imprint.... even though the culture and lifestyle in the books will be different from that of local publications, the plots and story lines will be entertaining to Malay readers. In terms of the storylines, I think Red Dress Ink offers more interesting content compared to local novels. From our experience in Malay fiction, it should be suitable for the local mindsets and tastes.Dzireena isn't too impressed with the titles she picks up, though :
I found the language a bit stiff and writing didn’t flow very well. Some parts sounded like they were direct translations from English to Bahasa.
Dear sir or madam, My name is Sonya Hartnett, I am fifteen years old. I have written a story about a young adolescent boy and the problems he has with his family, friends and society in general. Many of my friends say that I should get it published. Could you please tell me what I am required to do if I send it to you?Jane Sullivan attend an exhibition about books and writing in Victoria and finds, among other fascinating literary memorabilia (including Peter Carey's laptop and Tony Wheeler's first travel diary) the above letter written by a young hopeful to a publisher. What is remarkable is the tact and generosity with which the feedback is handled by Frank Thompson, then a general manager at Rigby, who reminds Harnett :
Writing is a bit like playing sport ... Everyone can play most games but only a few play games so well that we will pay to watch them play, and even they have to practise continually ...She took Thompson's advice to rewrite and her first novel, Trouble All the Way, was published a short time later, to be followed by many others. (And of course, she is listed for the Commonwealth Writers Prize this year.)
The architect and designer Claudio Colucci conceived a lounge sofa made from carbon fibre for the James Bond writer Ian Fleming. "I have always liked the fantasy element in design," he said. "Too much function bores me. I thought of creating an amphibious car, but that already exists, so I designed a lounge-sofa for drinking champagne, for two, of course." The fashion designer Christian Lacroix imagined a mid-20th Century wrought-iron chair for the French novelist, Patrick Modiano. Lacroix said: "I like his form of melancholy; like him, I'm nostalgic." ... The architect India Mahdavi designed a cat-shaped sofa in homage to Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Mahdavi, who chose a cat because the animal appears throughout Murakami's work, said that when she was introduced to the novelist, "it was like entering someone's dream, in a universe where fantasy and reality are mixed".Other works :
I got very frustrated yesterday trying to find some pictures of the pieces online, but I hope that they will appear in the days and weeks to come, and if they do, will post them.... have been imagined for great literary figures, such as Proust, Tolstoy and Flaubert. Others were conceived for contemporary writers who will have the chance to see the designs that have been imagined.
First of all, do remember the poetry slam organised for tomorrow, and featuring an impressive line-up which includes Chris Mooney-Singh, Bani Haykkal (B-Quartet), Priya K, Hazlan Zakaria, Dizzy Firefly, the slammers of the night (Illya, Afi, Ayue, Cipta, Fynn, Arzumy, Abdul M.I. Abdullah, Zain Azrai).... and maybe YOU because even if you don't want to be part of the slam, you can take a turn at the mic to read any new work you have.
I like the sound of Sisters In Islam's event on the Sunday afternoon celebrating the freedom to read by performing poetry and excerpts from books, plays, scripts, etc that have been banned in many countries throughout history.Malaysia has to publish 27,000 book titles for general reading annually to become a knowledgeable, developed nation and be on par with other developed countries ...See how this little piece in The Star the other day made our Daphne splutter.
I'm laughing because Literary Saloon on the other side of the world picked up a Malaysian publishing story before I did!To generalise wildly, the career path of most young (successful) writers goes something like this. Go to university – preferably Oxford or Cambridge – and read English. While there, start writing novel and get a few pieces published in the university magazine. Move to London after graduation, start a creative writing postgraduate degree and pick up some work reviewing books for the literary supplements while tidying up the fourth draft of your novel. You then get your novel published, which gets a few kind reviews thanks to the contacts you've made and sells precisely 317 copies. ... But someone, somewhere offers you a contract to write a second novel and your career is up and running. From then on you have a meta life. You write because you write, not because you necessarily have anything interesting to say. You probably actually write quite well, but you are trading on style, not substance, because you've never actually done anything much beyond writing.John Crace on The Guardian blog argues, quite rightly (and with reference to J.G. Ballard who had served his time in the real world) that too many literary writers are seriously lacking in life experience. And yes, it shows.
I won't be around for this one, but hope you go and enjoy yourselves! Book enthusiasts can expect incredible discounts on thousands of books of various genres. Also, the first 200 customers daily who spend RM 200 and above will receive a special goodie bag free PLUS if you are a DiGi subscriber or MPH Readers’ Circle member, you will also receive a pair of exclusive shotglasses free.Click up the poster for full details and map.
Lookout for these bargains & free book giveaways as well:-
1) Star Two readers will enjoy further marked down prices on 29 selected titles. Lookout for the highlights on 24 & 28 April in The Star.
2) FREE books up for grabs for the readers of The Sun and Malay Mail. Lookout for the write ups on 27 April. T&C apply.
The Pulitzer Prizes have also been announced, and the winner in the fiction category is Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout :... a collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating.The New York Times review is here. And you can find an extract here.
The Plague of Doves - Louise Erdrich
All Souls -Christine Schutt
The shortlist for the Orange Prize was announced yesterday at the London Book Fair. Sadly, Preeta's name is not there - but being longlisted for one of the most important literary prizes internationally is great recognition for a first novel.Choosing just six was far harder than I had imagined, but we all left the judging room proud of the list we have chosen.More about the books and each of the authors on the prize website. The winner will be announced on 3rd June.
Shamini Flint has the happiest of happy news to impart.
Tunku Halim wrote to tell me that his story Biggest Baddest Bomoh is included in the soon-to-be published The Apex Book of World Sci-Fi.I knew then that the book's migration to the digital realm would not be a simple matter of trading ink for pixels, but would likely change the way we read, write and sell books in profound ways. It will make it easier for us to buy books, but at the same time make it easier to stop reading them. It will expand the universe of books at our fingertips, and transform the solitary act of reading into something far more social. It will give writers and publishers the chance to sell more obscure books, but it may well end up undermining some of the core attributes that we have associated with book reading for more than 500 years.Steven Johnson at The Wall Street Journal* contemplates the profound ways in which the very nature of reading is set to change with the advent of e-books.
... one of the great joys of book reading -- the total immersion in another world, or in the world of the author's ideas -- will be compromised. We all may read books the way we increasingly read magazines and newspapers: a little bit here, a little bit there.And here's what I want e-books to become - Vooks! Let's enjoy our printed on paper books, but use the technology for something more exciting.
... money-making booksellers, exploited and impoverished authors, celebrity book launches and career-making prizes ...Classics professor Mary Beard isn't writing about the contemporary literary scene in The New York Times, but about how things were in ancient Rome, and there are some fascinating parallels.
The Roman launch party took the form of select readings from the work, given semi-publicly or at exclusive invitation-only events, perhaps in the home of a rich patron. These could be just as frustrating for the author as the modern book launch where only half the expected guests turn up, drink a polite glass of wine and beat a hasty retreat without buying a copy. Pliny, writing in the early second century A.D., complained that in Rome “there was scarcely a day in April when someone wasn’t giving a reading,” and that the poor authors had to put up with small audiences, most of whom slipped out before the end anyway.It's so reassuring that things don't change much over time!
Author JG Ballard has died aged 78 after several years of illness. His literary agent of over 25 years Margaret Hanbury called him :... a giant on the world literary scene for more than 50 years. ... His acute and visionary observation of contemporary life was distilled into a number of brilliant, powerful novels which have been published all over the world and saw Ballard gain cult status.Best known for his novel Crash and Empire of the Sun (which was based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China) Ballard began writing short stories while stationed in Canada with the RAF, influenced by the science-fiction he first encountered there.
... a charming, classic English gentleman with a generous heart, a cynical take on the world and a huge sense of humour ...He notes that :
Everything that everybody else was bored by or appalled by, he was excited by. ... Living out in Shepperton for so long, he was one of the first to undersand that the psychosis of suburbia was a fascinating thing to pursue. ... He loved the edges of cities: shopping complexes, motorways and airports. He was very taken up with Watford because of its multi-storey car parks. Where other people were terrified by the consumerist culture he saw it as exciting, something he could manipulate, shredding it and making his own world out of it.In the same paper, Ben Hoyle notes that :
Not many writers are so distinctive and influential that their name becomes an adjective in its own right. J. G. Ballard, who died yesterday morning after a long battle with cancer at the age of 78, was one of them. ... “Ballardian” is defined in theCollins English Dictionary as: “adj) 1. of James Graham Ballard (born 1930), the British novelist, or his works (2) resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in Ballard’s novels and stories, esp dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments.Author Martin Amis says of him :
He is quite unlike anyone else; indeed, he seems to address a different, disused part of the reader's brain.There are some touching tributes from readers on the Ballardian website.
I'm willing to admit this to you, my dear reader. I am such a voracious consumer of books that I used to steal in order to satisfy my need.Former book buyer with Kinokuniya Abby Wong starts an occasional column of things book related in Starmag and begins by telling us about her obsession.
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner turns up as one of the most frequently challenged books in US libraries. There is a child rape scene and some strong language in the book.... formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness ...Topping the list for the third year was Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's award-winning And Tango Makes Three a children's book about two male penguins caring for an orphaned egg.
The BBC reports on a great new initiative to encourage reading in London. Stalls outside five London tube stations hand out free books to commuters once a month, and they can be returned via drop boxes the following month.
Here's some good news for lovers of fantasy fiction. A new award has been set up to celebrate the genre, in memory of the late David Gemell (left).All of the contenders continue in the same tradition of integrity as David's own work. Fantasy at its very best like this can both entertain and uplift the spirit. The strong characterisation often resonates in people's lives; people have strong empathy and passion for characters such as Sapkowski's Geralt or Week's Kylar (Azoth) Stern. It is very gratifying to see that the fans instinctively knew what we meant by our criteria and recognised the qualities we were seeking.And here's the (very international) shortlist :
Joe Abercrombie - Last Argument of KingsThe David Gemmell Legend Award website is here.
Juliet Marillier - Heir to Sevenwaters
Brandon Sanderson - The Hero of Ages
Andrzej Sapkowski- Blood of Elves
Brent Weeks - The Way of Shadows
... in the face of the unmistakable traces of Ancient Khmer, Old Tamil, Urdu, Sanskrit and a distinctly Persianized Arabic in the very language that you utter your denials of pre-Islamic-Malay history in — this is masterful hypocrisy. Also, failing to acknowledge the deeply porous character of the Malay language (nearly a third of the Malay-Indonesian language is loaned) might blind us to the way in which two of the most salient ’semantic field’ vacuums in Malaysia, over the last century, have been and are still today being filled by non-Malay terms: science and politics. No prizes for guessing what the words for those in Malay are: sains and, yes, politik.(Many thanks Caving Liz, for the link.)
One of my blog readers who wishes to remain Anonymous (to go along with all the other Anonymice who inhabit my blog comments, no doubt) has sent me this review of Ian Buruma's The China Lover (one of those nice books Pansing passed to me!) :Ian Buruma has been watching and writing about Asia for decades, and his non-fiction works are some of the best in the market, if you’re interested in Japan and China. The China Lover is Buruma’s second novel, written in his spare, reportage style, and is based on the true story of Yoshiko Yamaguchi, a movie star in the Manchurian film industry during the 1930s and ‘40s.My great thanks, Anon, for this review. Anyone else like to contribute one??
To soften the impact of the Japanese Imperial Army’s vicious acts in Manchuria as the officers and soldiers go about looting the country and killing and raping its people, the propaganda office of the army decides to produce films to portray the unity of Japanese, Chinese and Manchurian cultures. Ri Koran, a young Japanese girl born in China, is chosen to star in these films, and in the first part of the book we see her discovery and rise through the eyes of Saito Daisuke, film buff, Sinophile and Japanese spy, who has affairs with, among others, the famous Manchurian princess and spy, Eastern Jewel.
Ri Koran stars in a series of films, and the songs she sings in them – “China Dreams”, “If Only” – become huge hits in China and Japan. But when the Communists take over China, she is captured and sentenced to death.
The second part of the book is narrated by film-mad Sydney Vanoven, a homosexual young man sent to post war Japan as a film censor (Japanese films are prohibited from showing any ‘feudal values’ : no sword fights, no relationships reminding the defeated nation of its martial past. Instead they are to have Western values – ‘democracy’, ‘respect for the rights of men and women’ and ‘baseball’). Vanoven also meets Ri Koran, who has now reverted to her Japanese name of Yoshiko Yamaguchi, and we are told how she escaped her death sentence. Post war Japan is described with conviction, and as Sydney cruises for Japanese men, visits film sets and attends parties, various famous names make subdued cameos: Akira Kurosawa, Frank Capra, Truman Capote, Toshiro Mifune. Yoshiko Yamaguchi changes her name to Shirley Yamaguchi and tries to become a movie star in America, with limited success, and the friendship between her and Sydney slowly dies.
The last part of the book is related by Sato, a member of the Japanese Red Army captured in Beirut after a failed terrorist attempt to assassinate a Jewish scientist. Sato was once the cameraman for Yoshiko Yamaguchi, who retired from acting to turn her talents to television, as the interviewer in a current affairs program for Japanese housewives.
Buruma is a good writer, but The China Lover shows that he is unable to get away from his talents as a non-fiction writer. A film buff himself, Buruma has packed his novel is packed with details about the pre-and post-war Japanese film industry. The book contains interesting trivia on Japanese living, history, and eating habits, and yet lacks spark to bring it alive. We’ve also seen more than once that novels told from three viewpoints seldom work, but in this instance this over-used literary gimmick is saved by the fact that, thankfully, the three parts of the book don’t focus on the same events, but actually advance the story through the different periods of Japanese history.
For a well-known Japanophile writer like Buruma, it is interesting to note that the section which comes alive the most is when Sydney Vanoven narrates, whereas the two sections told by the Japanese narrators feel detached and are similar in tone and voice. In the end we are unaware who the ‘China Lover’ refers to: the three men, or even Ri Koran/Yoshiko Yamaguchi/Shirley Yamaguchi herself, who, with her naïve dreams of bringing peace to all nations, ends up a pawn used by the militarists, the post-war American army, and finally even her own corrupt democratic Japanese government.
The KL International Bookfair kicks off this Friday at the PWTC and runs till 26th April. Organized by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia, the event is now in its 28th year. The website with all the details is here.
So what are you reading guys ... anything good you'd like the rest of us to know about?
At design site Toxel.com there are some stunning images in which book covers blend with readers' faces. [via] Do go see!
I was intrigued to learn that the French are totally in love with Hugh Laurie ... but not just as an actor.In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.Novels with hetrosexual sex scenes in them, though, seem to be strangely unaffected! Jackie Collins is still ranked and so is Harold Robbins, although many books in the erotica category have also been stripped of ratings.
You've invested years of blood, sweat and, in my case, HB pencils in the British Library to construct your tale of deep passion and pent-up desire and now – at last – your central characters are edging towards the bedroom. At which point you start to suffer from writer's droop. How are you going to encapsulate the earth-moving wonder, the erotic arousal and tender protectiveness of the longed-for moment?We've visited the topic several times before but Maeve Haran's piece in The Telegraph asking why is sex so hard to put into words, is well worth a read. The character she needed to plunge into the thick of the action in her latest novel The Lady and The Poet is no other than John Donne :
... perhaps the greatest erotic love poet in the English language, whose poetry glitters with clever seductiveness, carnal longingand clearly a tough act to follow.
Conspiring with a distant lover? Try texting. Lost in the woods/wilderness/Ionic Sea? Use GPS. Case of mistaken identity? Facebook!Am much tickled by Matt Richel's piece If Only Literature Could Be a Cellphone-Free Zone in The New York Times, but the point he makes about how modern technology undermines traditional plot devices is food for thought.
Technology is rendering obsolete some classic narrative plot devices: missed connections, miscommunications, the inability to reach someone. Such gimmicks don’t pass the smell test when even the most remote destinations have wireless coverage. (It’s Odysseus, can someone look up the way to Ithaca? Use the “no Sirens” route.)
Of what significance is the loss to storytelling if characters from Sherwood Forest to the Gates of Hell can be instantly, if not constantly, connected?
Michael Meyer in The New York Times tackles the thorny topic of author advances and points out that though they may sound huge, may not provide authors with much more than the minimum wage.It used to be that the first book earned a modest advance, then you would build an audience over time and break even on the third or fourth book. ... Now the first book is expected to land a huge advance and huge sales. The media only reports those, not the long path of writers like John Irving, Richard Ford, Anne Tyler and Toni Morrison. The notion of the ‘first book with flaws’ is gone; now we see a novelist selling 9,000 hardcovers and 15,000 paperbacks, and they see themselves as a failure.Rather nice :
The question of what to pay which authors has confounded publishers at least since a stationer agreed to give Milton £5 for the right to sell “Paradise Lost.” Joseph Conrad often begged his agent for more money and once asked to be advanced “a fountain pen of good repute.”
What can and what can't be found in school history textbooks has been a source of concern for many years. Besides omissions and insufficient emphasis on certain communities, experts and parents alike contend that some of the text and illustrations in history textbooks are placed there to subtly brainwash young minds. ... Some of these elements contain politically-aligned and narrow views that can skew students' impressions of historical events and their impact on the country and its communities. ... While school history textbooks now make a clear push for a national culture and society, are more comprehensive, and encourage students to be more analytical than in the past, when they were required to merely regurgitate facts and dates for examinations, certain elements in the texts must be reviewed.The thorny issue of whether Malaysian History textbooks for schools are ripe for review is given much space (and the front page) in today's New Straits Times. (Here, here, here and here).
The great American writers of the 19th century, whose novels are now staples of the syllabus, all excelled in the short form. Herman Melville’s “Piazza Tales” are as lively and strange as “Moby-Dick”; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tales and sketches are pithier than “The Scarlet Letter”; Henry James’s stories, supernatural and otherwise, show a gift for concision along with the master’s expected psychological acuity. And the first great American fiction writer, Edgar Allan Poe, secured his immortality by packing more sensation into a few pages than most of his contemporaries could manage in a volume.Furthermore, the art is still alive and well :
The death of the novel is yesterday’s news. The death of print may be tomorrow’s headline. But the great American short story is still being written, and awaits its readers.James Lasdun also writes about the neglect of the short story :
Of the literary arts the short story has always been the least honoured, trailing into the House of Fame a humble fourth after novels, plays and poetry. Between Chekhov and Cheever there can't have been more than a dozen major reputations founded solely or even largely on this unassuming form. You might have thought that in our own attention-deficient age, a narrative art based on speed and brevity would have become the main attraction, but outside the creative writing workshop, where its small scale makes it convenient for study (a dismal basis for survival), that hasn't been the case. Lack of encouragement may be the cause, or it may be something inherently skittish about whichever muse presides over this delicate art: a reluctance to settle anywhere long enough to generate a heavy-duty literary industry. It may be the relative newness of the form (if you accept Turgenev's claim that "we all come out from under Gogol's Overcoat", you can date its birth precisely to 1842), or it may be that people regard it as somehow highbrow or artsy; an insider sport for practitioners and aficionados only.But he too sees things changing and highlights some of this Spring's exciting debuts from across the globe which he sees as indicative of a growing confidence in the form.
There's a very interesting piece by Jane Sullivan in The Age about how furnishings can bring the characters to life in a piece of fiction.... to gradually build a sense of authenticity; and also to show us character.There are two novels where I feel this has been done particularly well. The first is Anne Enright's The Gathering and the contrast between the creme and beige of Veronica Hegarty's home and the comparative darkness and clutter of the family home which serves to emphasise her distance from the events of her childhood.
A couple of nice author stories from The Independent today.
Her teacher once wrote of her "She is stubborn, arrogant, she has no respect," but Chinua Achebe calls her is "a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers." Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has a new collection of stories out, set between Nigeria and America called The Thing Around Your Neck. (You can read the title story over at Prospect Magazine.)
Might soundtrack recordings to accompany our books be the next big thing?Why put out a soundtrack for a book? Well, why not put out a soundtrack for a book? Movies, TV shows, and video games have them - so why should books get left out in the cold? ... People complain about the Internet pulling people away from books, and this seemed like a perfect way to pull people back. The gorgeous songs on the soundtrack add to the spirit and emotion of the book in ways I'd never imagined. Some people will discover the book through the songs, and some the songs through the book.(The trailer for the book is pretty intruiging too.)
Talks to Fahmi Fadzil on PopTV this week is former Law Minister and author Zaid Ibrahim, whose second book Saya Pun Melayu (I Am Also Malay) is available in bookshops nationwide. (Or should be! MagP reports that the first run of 10,000 copies of the new book sold out within a few days of publication!)
... I think non-fiction is for people who don’t understand reality! ... Only when you really understand reality should you retreat behind make-believe stories.Amir Muhammad is profiled by Allan Koay in StarTwo today. He says that he has given up film making to concentrate on his publishing career ... and his ambition if to publish 50 titles! His Matahari Books has released 6 to date, with the seventh -Taxi Tales on a Crooked Bridge by Charlene Rajendran - due out this month, and several more on the cards including one on Malay movies which he is in the process of writing.
The last Harry Potter book sold 75,000 copies, but a Malay romance novel sells more than 100,000 copies, as some claim. For non-fiction, it depends. Something like May 13 (by Dr Kua Kia Soong) sold about 35,000 copies.The much banned Amir is asked whether any politician given him a hard time over the books, and answers :
No. I don’t think they go to bookshops.Touché!
Nami Mun - Miles From NowhereA bursary of £10,000 a year for three years is awarded for a first work of fiction to help the author's professional development.
Ann Weisgarber - The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Francesca Kay - An Equal Stillness
Waitressing and being an Avon lady – and even criminal investigations – are all about understanding people's desires. I had to rely on my communication skills and empathy in these jobs... There was a shared emotion between them and me, the people I was sometimes talking to. We were all lonely.In The Independent Korean American nominee Nami Mun talks about how her itinerant employment informs her writing.
The theme of this month's Poetry Slam is Pantun (which of course can be interpreted in any way you like). The event takes place at Lepaq Cafe No.22, Ground Floor, Jln. 28/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, K.L..
James Abela guestblogs this piece about writers block, which I'm sure the writers among you will find useful. Do feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.Dealing with writer's blockJames Abela is the author of X-Treme Creative Writing, X-Treme Factual writing and X-Treme Speed Reading. His books are available at all good bookshops and at the Marshall Cavendish stand at the KL Book fair. His Website is here.
If you do a lot of writing, then you'll know that there are days when you just can't think of anything interesting to write or there's a dreaded piece of blank paper awaiting you. As a teacher of creative writing and an author I get asked about writer's block a lot and everybody wants a quick fix. There is a quick fix, but it is a painful because you have to admit to yourself why you are not writing. In nearly all the cases I have seen, it comes down to one of following reasons:
1. You don't really want to write it in the first place
This is a classic problem and one that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had terrible difficulties with, he'd created the legendary Sherlock Holmes and really didn't want to write about him any more, in fact he was loathed to write about him that he tried to kill him off only to be greeted by protests and thousands of letters demanding that he bring him back. In his case the motivation to continue writing was either to do it or become the most unpopular man in Victorian England. In a similar way when faced with something you don't wish to write, you must think of the bigger picture and why you need to write the piece.
2. You don't have any ideas
Sometimes you just can't think what to do next and there are a number of ways to fix this. If it is half way through a piece, then the best thing to do is find somebody you trust to help you and bring in a fresh perspective. If it is something new then do some research, which may be as simple as reading some books, watching television, visiting somewhere new or even just reading something random on the Internet.
3. You think your writing is bad
It is better to write something terrible and edit it than have nothing at all. I used to work in PR and I used to hate the fact that my boss would always make do the 1st draft, tell me all that was wrong with it in a few seconds and tell me to fix it. She did it because it took a lot less effort to correct something, than to come up with that first draft. I have seen some terrible manuscripts in my time, but it is a lot easier to say what needs to be done to improve something than to come up with a first draft. In the same way you can be your own editor, come up with that first draft and then go back and improve it.
4. You are stressed
Sometimes your mind is stressed and overworked and where possible the best thing you can do is to take a break, take a holiday or at the very least work on something else until you can come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes.
Hopefully the next time you think you have writer's block, you will look inwards and from there work out a solution.
This former litigation lawyer, self-published his first book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari in a copy shop. His first seminar was attended by 23 people - out of which 21 were family members.Not my kind of thing, but given that Sharma's book was a best-seller in Malaysia, I'm sure some of you will be interested.
From those beginnings, Sharma has become one of the world's leading authors and experts in the field of leadership and success. He is the founder of Sharma Leadership International Inc. (SLI), a respected leadership development consultancy with clients such as Microsoft, Nike, Yale and Harvard University , IBM, FedEx, NASA, BP and General Electric.
Eric Forbes interviews Malacca-born, Austrlian author Siew Siang Tay whose début novel, Handpicked, will be published by HarperCollins Australia in April 2009 :The novel is about an Iban village girl who escapes from her longhouse in Sarawak to become a mail-order bride to a fruit-picker living in Renmark, a town in South Australia’s rural Riverland area, some 254 kilometres northeast of Adelaide, on the banks of the River Murray. Tay, who was born in Malacca to second-generation Chinese parents, worked for eleven years in the petroleum industry in Malaysia before leaving the corporate world and emigrating to Australia in 1992 with her daughter. She now works as a web editor at the University of South Australia in Adelaide where she maintains content on the university’s corporate website. Her short stories have been published in such literary magazines as Meanjin and Dimsum, among others. In 2007, she won the Varuna-HarperCollins Award for Manuscript Development which led to the publication of Handpicked.Her website is here with links to her published short fiction.
The author's dead but the books keep coming :
Then there's Roberto Bolano ... whose 2666 was published posthumously. Two more novels were found among his papers....disappearing completely unrecognized behind the scenes ...but a definite voice emerges, and it's one I like very much.
Daphne Lee writes about history books for kids with a local flavour in her Tots to Teens Column in Starmag today.... highly recommend ... to parents, teachers, and librarians as a marvellous reference and teaching tool.Halim is also profiled in New Man this month*. (Click up to size to view.)
