My Mistake...White Lions do Exist!

I have just realised that I made an idiot of myself in yesterday's blog about white peacocks.

I sarcastically said that in several years time, we may see white lions, panthers and perhaps even trees.

Well, it transpires that white lions already exist, as do lobsters, crabs, penguins, tarantulas, parrots and many other animals you don't expect to be white. You can Google them if you like...they are actually astoundingly beautiful creatures.

I also realised that panthers are not a species of the cat family who are exclusively black. If fact, "black panther" is a term used to describe any leopard, jaguar or cougar that has a black hide. Yes, I was shocked when my brother told me that black leopards exist, to which I conjured an image of a leopard with black fur and white spots. In fact, he was the one who told me to wikiepedia "panther", seeing an opportunity to make me look like an idiot. So yes, Bagheera from 'The Jungle Book' is in fact a black jaguar. And the Pink Panther is the same, but either painted himself pink or drank too much strawberry milkshake. As for the latter, this is a cartoon, anything can happen...you can even turn yourself orange by eating too many Wotsits! Well, at least it's a cheaper alternative for Katie Price wannabes.

I was going to suggest that black swans may evolve from white ones. But I thought I'd Google it before I'd make such a joke. And yes, they do exist. Again, Google them...they are gorgeous creatures.

The only thing I can think of now is that we may find black flamingos in the future (white ones already exist). I googled black flamingos and I could only find flamingo shaped ornaments painted black, so I'm certain they do not currently share the planet with us. But I think they should...they'd look pretty awesome :)

White Peacock Charm

And no, despite what the title of this blog suggests, I am not racist. White peacocks do indeed exist, as shown beautifully in the picture on the left.

I was Googling peacocks the other day (can’t remember why now), when I stumbled upon this gorgeous stunner. Perplexed that such a creature can exist, I decided to do some further research on Google to see how and why this could be. Apparently they are not Albinos. And they DO live in parts of India. My wild guess is that they are like the black and white tigers and leopards…they are merely a form of evolution. You never know, in a few years we might find white lions and panthers…maybe even trees! :S

Anyways, as I was reading up on them, one woman mentioned that it’s good luck to see a white peacock. She’s had a picture of one on her desktop for couple of days and so far, her days have gone smoothly. If she hasn’t been run over yet, I’d say it’s probably true.

I now have a picture of one on my desktop, simply because it's amazingly stunning. But I personally won’t know about its lucky charm for sure, until I get the novel published, somehow find 100K in my bank account and I get a very long hug from Harry Styles XD

One Chapter to Go!

Yes you read it. I now have only one chapter to go! I spend most of this week trying to get Chapter 26 sorted.

I’ve got to admit, it was difficult getting into it, as starting a chapter is by far the most daunting thing about chapter writing. I even tried to resort to writing on paper. Yes, I know this is a little hypocritical, seeing as I complained about it in another blog. But there was too much temptation on the laptop to procrastinate (Facebook, Blogger, newspapers, Youtube…you get the idea) and moreover, the glare of the screen can give you a bit of a headache. So I tried the pen and paper way, only to churn out one sentence, before lazily watching some random cooking programme that my dad always watches on a weekend.
Fortunately I did write a few paragraphs before tuning into the X Factor’s Sunday Results. Yes, I know I slated the show in a previous blog, but watching the suppressed annoyance on Cowell and Miss Tweedy’s faces when Wagner gets through is becoming a weekend ritual. I’ve got to say, his outlandish performances are getting a little tired now. But because he’s a gracious man, smiling in the face of horrid judges, apart from the lovely Danni and a booing crowd (it’s a dumb TV show people. He did NOT rape or murder anyone!) I do hope he gets through and makes it to the final, just to show that the programme and the press have no power over the people.
Anyways, I digress. I wrote the rest of the chapter over the last few days. It was a very sensitive chapter, delving deeper into the issues at hand. It allowed me to explore the psychology behind love…which I know to be a very complex thing. Since the protagonist is a child, it was interesting to observe this sort of thing through the eyes of a 12 to 13 year old. Again, I won’t reveal too much ;)

Over the next few days, I plan to figure out how the last chapter will close the entire thing. I’m pretty excited. But at the same time, I guess it will be like finishing some exams. You spend months revising like someone on a strict diet. But then when it all finishes, it feels strange to wake up the following morning and realise you don’t have to revise, stress and panic anymore.

Two Chapters to go!

Only a short one today. I thought I’d give an update on the novel front. The title of this entry is self-explanatory, which is why I haven’t been writing in this blog for a long while.

The two battle scenes are complete now. Surprisingly (or not so), I found them to be extremely enjoyable to write once I got into them. Reminds me of something Paul said: “I don’t think I believe in Writer’s Block. Writer’s Block is a term people use to give them an excuse not to do anything”. I partially agree with him. Sometimes, lazy people give themselves all kind of excuses not to do anything. It’s a way of saying, “Gah! I’ll do it tomorrow”. And then the day after that becomes the new tomorrow and so on.
But at the same time, I do feel that people genuinely cannot bring themselves to write, either because they are exhausted or are emotionally distressed about something. I can definitely say that I’ve been in both camps, which was why one or two of my essays did not turn up as great as they should have been. Yes, writing and the unpredictability of men is not a good combination.

But anyways, I digress. I think what Paul said was my problem. I was tempted by laziness and as a result saw the task as impossible. But being the driven person I am, I looked back at my notes and decided to plan the chapter in a way that excited me - for example, I added interesting scenes, forms and dialogue that would hold my attention.
Everything is doable. You just need an interesting story and characters to keep you going.

I have just completed the chapter which ties up everything that has been happening in the novel - won’t give too much away with regards to that. At the moment, I’m feeling a mixture of sadness and relief. Sadness because my protagonist’s journey is coming to a close and relief because my six months of hard work is finally paying off.

Battle Scenes and Crashing Taxis

Thought I’d give a quick update with regards to the novel. I’m really pleased to say that after weeks of not being able to do it, I’ve finally started the battle scene and completed a chapter last weekend. I think the drive came from spending three days doing something very formal, and then relishing in the joy and pleasure of doing something fun and creative over the following days.

I wish I could tell you guys that I only have three more chapters to go. But alas I can’t. I had to cut the battle scene into two chapters as it was that long. But don’t worry. The writing is not kinetic and it does not go into detail as to how the two sides fought (something I detest in battle scenes I have read). Instead, I’ve focused more on emotion and interesting events that really show off each character’s abilities and personalities.

Other than that, work has been Ok over the past few days. Although, it is getting a little tiresome as I’m doing the same things everyday, i.e writing press releases, analysing press cuttings on Durrants and emailing lecturers and staff. But today has been pretty good, as I interviewed someone for the first time…my Creative Writing lecturer, Paul McDonald.

I’ve been taught by him a few times during my time at university, particularly the ‘Humour Writing’ and ‘Novel Writing’ modules. But other than that, I have not seen much of him around.

The interview went quiet well, as he gave some very interesting answers, the best one being: “don’t wait for inspiration to come, go and find it. It’s like catching a taxi. You have to call one to get one…it’s not going to come crashing through your house window”. As you can see, Paul is a comedic writer.

But best part of the reunion was at the end of the interview, when I thanked him for giving me advice on the covering letter I sent to Tindal Street Press (by the way, he was the lecturer who commented on my status regarding this). He told me that if I do get published, there is a chance that other publishers might read the anthology and email me if they think what I’ve written is really good. But I’m not setting my hopes too high. I know my luck better than anyone else.

WILTED Shortlisted

I decided to keep this post separate so as not to overload anyone with information. Moreover I naturally feel that this topic has to have a post by itself as it was the only thing this week that made my chest burst with pride and happiness. Not literally of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be alive writing this blog. Ha!

I was going to despondently report on Sunday that my short story Wilted must have been chewed up in the Recycling Bin icon, as I had not heard from Tindal Street Press all last month. I suppose now it was a good thing that my laptop was infected with Spyware all weekend. After an exhausting first day at work on Monday, I threw myself by the heater and pushed the laptop open to check my mail. My heart jerked when I found an email from Rikhi, one of the editors of the ‘Asian Enough’ anthology.

He told me that they had received plenty of high quality submissions and the reason why it took so long to respond to everyone was because shortlisting had been so difficult what with so many brilliant stories.

And because of this, I was shocked when he wrote that my story (see the blog WILTED in the August section) had been put forward for the final round of consideration. I was so overwhelmed; I went on my abandoned Facebook account to notify my friends of the news.

The response has been lovely, even one of my Creative writing lecturers congratulated me and he never comments on my statuses!

This is going to sound cheesy, but I don’t care, I just have to say it. From the bottom of my heart I thank Chris and Janet for reading the piece and giving me much needed feedback. I must also thank Chris for his script, which inspired me to write again during a time when I was suffering from writer’s fatigue. And last but not least, I want to thank Nicola for encouraging me to write this piece. If she had not mentioned the anthology and threw out some vague ideas to get me started, Wilted would not exist.

The final selections will be made in mid-November, so I have some time to wait for a response. Knowing my luck, I might not get picked, as there is so much competition, but I’m just glad that the editors loved it enough to shortlist it.

Other than that, I’ve sent off a short story I did in first Year University today to the Grapevine, an ex pat magazine. Again, Nicola encouraged me to do this, for she has sent a few of her stories off to the magazine, which she knew of as her sister is one of the people who read it.

The short story was written during the module, ‘Craft of Writing’, in which we were taught to craft a short story. I was made to write it in a week, for my lecturer wasn’t too keen on the story I had given her to critique a week before the deadline. I don’t blame her now; it was an embarrassment of a tale which involved an acrobat taking revenge on her lion tamer lover. Anyways, she said that I was a good enough writer to write about something real. So, I decided to write about a pretentious woman who is slave to society’s shallow expectations of her. You could call it slightly semi-autobiographical, for at college when I was doing my Textile course; I was sucked into buying the most expensive clothes I could afford and styling them immaculately: gold shoes matching my bag and a khaki jacket that looked fresh and clean against my beige top and light jeans. As it was only a year ago or so since it happened (at the time), I could clearly remember the judgemental looks from other people and the fear of disapproval from the other guys and girls studying fashion.

No need to worry these days of course. I’m much happier now that I’m doing something that I enjoy and is very much me. In fact, I’m so content and anxiety-free at this very moment, I’m going to go and watch Disney’s The Jungle Book now with my family. Since Katie Waissel sang ‘Wanna Be like You’ on the X Factor, my dad has been wondering where our VRS copy of the film was, since it’s one of his favourite films of all time. Luckily, we found it over the weekend and watched it on Saturday and again on Sunday. Just comes to show how addictive it truly is.

Spyware and Work

It’s been a while since I wrote in this. I was going to update last Sunday, but unfortunately the laptop was infected with Spyware and was subsequently sent to my cousin’s to be repaired. Yes, the joys of bitter spotty virgins who think that hacking other people’s computers is a form of social life.

I was a little disappointed, as I managed to get some writing done on Friday. My mum and I went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for a visit. As my mum and sister-in-law babbled in Gujarati, I took out my brother’s laptop and began writing the first bit of the Battle scene. It’s strange how motivated one can be in an environment other than their home. Don’t get me wrong, I can write a lot at home. But sometimes when I’m not motivated to do something, I find that there are plenty of opportunities to daydream or read articles on the Daily Mail website. There have been times where I thought about taking my laptop to the library to write, but I don’t like the idea of walking home alone under the darkening sky, when there are dodgy people lurking around, spying out lonely skinny women who can’t defend themselves. Bastards.

The weekend was pretty uneventful – I tried writing the rest of my chapter the old-fashioned, traditional way…yes, by pen and paper. Unfortunately I only churned out a few sentences before lying down by the heater lazily. I’m just too used to typing; it’s easier to abuse the keyboard, rather than scrawling hastily on a piece of paper while your brain is working faster than your hand. Or maybe I’ve been writing stories via Word for so long that writing on paper feels un-natural.

On Halloween, we only got one trick-or-treater at the door, which we ignored, by pretending that we were in the back garden and couldn’t hear them. It was strange, because we always get at least three. But then, I saw some little children dressed as superheroes, clowns and monsters in the afternoon, heading around one of the corners of our estate without knocking on any doors. It seemed apparent that one of their friends was holding a Halloween party, which probably explains why most of them didn’t bother with the Trick or Treating this year.

I started work on Monday. It’s going quiet well, although the environment is pretty dry as I don’t have much common ground with the girls who share my working space. Their walls are covered with Take That posters, pink hearts and flowers and drawings of Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. But the work is pretty enjoyable, as I spend all day writing press releases and articles for the university website. I felt a little stupid as Vicky keeps finding grammatical errors in my work and tells me to re-word things. But I’m confident that I will improve once I get used to this strange world of real jobs.