‘If You Let Me Go’ is a finalist in Amazon’s Pen to Publish Contest

They say “third time is lucky.” Well, it seems true for me.

My first two books have been well-received (that is euphem-speak for “they got rave reviews but so-so sales” [and I’ve understood the reasons for that too but that’s a topic for later]).

‘If You Let Me Go’ is my third book and from Day One it has been receiving lots and lots of love from my readers. In fact, I’d done a FB post about it having 1 lakh reads even before the middle of the month.

And this baby is going places. Yes, and not just to the US, UK, France, Canada and Australia (with sales n page reads in all these amazon stores).

*Drumroll* Superthrilled to announced that ‘If You Let Me Go’ is a FINALIST in Amazon KDP’s prestigious Pen to Publish contest.

QUICK LINK: mybook.to/IfYouLetMeGo

Yes, IYLMG has come a long way. Like all books that are written this too has gone through its fair share of tears and joys and pain but then nothing that’s worthwhile is gained easily.

And to have come this far, I have to say thanks to you: my readers, my friends, my family and last but def not the least, dear Universe, for guiding me in this path of being a writer that I have chosen for myself.

About IF YOU LET ME GO:

What happens in Paris…

Shivalika is a brilliant interior designer who attracts suitors like bees to honey. But she will have none of that. Shivalika has her life mapped out. She does not believe in love at all and is only focused on her career the reason for which is a secret she has nursed since she was a teenager.

But when billionaire Vikramarya Kumar aka VK aka “the most eligible bachelor in the country” enters her company as the new boss, sparks fly and she finds all her beliefs getting shattered, one by one.

Shivalika’s secret has already created havoc once in her life. Will she be able to overcome it to find her happily-ever-after with VK or will the pain of it destroy every chance of finding true love and healing?

‘If You Let Me Go’ is a standalone sweet romance novel (First Love Billionaire Romance novel).

FIVE STAR REVIEWS:

Sapna says, “Be ready to fall in Love again.”

Jenii says “The book is as sweet as the cover.”

Shalini KJ says, “As yummy as chilli paneer.”

Read ‘If You Let Me Go’ by Sonia Rao on #kindleunlimited or get your copy here:

India:https://www.amazon.in/dp/B08X4PFJHS

USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X4PFJHS

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08X4PFJHS

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B08X4PFJHS

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08X4PFJHS

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08X4PFJHS

(Top pic courtesy: My dear friend Dola Basu Singh; Cover pic: courtesy Self)

BOOK REVIEW: More Unfairy Tales (Carthick’s Unfairy Tales Book 2) by T.F. Carthick

More Unfairy Tales
Author: T. F. Carthick
Buy: Available on Amazon

REVIEW OF MORE UNFAIRY TALES BY T. F. CARTHICK

At a recent online workshop on Fairy Tales that I attended, different meanings behind the tale of Red Riding Hood were put forth. What one imagined was a story about a little girl going to meet her grandmother was actually touted to be a warning for young, innocent girls to beware of louts (wolves in human form). This was interesting and on further research I discovered a plethora of interesting retellings including erotica and gay literature, among others.

A unique retelling of fairy tales

But T. F. Carthick’s More Unfairy Tales is a completely different take on the fairy tales, as we know them. This is in fact his second book in the series, after a very successful first book on reimagining popular fairy tales. The main feature of both these books is that the story is retold from the perspective of characters we might have overlooked in the original tale.

Carthick avoids the easy path of a uni-dimensional retelling. He throws in chunks of references to popular culture, misguides your expectations by naming stories with titles that remind you of popular books, and peppers his narrative with quote-worthy sentences.

Sample these:

“Lady Luck is a strange mistress. She can smile, smile and yet be a villainess who can turn her face away when you need her most.”

“Time is flowing like a drunk snail out for a leisurely after-dinner walk.”

Elves & Witches & Wolves

This retelling of old tales does not mean that the author compromises on the OUATs (Once Upon A Time) and the HEAs (Happily Ever After) – the staple of all fairy tales. But he brings them back to us in unexpected ways that are both refreshingly new and exciting. E.g: Would you expect to come across the bible of economists—Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith—in a book of this sort? But it appears and does not feel out of place at all. Or, do you know the real reason why the huntsman saved Red Riding Hood from the wolf? Or, do you know the names of all the seven dwarves in the story of Snow White (and why they were named thus, and also why Snow White was called so)?

There are many such tantalising moments in the stories. They are all the more delightful because of the newness in the midst of their old familiarity.

A journey to childhood 

The tone of the stories feels a little sardonic and the narrative makes us break out into a laugh sometimes with its tongue-in-cheek, satirical, corporate-speak-like observations which are also a pungent comment on human nature.

You’ll also find a lot of visits from other fairy tale characters like Goldilocks and Cinderella(Plug alert: I love the mention of Goldilocks especially since one of my own retellings of Goldilocks is part of a humour anthology).

This book is a quick read and pretty unputdownable. One of my most fave stories is Lost Love’s Labors, the story of true, unconditional love (or, don’t judge a book by its cover, if you will).

Read the book at one go and relish the journey to your childhood of innocence, flavoured with the sophistication of your present. It is a delectable treat, I tell you.

 

Blurb of Unfairy Tales

A knight rescues a damsel in distress. They marry, the whole kingdom rejoices, and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.

Or at least that’s what Official sources say. But what tales do insiders tell? What secrets lie buried deep inside Davey Jones’ Locker?

What, dear reader, about The Unfairy tales?

The stories the Knight-in-Shining-Armour and the Damsel-in-Distress have never wanted you to know. Tales which Fairyland had kept locked up in secret and thrown away the key. Until our rogue bard went back in time and ferreted out skeletons hidden within secret cupboards of desolate mansions.

Our fearless crusader of truth and justice brings to you the second volume of revelations from fairyland.

You will find five more unfairy tales hidden within the pages of this tiny tome, the sequel to Carthick’s Unfairy Tales. Stories of elves out to decipher the ways of men and dwarves seeking to reclaim their own histories. Of spurned witches and lost wolves. These stories are going to change everything you have ever believed about fairyland and give you a peek underneath the gossamer threads of glamour and magic peddled by the Fae.

Grab your copy @

Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 

About the author

T F Carthick is a Bangalore-based writer and blogger who has been blogging since 2008. He is an avid reader of Children’s Fiction, Science-fiction and Fantasy. Enid Blyton, J K Rowling, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams are some of his favorite authors. His paranormal thriller ‘Bellary’ was one of the three stories in the book Sirens Spell Danger, published in 2013. Six of his stories have featured in multi-author anthologies and literary magazines. He has written over 50 short stories, many of which can be read for free on www.karthikl.com.

He is an Engineer and MBA from India’s premier institutes IIT, Madras and IIM, Ahmedabad and currently works as an Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Consultant at one of the world’s leading Consulting Firms.

 

You can stalk him @

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How To Write A Novel In 30 Days – 5

 

 

    WRITER’S BLOCK

A writer’s eye looks at things in a different way than a layperson’s would. Hence her head is full of ideas and it would take lifetimes to actually use them all in the writing. But sometimes, this faucet seems to be tightly closed. And try as they might, the writer is not able to wrench out a single word. This situation is fondly called, Writer’s Block. But this need not be a permanent state of being.

(If you are a writing your first novel, the first draft would mostly flow out. As is popularly said, everyone has atleast one story within them. Make the most of this beginner’s luck).

 WHY THE BLOCK 

The most common reason for a block is not knowing enough about the subject you’re writing on. If it is fiction, then perhaps you are not completely clued in to your characters, their likes and dislikes and their propensities. Going deeper into their psyche could give you enough matter to break any blocks in your mind about them.

Yet another reason for the Block is not believing that you have a story to tell, especially when you read the books written by the writers whose writings you idolise.

But the fact is that if you felt within you a spark (to write a novel)that wanted to burn bright then that is a sure sign that your story is worth writing.

Sometimes the writer gets into the rut of misconception that every word that flows out of his pen into the page must be brilliant and final.  Every writer knows that words have to be written and then re-written a number of times before they flow and you know you’ve got the best words that will work for you story. This is VERY HARD WORK. So avoid the self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviour which prevent you from writing, and blaming ‘Writer’s Block’ for it.

Stop thinking about what the world will think of your story, whether they will like it or not, whether they will approve of it or not, whether they will still respect you after you write your story or not (hey, do you really need such people in your life?).

 BREAK THE BLOCK

Just write the words that excite you, that want to be written by you.

Write like no-one is going to be reading what you have written.

 FREE THE WRITING

A practical way out of the Block is by free writing. Set a timer for 15 minutes and write whatever comes to mind about a subject of your choice, perhaps the character who’s causing you distress or even your story. Write uninhibitedly and soon you might find gems that could give you a breakthrough.

 What are the methods you use to get over Writers Block?

 (Read How To Write A Novel In 30 Days – 1, 2, 3, and 4.

How To Write A Novel In 30 Days – 4

DO YOU HAVE A WRITING BUDDY?

“Anything you do deeply is very lonely. There are many Zen students here, but the ones that are going deep are very lonely.”

“Are you lonely?” I asked him.

“Of course,” he answered. “But I do not let it toss me away. It is just loneliness.”

~ Wild Mind, Living the Writer’s Life by Natalie Goldberg.

Writing is a solitary pursuit. The visualization and the capturing of the inspirations and the impressions, all need to be done in quietude. But many times, we need a certain push that only another writer can understand and provide.

It is a proven fact that accountability can make the difference between the success and failure of a venture. Going on a diet? Going to take 10,000 steps daily? Going to write daily?

Accountability will make you feel like taking action even when you’d rather just watch television or surf the net.

These are buddies. Gym buddies, diet buddies, walking buddies, writing buddies.

Identify one such friend, or two. Whose writing strengths match yours. Then, fix up the time and amount of writing you will do.

It could be timed writing. Or even timed editing. Buddies remind you of your writing goals when you forget them. And they goad you to follow up on your promises you made to yourself and to others. They read what you’ve written. They tell you what is working and what isn’t. When they give a patient hearing to your ideas, the vision becomes clearer and the story becomes stronger. We can never be objective about our own writing. Our buddies point out to us our weaknesses, whether it a skewed POV or a rambling text or even a sequence of plot events which is implausible.

In the earlier days of publishing, editors at the publishing houses took on the role of writing buddy, in a way. Through encouragement and regular but constant goading, they ensured the writers completed writing their books. In fact, well-known Canadian author, Mark Anthony Jarman, in a writing workshop by Avid Learning held at the Kalaghoda Art Festival, revealed it was thanks to this unceasing badgering by his editor that he was able to complete writing most of his books.

Writing buddies are invaluable. If you don’t have one, you need to get one ASAP.

But remember, worthwhile relationships are never one-sided.

Will you be a great writing buddy, too?

Read How To Write A Novel During NaNoWriMo – 1, 2, and 3.

 

How To Write A Novel in 30 Days – 3

Like I promised last week, here I am with some light to throw on PHYSICAL CREATIVITIES.

Ask hundred people the definition of creativity, almost eighty would say it is about “thinking out of the box”.

All this while one would have thought that this box referred to must be some hypothetical box, which one had to jump out of if one had a wish to be creative.

But what would happen if you were actually put inside a life-sized box? A sealed box. Bet you’d try all the creativity at your disposal to get out of that box. Besides of course, hammering on the sides with your fists, hoping SOMEBODY would hear you.

Jokes aside, according to research done, those outside the physical box scored more points on creativity, than those inside it.

Here are some ways in which physical actions can jog your creativity into higher gear:

• Write standing up:
  Ernest Hemingway did it. So did Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf. Have you tried it?

• Write with your non-dominant hand:
  The discomfort and unusualness of using the non-dominant hand opens up untraveled pathways in the brain, giving you a piece of writing that might either be utterly worthless or a super-precious gem. At least it allows you to bypass your oft-used clichéd words, phrases and ideas.

• Lie down under the stars:
  On a dark, starry night, go to a quiet, open space (preferably a garden) and even if you don’t lie down, atleast throw back your head and savour the unending vastness of the black night interspersed with the sparkling stars. You’ll forget all your worries and stress when you realize how microscopial they are in the face of the gorgeous beauty of the Universe. This letting go ( of control/worry/fear) is what will allow your creativity to manifest – not just in writing, but in every aspect of life.
  

  Pic Source

• Go for a walk, but CARRY a voice recorder:
  No, not that sort of a walk where you burn 300 calories per mile (or whatever the exact figures are). More like an amble. An aimless walk, gentle steps, your mind travelling all over the world, especially into the world of the stories you’ve written or even plan to write. Stopping to stare at a particularly intriguing flower, or a bush that sprouts fragrant flowers only at dusk. All the while, talking into the recorder. Allowing the words to come to you instead of trying to drag them towards you. Talk without judgment. You will soon know which words you must keep and which you can delete.

Which is your favourite creativity-inducing physical activity?

Read How To Write A Novel In 30 Days – 1 and 2

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS – 2

There are two types of people in this world:

• Those who like a well-ordered, disciplined life and
• Those who always crave excitement and a routine life bores them almost to death.

We will talk about the second group because the first group has everything planned out and doesn’t really need any further inputs. Mostly.

So the people who crave excitement try to find it in dangerous sporting activities such as bungee jumping, river rafting or even sky diving. The more adventurous ones even take it up as a profession. Such as bullfighting.

And if you are an Avenger or a Superpower-person, you get your thrills in kicking the a** of those mammoth antagonists that more often than advance towards you from the horizon, stomping over buildings and buses and scattering  laypersons like ants whose piece of candy has been snatched away.

Photo source 

Those who cannot physically access these activities try to find excitement in activities like substance abuse and other type of addictions.

These are the Excitement-Junkies (EJ).

These activities can be life-threatening (except if you are an Avenger or Super-power person) and most of us don’t want to lose our lives in pursuit of excitement. What options do most EJs have, then?

Here is where NaNoWriMo comes in.

Photo Credit: NaNoWriMo

If you are a creative person and ever felt the call to write a novel (which is also why you are reading this article), the ‘Deadline’ is the device that will bring to you all the excitement of a battle without endangering your life.

30 days of writing, a minimum word count, not doing your daily minimum, the word-backlog piling on, the approaching deadline and the thrill of validating your novel a few minutes before 11:59pm on 30^th November. Slaying a dragon couldn’t give you this kind of a high. EJs of the world, rejoice.

Conversely, writing to a deadline is also ‘being in a Zen state’ or ‘being in the moment.’

Okay, let us try an experiment.

Open a New Word doc. Or a blank page in your notebook.

Now write 500 words of a story using these words:

crash, crumpled paper, straw, gravel, ochre.

There is no time limit. Begin now.

Finished? Not yet? Why?

Okay, let that go.

Open another New doc or blank page, as the case may be.

Set the timer on your phone for 15 minutes. Ready?

Now, using these words: social worker, mop, hotel room, beeper, write a story of 500 words within 15 minutes, beginning NOW.

With a deadline looming ahead, your inner editor does not get an opportunity to barge in with its deprecating words. And with limited time at your disposal to finish the story your mind gets totally involved in the task, relegating all extraneous thoughts to the back- burner. Isn’t that what meditation is all about. And really, if after a gap of time, say a few days or months, you read what you have written, you’d be quite pleasantly surprised. “Have I written this?” is one of the most common expressions that describe what you feel.

But if words like meditation confuse or scare you, then consider deadline being the weapon that can wipeout the curse of “one day.” According to Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, the world is full of “one day novelists” – those people who proclaim to the world that ‘one day, they will write a novel.’

That day is the 1^st of November. Get ready for it.

P.S. The prompts given above are from http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/ It is a very good idea to write to prompts (within a time deadline). This exercises both both your physical and mental creativities. Try it.

More about physical creativities next week.

Hopefully, you have signed up at NaNoWriMo already. If you are on Facebook, check out the Wrimo India Page too.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please feel free to share this post (Go on, share it) but only with relevant attribution and with a link to this blog. Failure to do so will invite the evil eyes and you know how tough it is to get rid of those!!!

 

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 30 DAYS – 1

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.

If you google either NaNoWriMo or ‘How to write a novel in 30 days,’ you’ll get thousands of links, most of them helpful and many of them repetitions.

As a five-time ML (aka Volunteer and Motivational Leader) and seven-time winner of NaNoWriMo, I have observed and studied and experienced and come up with a list of things one can do to be able to write a novel this November. In the next few weeks, I shall share them with you so, come November you are fully equipped and excited to write your novel.

These tips would work for both first-time wrimos* as well as veteran wrimos. My sincere advice to first timers is: Just write that novel without getting bogged down with the technicalities. Write like how Rumi asks a lover to dance. Write as if no-one is watching (and really, that is the only way to write).

So, onto the tips for today:

• READ a lot
  Self-explanatory. Read in the genre that you love. Romance, literary, thrillers, paranormal, horror, fantasy, YA, sci-fi and/or a combination of these.

But also read a lot of non-fiction. Especially in subjects you are passionate about. My list includes (in no particular order): creativity, love, cooking (reading about it), spirituality, nutrition and marriage.

What subjects does your list include?

• LISTEN to people

Go out often, to crowded places (no dearth of them in our beloved country, no?). Eavesdrop on conversations, jot down interesting ones. Go to the garden, to the café, to the railway station, the airport, a deserted lane late in the evening and stand under the boughs of the bougainvillea, and write. Allow yourself to feel, allow yourself to write whatever wants to be written, don’t judge.

Heard something interesting lately? An interesting dialect/dialogue/turn of phrase?

• ALWAYS carry a small notebook

And make it a point to write something in it, everyday. Make it a habit. And the more you write, the more interesting will your writing become. Will you ever use what you are writing? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. But the quality of your writing will improve, that is a given.

Until next week, then.

And don’t forget to sign up at nanowrimo[dot]org if you haven’t already. Camp NaNoWriMo begins in July. Time to write that novel you always wanted to, right?

N can only mean NaNoWriMo

It was 2008. The lure of writing fiction was becoming hard to resist. I joined a writers’ group. And when I asked them, “How does one write a novel?” they gave me a weird look and said, “You just write.” It did not make much sense to me. There surely must be more to novel-writing than just writing it. I was a voracious reader of novels and did not think it was that easy to write one.

But in 2009 I discovered that it was. I also discovered NaNoWriMo while surfing writing resources online.  To the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo which expands into National Novel Writing Month, is an online novelling event which begins on the 1^st of November and ends on the 30^th of the same month, every year. And in those thirty days, millions of writers all over the world write novels. They just write. Fifty thousand words of a novel if they want to be winners and get yummy goodies for their efforts.

You do the math and realise that if you have to write almost 1700 words a day, it doesn’t make much sense to dilly-dally and wait for the muse to turn up. You just write. You pour out the story that’s within you and this is especially easy when it is your first NaNo. 

Did I just say it’s easy? Maybe it is. Or then, maybe it is not. It was very easy for me. I loved the exhilaration of writing words that literally fought to break out of the prison of my mind and onto the vast open expanses of the word doc.  What pleasure it was, gulping down cups of semi-warm tea, hot enough to lubricate the flow of words onto the page but not hot enough to scald the tongue and distract the words as they tumbled out. Their energy and their vivaciousness enchanted me and pulled me in deeper and deeper to write.

Yes, I won NaNo in 2009, and then in the following three years too. For two years my focus was only on myself and my writing. It was terrific fun. But it was in 2011, when I became Municipal liaison(ML), India region, for the first time that  I realized how much I loved to motivate other writers to achieve their authorial ambitions. 2012 was the same fun and learning but in much larger quantities.  There have been on-line write-ins, and even on-line TGIO parties. There have been pep-talks by Indian authors. Friendships have developed and flourished. A community of NaNoWriters has been built, a group on Facebook where wrimos meet and display their writings and review others’ writings.

NaNoWriMo has many avatars. One of them is Camp NaNoWriMo which  is in full swing, now, in April.

Are you a Wrimo, too? What has been your experience as a wrimo?

Come, meet us on the Wrimo India page on Facebook.

 

(This post is part of the A to Z blog challenge as well as Ultimate Blog Challenge. Look out for further posts on NaNoWriMo and writing).