July 15th, 2008 by Sucharita Dutta-Asane · 5 Comments
Freelance writing is no joke. This is almost a maxim, but few people outside the realm of such work understand what we freelancers mean by it. The common consent? Complacence, as if no work could be easier. Well, here’s another maxim for such people—it is easier said than done. Try this:
Finish your morning chores—write a page—organize breakfast—send kids off to school—write a few sentences—then dash off to the bank or laundry—cook lunch—write a page or two—drive to the kids’ school to pick them up—give them their snacks—write a couple of sentences—cook dinner, fold the laundry, tuck kiddo into bed—eat—write in the bleary-eyed hours of the night. Deadline? Yesterday. Always.
Well it may not be so choc-a-bloc for all freelance writers. I know of some who write blissfully through morning and afternoon and night, the world’s time on their hands. If you are one of the hapless majorities, what do you do to get started with some solid, heavy duty writing in an organized and undisturbed manner?
• Wake up early. That’s still the best way to get a head start on work for the day
• Make a to-do list of deadlines, queries, feedback, and responses
• Prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize—the mantra for a successful writing effort
• Reserve space and a time slot for your writing. All other work will crowd in upon this space but get at it with a determined pen. Cut through the other work to write, write, and write
• Follow up on the queries and respond to the messages without fail. Today’s query could be tomorrow’s bread and butter for you.
• Write a page every day, even when there are no projects, deadlines, or inspiration
Before the rain washes away all resolve, why not start with writing that compulsory one page now? Or better still, dash off the pending query. You never know what tomorrow brings.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Tags: Writing
July 14th, 2008 by Sucharita Dutta-Asane · 1 Comment
Andromache—Unrequited Love
Its book review day again and this week I am in the mood for some nostalgia, especially for the classics. Sifting among my books, I came across Jean Racine’s Andromache in the English translation by R.C. Knight, and that’s what triggered the sentimentality. The smell of old books reminds one of old friends you chance upon on a busy thoroughfare and don’t want to let go. That’s what happened with me and I picked up the play once again after many years. Andromache marked Racine’s transition from Baroque to Modern and is set against the backdrop of the post Trojan War Epirus, Achilles’ son Pyrrhus’ kingdom. Pyrrhus brings back Andromache, the legendary Hector’s wife as slave but loves her much more than he does Hermione, his betrothed. Andromache lives only for her son and the memory of her dead husband but eventually agrees to marry her master to save her son. Hermione, in love with the noble Pyrrhus, is wooed passionately by Orestes, Clytemnestra and Agammemnon’s son, sent to Epirus as an envoy by the Greeks to warn Pyrrhus against love for the vanquished Trojan’s wife. This chain of emotions and betrayal, passion given and rejected sets off a train of actions that leads to the tragic fall of Pyrrhus. Hermione, having ordered Orestes to murder him, is crazed with remorse at the death and kills herself, but not before berating Orestes for the parricide. Orestes is spurned and disillusioned, mad at his own crime and the betrayal of Hermione, and in the last scene, swoons in impassioned rage and despair. The Trojan infant who appears to be a threat to the Greeks lives, as does his mother Andromache.
This then is the basic plot of Racine’s Andromache, rich with irony. The Trojan slave lives to see her Greek conqueror die. What sweet revenge it must have been for the proud and tragic Andromache, who yet tries to save her new husband’s legacy by rousing his people against the other Greeks who murder him. Hermione herself is full of paradox and irony. Having used the hapless Orestes as a murder intermediary, she assails him with vindictiveness, lashes his feelings verbally with a diatribe that plunges him into mad despair.
Racine’s poetry brings alive the passion of love and unrequited affection and proves the fact—difficult to accept in his time—that even royals have flaws and are all too human. What really excited me in this second reading of Andromache though, was the timelessness of the themes—jealousy of a spurned lover, war’s painful realities, passion killing, remorse. While the themes resonate in the modern age, Racine’s characters attain tragic grandeur in the style of all great tragedies.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Tags: Book Review
July 11th, 2008 by Chandana · No Comments
Hello everyone…
The market news is a day late…sorry about that. And the weekend post has been washed away in the rains. Well..well…excuses…excuses. Aren’t you tired of that? I am too. I promise to make it up to you next Friday with an entertaining TGIF post. For now…here are some links you can check out for health and environment writing.
Natural Family
Health on MSN
Stitches for patients
Emagazine
Have a great weekend.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Tags: Markets
