Writing, Among Other Things

Category: Writing (Page 8 of 19)

Finish What You Start!

“Well begun is half done,” Aristotle said. And Aristotle, as we all know, was a very smart man. This quote by Aristotle, however, presents only one part of the picture, and the picture is quite incomplete without the other half, which is as important as the first half. This other half can be summarised with Shakespeare’s line, “All’s well that ends well”.

In my discussions with friends and peers, I often come across instances where someone starts writing something, and then, somewhere in the middle, they lose interest and give up. I myself have done that many times. An idea strikes me. I sit down on my computer in right earnest, and then, half way through, I feel that the idea was not as exciting as it initially seemed. I lose all interest in completing what I had started, and the piece remains unfinished forever.

Does that ever happen to you?

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What was that again?

Once, many years ago, I was walking down a road, when a hand suddenly came to rest upon my shoulder. I jumped in surprise, and turned to see a man looking down at me. He was staring at somewhere around my waist. The word “PERVERT” immediately formed itself in my mind, but before I could react, the man said, “Wow, your wrists, you must play cricket?”

“Ummmm, Yes, a little!” I said. Everyone in India plays a little cricket.

“You must be a batsman,” he continued. Now, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t flattered. “I have not seen wrists like yours… they are almost like Sachin Tendulkar’s, or Brian Lara’s,” he finished. If you don’t know who those two are, suffice it to say that they are the best of the best in the game of  Cricket. I was flattered earlier, but I think the English language does not have a word to describe what I felt now. We talked for a little bit more, and then we parted ways.

Till this day, I sometimes feel, that I made a wrong career choice. Maybe I was born to be a cricketer.

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What is Creativity?

On the Internet, it is easy to find many definitions of the word creativity. In real life, this word is over used, and often abused, with its meaning changing according to the needs of the speaker. Mostly, it is seen as something which one possesses, or not. People often use sweeping statements like, “I am just not as creative as he is,” or “My younger son has the creative streak in him.

It has come to be widely believed that creativity is a gift bestowed upon us mortals by some divine power. If you are lucky, you have it, otherwise you are stuck with being a person with little, or no, imagination.

So, which one are you? Are you a creative individual, or are you one of the unimaginative ones?  But, before you try to answer that, try to answer this question : “What is creativity?”

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A Contest to have your Ad on the Blog!

It’s that time again. After a long time, I have decided to hold a contest on the blog again. The purpose of having this contest is two fold:-
i)  To interact with bloggers.
ii) To spread the word about the first annual The MAG” Short Story Writing Contest.

The Prize:
Before I tell you about the contest, let me tell you what you stand to win. If you win the contest, you get to have your 125 X125 ad on the blog for a period of six months. Your ad will be placed right above the “Write Network” badge. Interested? Read on for details.

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What is Your Profession?

300 is a nice movie. Admittedly, the movie is mostly blood, gore, screams and half naked men with great abs, yet it is a great movie. The quality of the movie, however, is not what this post is about. This post is about something I realised as I was watching the movie.

In one scene, King Leonidas, and his 300 men, meet a group of Arcadians, led by Daxos. Daxos is dismayed at seeing only 300 men, and he tells Leonidas that he was expecting the number of Spartans to be at least as much as the Arcadians. At that Leonidas asks three Arcadians what their profession was, and the answers he gets are potter, sculptor, and blacksmith respectively.

Spartans, of course, were soldiers by profession, each and every one of them. That was exactly what made Spartans a formidable fighting force.

The lesson to be learnt here is simple.

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