Curiously, this morning, I found myself running out of ideas for my blog. What’s curious about it, you say (that’s just a mystery writer building suspense). Patience and all will be revealed (now that’s just plain grandstanding).
You see, the reason I first started blogging was to discipline myself. In one of my earlier post I’ve mentioned the importance of writing morning pages. Morning pages as I’ve mentioned in one of my earlier posts are nothing but three pages of writing first thing in the morning. That’s it. Just writing – whatever comes to your mind (read more about it here and here).
I tend to use the morning pages a little differently. I use them to flesh out ideas that I’m going to write that day. I also use them to remind myself of some common mistakes people make while writing. No matter how accomplished we are or how much we’ve written, we tend to forget some important rules. For example, sometimes I tend to fall in love with my prose and end up writing three pages of description of a tree. Yep, the part readers tend to skip.
But, my morning pages today kinda acquired a life of their own and ran into reams full of angst and gripes against the world. The reason being today I ended up reading the paper before the morning pages and read an announcement of a film project. I also discovered that the script that I had written for the producer had had been credited to someone else.
To come back to point, gripes are hardly suitable material for a blogpost. I mean, I’m having a bad day doesn’t mean I have to ruin if for others. I should at least give them a fighting chance to ruin it themselves.
But that got me thinking. How do people who post everyday come up with material? So I did some search and came up against some good ideas. Josh Porter outlines some good ideas for general blogging in his blog. As does Lorelle.
As I was searching I had an idea. I thought to myself, why not write about certain dos and don’ts for writers not related to writing. I mean I’ve been bummed many times and have loads of experience so the materials all there. And the first lesson is ALWAYS REGISTER.
Always register your scripts and manuscripts. You can register Manucripts / film/TV scripts / Songs / Concepts / Stories etc. with the Film Writer’s Association in Andheri (W). They are located in Richa Building, near Mongini’s Bakery, Off Link Road, Opposite Fame Adlabs. You have to be a member first and I think the basic membership fee is Rs. 2700 or thereabouts. Thereafter you can register your stuff at the cost of Rs 1 per page plus Rs. 2 for admin purposes.
However, for manuscripts I prefer the copyright division of the HRD Ministry. They are located near Mandi House in New Delhi. You can view and download the copyright form here.
On a cheerier note, I started and finished Sue Grafton’s B is for Burglar yesterday. For all you crime fiction enthusiasts, Sue Grafton is the lady for you.
When tall, suave, handsome Kaustav Kapoor walks into her office, ditzy private investigator Kasthuri (aka Katie) Kumar has anything but detection on her mind. He is, after all, a scion of Bollywood’s first family—perhaps he has a role for her? Perhaps she will, at last, get to sashay down the red carpet in a designer gown, with flash bulbs following her every move?
But Kapoor’s intentions are much more prosaic: he wishes Katie to trace the heroine of his new blockbuster (and, if Katie’s read the glossies correctly, his life) who is mysteriously AWOL. Despite her misgivings, Katie finds herself unable to refuse the task entrusted to her, and thereon follows a bewildering hunt for the film star across a trail of corpses.
And if that isn’t excitement enough, she has to contend with the maddening and mysterious, but, oh-so-hot, Tejas Deshpande.
The first in a brand new detective series.
IN BOOKSTORES NOW.
Smita Jain's Weblog 