Is 7 Your Lucky Number?…

Well, it is mine – at least for today 😉

Charissa at Joy In The Moments awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award (i have posted about it here and here.). Thank you very much. i will pass on that award next week.

She also tagged me with the Lucky 7… what’s that you ask? Well, it’s just a fun little thing to do… Here’s how it works:

You go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript or work-in-progress,

Then go to line 7,

Post on your blog the next 7 lines or sentences – as they are,

Then tag 7 other people to do the same.

Well, i have 3 works-in-progress… i’m think it would be fun to do all 3, just to see if there is a difference in my writing style or not…

So starting with the latest one, at the moment untitled, based in the present day, part fantasy:

Tabitha had meant to call her last night and apologise for the way they left their last conversation. Should she call her now? Did Pea have classes this morning?

She swung herself out of bed and decided to try her luck. She picked up the phone and sighed, at the same time thinking about the random information she read somewhere so long ago – every time you sigh you lose a drop of blood. Tabitha wonders how much blood she has lost in the last twenty years, as the ringing tone fills her ear.

‘Hello?’

2nd one i wrote the year before, based in the present day, called Between Cousins:

Oh how I remember that – it was so comforting to be held so close to a warm body while the cold winter winds blew around you. I hear the girls calling out for me. Better go.

I type:
Oh yes I was but not any more – I am used to it now. Running late. Have to go now. Chat later.

He types:
Most definitely 😀

After I close MSN messenger, I notice another email had just come in – this time from Yaya. Let’s see what she has to say – I am quite sure that she is with me on this.

This last one i wrote some 4 years ago, it is also my first attempt at writing a full-length novel, entitled The Girl and The Knife (i lost the digital version of this when our harddisk crashed last year, thank God i had a printed copy):

“i’m sure it would be the same for getting timetable and tutorials arranged. You know if i knew that being late means no lines, i would have arrived late too.” grins Nelly.

“But don’t you think i’ve missed a lot by being late?” asks Lily.

“No, not really. You see, we are first years. The first week is just orientation and registration – you have already done registration in less than half the time it took me and now i’m giving you orientation – see you have already done everything we did.” explains Nelly

Lily looking worried and unconvinced, “But classes had started officially three days ago! There were lectures and tutorials i have missed.”

Oh my goodness, now reading these lines again, i cringe! Typing this, i’m seriously considering deleting it all. But as i have been reading on other writers’ blogs, i have to be brave and post my work out there and be prepared for constructive criticism.

i know i have also committed what is considered to be a “sin” among most writers, i have not finished any of the above stories but have gone on to write a different one each year. However, in my defense, these were all written for Nanowrimo which recommends writing a new story of 50,000 words or more in 30 days each time you take part.

i will finish them – i promise i will. And now that i have picked one to work on, i aim to at least finish one draft by year’s end. Maybe, just maybe, i’ll post parts of it here. After editing, of course!

Oh before i forget, i tag the following people (i only know a few who are actively writing and blogging at the same time) with this Lucky 7 Meme:

Fiction Forge – she is a fellow-writer and also lives in Switzerland. We also go to book club together. She posts great tips about writing and is currently working on a piece of work she has been very excited about.

Poetic Inspirations – i simply love Maryanne’s poems and she highlights lots of other good poets of our day. She introduced me to Spoken Word Poetry which i love soooo much… i hope to be able to catch a live performance soon.

Life Is An Adventure – Lynda’s writing is simple and inspiring. If you need a pick me up, you need to read some of Lynda’s posts. She is also working on her book, which i think will come out soon.

Have fun!

syc

Running Away From vs Running Towards…

Just the other night, we watched the last hour of a movie called The Namesake. It is one of those movies which i like to call a movie with heart; a movie which speaks about issues of the heart.

The main character is Gogol and the story follows his growing up as the son of Indian immigrant parents in New York city. It’s a story of tradition verse modern; of family-first verse self-first.

Out of that one hour, one line stayed with me. Gogol marries a beautiful woman of the same culture. They were (or seemed so) madly in love. On their way to his mother’s annual Christmas party, he finds out his wife cheated on him. Her excuse was, “I saw myself becoming my mother.”

She apparently had lots of lovers before and is as unconventional as Gogol’s mother is traditional. But her many lovers have brought her no satisifaction. Neither had her career or lack of. Or her previous engagement to an American which was called off at the last minute.

Feet, are you ready to run?

She was running away from… from being her mother, from becoming that stay at home submissive wife; the traditional image of what might be a good wife. But she did not know where she was running to. She only knew she had to run away.

That is what struck me. If i am always running away without direction, then i will get lost. i felt that if she had a direction, a goal to run towards, such as ‘when i make partner, i will be ready to be a mother.’ or ‘i will always put my family first.’, then maybe she would not have drifted into the affair or even chosen to marry Gogol.

My point is that running towards a dream is better than running away from a nightmare. Don’t you agree?

i have a dream i’m running towards now. My dream is to be a published writer. What is your dream?

syc

PS: i hope to get the movie so i can watch it from the beginning and may even do a movie review. It is originally a novel so i may get that as well and do a book/movie review? Maybe.

20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes…

i love words, i love how they string together to express a thought or tell a story. i love the expression of words and how a single word or group of words can lead one to happy emotions or sad emotions.

However, where words exist so does this thing called Grammar! Yep, not one of my favourite words and yet so essential if, like me, you enjoy both reading and writing. No doubt i have already made a few grammatical errors in the few sentences i have just written.

The article below has a long list of 20 mistakes commonly made, even by good writers/novelists. i have had lots fun reading it and want to highlight my pet errors.

  1. Who & Whom – i have major problems with this one. i often wonder who was it who decided that the two should exist. To whom do these two words bring ‘glory’?
  2. May & Might – i might have less problems with grammar if i had paid attention in school. But i may yet catch up, now that i know the error of my ways.
  3. Farther & Further – You would think that i could get a lot further by actually attending a proper English grammar class but i think i need not go farther than the end of this article.
  4. Affect & Effect – i wonder if this article would affect the way you write at all or are you immune to the effects of a grammar lesson.

i’m no grammar guru, i just enjoy playing with these crazy words. Enjoy how English grammar can create a wonderfully topsy-turvy world of mixed-up words for us.

20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes | LitReactor.

syc