loose Ends and abstract Thoughts

Dear Reader,

It was recently bought to my attention that I hadn't commented on the status of the title of "the BIG ONE". Well, since I'm a very democratic person, *wink* I've taken into consideration the results of the poll (now ended), and decided to temporarily name the BIG ONE Life in Conversations. 'Temporarily' because the title may very well change once editors and publishers get their hands on a manuscript. But I'm happy with Life in Conversations, even though my Poetic Friend really wants me to call it "Conversations in my Head". Aside: this title always makes me feel slightly unhinged. But I thoroughly plan on writing a poem with that title; I hope it'll be a deep and moving confession of my unhinged-ness.   

Anyway, I began reading The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw. I'm a just few chapters in but I wanted to share this passage with you because ... well I'm not sure why. 

"He chased it all the way to the fringe of the woods, and followed it into the open, where scrubland sloped down and away from him towards a river. Crows wheeled in a sky of oily rags. Hidden water gurggled nearby, welling into a darks pool at the bottom of the slop. Above the pool, the ray of light dangled like a golden ribbon."

So, what do you think? ... Though this whole passge (which actually spans the length of two pages) is a homage of the simple beauty found in the contrasting nature of Nature, these lines in particular make me think about how we, as humans, are running after a tempting but insubstantial ray of hope in these dark and dismal times. Even if we don't admit it. But more than that, we need to know that there is hope, that we can run after it and try to grab it; for the sake of our sanity, at the very least. I for one, couldn't survive in a world where there wasn't even a hope for Hope. Does that make any sense to you, dear reader?

I'm afraid I must leave you now, for I feel weighed by these abstract thoughts.
Nida   

thoughts On writing

Dear Reader,

As this year comes to an end, so does the poll I set up for the title of The Big One (a novel I'm currently writing).  So if you haven't yet voted, make sure you do before 01-01-11. Because every vote counts. --->;

Okay, election speech over, now on to more a important topics i.e. my self-confidence.

So I've noticed that lately I haven't been so hesitant to proclaim myself a writer or admit that I'm writing a novel or two. This is kind of a new thing for me, despite the impression that one might get from my blog. I'm generally quite a shy person and usually avoid questions related to my writing. I don't know exactly when this change began but I know it definitely has something to do with this blog. It might also have something to do with the fact that in these last few weeks I've been taking to uni, my main notebook for "The Big One" (see below for pictures) and the recyclable-folder (I'm as "green" as my bedroom walls) containing the printed version of all that I've typed up so far for this particular novel.

THE notebook

a Random page - so you can see the state of my thoughts

Now another thing you, dear reader, should know about me is that I usually don't put up much of a fight. Confession: Fights - I absolutely hate them, avoid them at all cost and don't even like the concept of them (except maybe in novels like The Lord of the Rings and kickass video games like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood  or Prince of Persia) So when some of my uni-friends, Collective Codename: The Sisterhood, lovingly began pestering me to let them read some of my work ... well you can imagine how that turned out. But the comments that I got afterwards made me think that maybe, just maybe my friends aren't just saying all that so as not to hurt my feelings, maybe this stuff that I write isn't so bad, that maybe I should consider getting it published.

However, there is one thing I know for sure: I don't want "The Big One" to be the first thing I ever publish. The reasonings behind this decision are complex and even I don't fully understand it, but I'll try to explain it anyway:

"The Big One" is a work in progress and something that would change and grow and get better as I get older and, hopefully, wiser. It's an outlet for me into which I channel all that I observe in my surroundings, all that I feel and desire on the inside, all the irrelevant thoughts bumping around inside my skull and all that can be found in my imagination. And what I do is I "curl and crush it all into to a tight knit ball inside myself" and then "splatter it all across the empty pages that lie in my lap". So you see, other than being ginormously personal to me, it would be fair to neither my characters nor myself if "The Big One" is published before the story or I'm is fully actualised.

If you can properly understand all that, then I congratulate you on gaining more insight into my personality than I have.

Now I think that this is more than enough confessions and contemplations for me today.
Until next time,


Nida
 

a Title and a Poll

Dear Reader,

As you know, I've been doing a lot of writting for 'The BIG ONE', as I've come to calling it. So I've been giving a lot of thought to what to call this novel. As you can guess 'The BIG ONE' isn't exactly an appropriate title. So I decided I'll let my dear readers have a say in the matter. 

On the most basic level, the story is about this girl called Nabiha and all the major changes she goes through in her most formative years (i.e. from 17 to 29 years old). She lives in modern time London. Oh, and she also happens to be suffereing from Sickle Cell Anaemia. 

Initially, it started off with the working title 'The Life of my Alter-Ego' for reasons explained in a previous blog, but I always planned to change that title. So as I was writing, I realised that the novel was centred around a lot of very important conversations, which led me to a couple of new titles, e.g. 'Life in Conversations' and '...in Conversation with Nabiha'. 

Anyway, I've set up a poll in the side bar ---->, where you can vote for which ever title catches your eye, or would make you want to read that book. But if you like none of them, then I'm happy to take suggestions. Just leave them in the Comment section and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. And here's a nice little treat, if I really like your suggestion then I'll add it to the poll as well. :-)   

Well that's all I have to say for now. Make sure you vote or leave a comment - we do leave in the age of democracy after all.  

Anyway, take care.  

Nida