It was quite exciting to see myself as one of the Faces of the Femina, October 13th issue, it must be admitted! They are carrying one of my short stories which has quite a long story behind it with a little author bio at the end. It has been quite the heart-warming experience with friends and relatives messaging congrats and liking it on Facebook etc.
As for the long story, my short story was originally entered in a national level short story writing competition. The top three would be given cash prizes and a few more stories deemed meritorious by the judges would be included in an anthology with the winners. There would be an event to release the book and you would get to bask in the unalloyed joy of being a published writer. I wanted the win, so bad, it made me positively reek of desperation which stinks far worse than particularly rank BO.
Unfortunately, my little minnow of a short story did not make the cut, and the loss was hard to bear especially since treacherous hope had ballooned out of all proportion to reason, after it was announced that the first round had been successfully cleared. As a consolation prize, I was told my story would be included in the anthology.
In the meantime, I had defiantly entered it in another competition which would see behemoths from a few more continents. Sometimes faith is even more foolish than hope and using the unassailable logic that my minnow had what it took to swim with the sharks, this struggling writer whose career had few things brag worthy and a whole lot, cringe worthy, made the choice to turn down the chance to have her story included in the anthology and opted instead to go for the win on an even bigger arena. Needless to say my minnow was swallowed up whole leaving me feel like a gambler who had lost way more than could be afforded.
As it turned out soul - crushing disappointment functioned as a great motivator having quashed my earlier dream of being the O Henry of my generation but not my tendency to gamble when it makes very little sense to do so. Deciding to go for broke, I started on my first novel and long story short, now my official bio says that I am the author of Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior - Prince and Kamadeva: The God of Desire. (By the way, I am aware that it is hugely annoying to get into self - laudatory mode but at some point I'll get into self - bashing mode and then you will be hard - pressed to say which me is more annoying :) )
So much is owed to the humble little story that none of the judges liked as much as I did. Be that as it may, I am delighted to share my tale of marital discord with the readers of Femina, thanks to the discerning editors of this esteemed publication. (For the record, I did not threaten to kill myself if they refused to publish my beloved creation) Hope they love it more than those darned judges :)
Unfortunately, my little minnow of a short story did not make the cut, and the loss was hard to bear especially since treacherous hope had ballooned out of all proportion to reason, after it was announced that the first round had been successfully cleared. As a consolation prize, I was told my story would be included in the anthology.
In the meantime, I had defiantly entered it in another competition which would see behemoths from a few more continents. Sometimes faith is even more foolish than hope and using the unassailable logic that my minnow had what it took to swim with the sharks, this struggling writer whose career had few things brag worthy and a whole lot, cringe worthy, made the choice to turn down the chance to have her story included in the anthology and opted instead to go for the win on an even bigger arena. Needless to say my minnow was swallowed up whole leaving me feel like a gambler who had lost way more than could be afforded.
As it turned out soul - crushing disappointment functioned as a great motivator having quashed my earlier dream of being the O Henry of my generation but not my tendency to gamble when it makes very little sense to do so. Deciding to go for broke, I started on my first novel and long story short, now my official bio says that I am the author of Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior - Prince and Kamadeva: The God of Desire. (By the way, I am aware that it is hugely annoying to get into self - laudatory mode but at some point I'll get into self - bashing mode and then you will be hard - pressed to say which me is more annoying :) )
So much is owed to the humble little story that none of the judges liked as much as I did. Be that as it may, I am delighted to share my tale of marital discord with the readers of Femina, thanks to the discerning editors of this esteemed publication. (For the record, I did not threaten to kill myself if they refused to publish my beloved creation) Hope they love it more than those darned judges :)
2 comments:
hahaha love the subtle humour permeating the entire article
Thanks Balaji :)
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