Posts

Showing posts with the label essays and articles

Receiving My First Rejection Email on 1 Sep and Other Updates

   Gosh! I am so tempted to start this post with, ‘Duh. The end of the first half of my post,’ which, through this confession, I have. The ‘duh’ in question is none other than the (spoiler alert) first half of this post, as that part of the title, ‘Receiving My First Rejection on 1 Sep’ has suggested. To lengthen the short story, it was 8pm on 1 Sep in my part of the world when the email concerning my first submission to a literary agent arrived in my inbox. To my surprise, my often-dramatic heart did not palpitate. My palms did not itch and my stomach did not flutter either. Not sure how, but I was as stoic as, well, someone who was diametrically opposite to me. Calmly then, I opened the email to find my first ever rejection from a literary agent. Unfortunately they could not offer me a representation, they began. Due to the high volume of submissions, they could not provide specific feedback. However, they explained, it could just be that my novel did not match their personal prefe

It’s Kinder to be Crueller: Or Why I’d Rather be Ghosted Than Semi-Ghosted

   You and one of your best friends have been through so much together – at least she says so. The ride hasn’t always been easy – there have been so many ups and downs – but you have emerged from those experiences with a deeper understanding of each other, or so you have thought, for all too long. She’s said she’ll be there for you – not once – and she has even gone so far as sending you an image-based text that reads, ‘I don’t want to lose you.’ But lose your trust she does by semi-ghosting you – and yes, that is still ongoing… Because of the absurdly intricate subtlety of that act and because of your former closeness, you have been in denial about the semi-ghosting for, hmm let’s see, about three years now. It has only been two weeks since you’ve started grieving for the particular loss, after a close friend has shared her experiences of what your light-bulbed brain has, without skipping a beat, termed ‘semi-ghosting’. Initially, you haven’t a clue where that term comes from – you

Eleven Reasons Why I Love Writing Poetry

   Hello! Owing to my owing poetry so much, I’ll start with a confession. I did not start out liking poetry, let alone loving it. Prior to studying creative writing at university, I had always assumed that poems were dull, cryptic and absolutely depressing.   It did not help that as a teenager who did not read poetry – except for those assigned in my English classes – I used to write them, poorly of course, when life was hard. When I was a bit older, I thought that was just a phase, that I had outgrown it all. Fast-forward a few years, convinced by my university’s guidance counsellor that writing poems would help me express myself beautifully and that I had it in me to write great poetry, I signed up for a poetry writing elective. This probably sounds dramatic but my life was changed for the better. I fell in love with poetry and with writing them since, though the road was still rocky at times. Initially there were all those insecurities. It didn’t matter that my creative writing in