Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Scattered - A launching on 09.09

So.....the book is out and the Lady is impatient for feedback. But the launch is yet to come. 09th September is the date, 5.30 pm is the time and Barefoot Garden Cafe is the place. Those of who are interested in what I've got to say are most definitely welcome. But please do RSVP at the link below :)

https://www.facebook.com/events/461770107196727/

A little jittery about the launch actually, being the not-so-social and sometimes, prefer-the-solitude kind of person that I am. Oh well, I suppose a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

It will be a small gathering of people who are genuinely interested in poetry and literature in general. It will not be one of those mass scale, flashy things that leaves you wondering what the heck its all about. At least, I want to keep it like that. Because that's what my poems are about. They are intimate, they are personal and they are very much close to home. And I would simply not forgive myself for a launch that is any different.

Speaking about the book, I would like to view this book as a collection of memories. Little snippets of memory actually, little ends of memory threads along which I can travel, once I caught an end. Every poem has a story of its own and a very intimate significance which makes it extremely special to me. However, I do not know how special it will be to others who will be reading my work, but then again, fingers crossed, you will like this debut collection :)

A little fun fact about the book. It starts on the page 9 and ends in page 99. And its launched on the 09.09 (not planned, I swear. Circumstances led to it). A strange but wonderful coincidence! Specially since my lucky number just happens to be 9 too!

There will be music for sure as I am quite the music buff and also because I wouldn't want to bore anyone out of their minds with only my boring voice droning on and on. So yes, it will just be myself reading out some pieces from the book and some wonderful tunes. And I have given Mrs Vijita Fernando to read my book and she will be commenting on that as well. I'm just waiting to hear what she has to say about it :S

So all this will be happening on the 9th September. If you can spare a Sunday evening, do drop by. And buy my book!! :D




Friday, August 17, 2012

Dreams do come true :)

Yeeeeeeeey!!! Its finally IN PRINT!!! The hard part is done, now we wait!

My poetry collection, the long awaited one is finally coming out. Woke up one morning and made a decision to take matters in to my own hands and publish it by myself. Well, the publisher of course is Sooriya Publishers who was very helpful, very gracious in an age when all other publishers out there seem to have lost their faith in the poet kind. Point is, I did it, something that I never thought I would do and something that I had absolutely no idea how to do. You learn by doing they say. And I learnt, a whole truck load.

I learnt that there will be plenty of lip service but never enough work. I learnt that there will be people who will readily give you bucket loads of false hopes and just leave you in the lurch waiting for something to happen when in reality, you would just be wasting your time. I learnt that while many may claim to be your friends, friends in reality are very few. I learnt that unless I move my butt and get things moving, nobody else will move it for me (things I mean, not my butt). I learnt that nothing comes easy, that I will have to work hard to achieve anything worth the while. I learnt not to rely on others and not to trust too much. I also learnt that I should not delay anything in life no matter what and no matter how many promises are made.

I also learnt that I have got an awesome, AWESOME, awesome family and a boyfriend who will accompany me to hell and back. I also learnt that I've got awesome friends! I love you guys sooooo much!

The lovely ladies of the EWC, specially Mrs Vijita Fernando was there for me at the very beginning. I really wouldn't have known which end was up if it was not for her. Mrs Sybil Wettasinghe was being her usual darling self and was as excited as I was about my book! It was one nerve wracking ride but hey, I am now well versed in the fine art of publishing, which is pretty great.

Hoping to have the launch on the 8th September at Barefoot. Not because I am posh like that, but because out of all the places I checked, Barefoot proves to be very co-operative, affordable and the staff is super-duper helpful which is pretty awesome. Do drop by if you have the time, there will be plenty of poetry and music to go around.Will post when the time is confirmed as first I will have to get the books in hand which is due in two more days. Can't wait!

Tired, bed awaits. Novel also coming together nicely, but tonight it shall have to wait. I shall catch up on my long suffering sleep tonight instead of tap-tapping away. Nightey night everyone! Happy Friday tomorrow!


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Poking & Publishing pains

Fallen victim to one of those 'poking' fits that go around FB from time to time. I feel like a corpse that people have poked time and time again to see if I was alive. It feels.....oddly disgusting.

Once upon a time the 'Poke' function on FB used to be fun. Those golden days of Poke, you 'poked' your friends from time to time, just to let them know that you have not forgotten them.  You "poked" people that you have met somewhere and would like to get to know better but didn't quite know how to approach them. You 'poked' people as a means of expressing friendship, to see how they would accept it, to save oneself from the humiliation of rejection, as a means of preserving one's pride or dignity even. The Poke button had a delightfully innocent function those days. Or is it that the Poke button had always had a dirty, flirty connotation and I, in my blissful oblivion had been blissfully oblivious to its slightly disturbing function until up to now?

Whatever the case may be, how gross is it that complete strangers, ones you have never even seen or have heard of in your entire life come and 'poke' you, and repeatedly so, on FB? Let's say that one poke, just to test the water, is perfectly ok, but noooooooooooooo, they don't stop at just one, they will do it, again and again and again, specially when after you have removed their poke and thus knowing full well that you have absolutely no intention of responding to them, ever. What happened to the good ol' ways of sending a message or a friend request if you REALLY wanted to get to know someone? I find Poking offensive and repulsive, when done by complete strangers that is.

If one goes around poking random people in real life, they will only be answered by one or several thundering slaps or a blazing kick to where it really hurts. And I SWEAR to God if I get poked again and repeatedly so, I shall seek the culprit out and poke both his eyes out. And I'm DEAD serious.

Speaking of FB, that dreaded Timeline is going to be applied to each and every profile from 7th August onward. However much I hate the thing, decided to embrace change and converted the profile. Now I find the thing highly messy. It hurts my eyes to figure out which is which. Honestly, I don't think that I will be signing in to FB all that much now. It annoys me.

Publishing. Its hard work. One may wonder, what's the big deal. But what I have figured out is, what I will be putting out is my most vulnerable self, the innermost me and I will then let myself be judged by people who know nothing of me nor care about what I've got to say. Some wise person had once said that writing is like being naked in public. Well, lets just say that I really enjoy being naked all for myself. Getting second thoughts about being publicly naked now, despite the practical publishing difficulties of running against a deadline and all. I am beginning to look at books, lying around forgotten in bookshelves in stores with a new found veneration now. The amount of work that had gone into them, overcoming personal boundaries to get it published, not to mention the brain numbing procedures, legalities, its all too much. Of course, some had gotten it easy. Others like us, well, we have to work our bones off for it.

The worst of it all - having to to do it all by yourself. The lack of proper editors for poetry, the blatant disregard for it in this country, no "professional" publishing help - my publisher asks me why I chose poetry and assures me that I'm better off publishing a scholarship guide because that's the shit that sells. I know I should have gotten shocked by this kind of speech but honestly, it just brushes my ear and falls to the ground - I guess I'm used to this kind of negativity by now. I've been tricked, stolen from, given false promises to and left high and dry all of which contributed to delaying this endeavor. If they thought that they dissuaded me from this, they have another thought coming.  

I did not choose poetry - poetry chose me. And here's me, a lone girl with little to no help from anyone else trying to make this thing happen. With little over 1 month to go, I am content with how far I've come, despite the many things that have held me back.

I am well aware that I am jumping into the deep end of the pool without really knowing how to swim. Here's me hoping that instincts would kick in and I wouldn't be floating belly up in the pool at the end of it all.

Poya day, and a well deserved holiday. I just think that every week there should be a holiday in the middle of each week. Its very refreshing. Gonna make the best use of the day and get myself organized a bit. In saying so, I hear my inner self rolling on the floor laughing. And guffaws ensue. Alright, off to work and silence the inner guffaws! :)