Some readers asked if I would consider making my latest newsletter dispatch public, so they could link to it. So I posted it at Medium. It’s about, among other things, how I briefly became a tax lawyer (like and unlike my father), and how important it is for us, in politics, always to keep one eye on the money. Especially now.

It’s always fine to forward the newsletters, or to quote from them. As I’ve said, I don’t ordinarily post them online because I like the veneer of privacy. But once they’re out in the world I’m not invested in trying to control where they end up.

I can’t say the results of the election took me by surprise. Worrying that a Trump win could be coming didn’t dull the horror of the reality, though.

I’m trying not to give in to despair and not to let myself be distracted by the daily onslaught of his racist appointments, trammeling of civil rights, and blatant malfeasances.

Over at my Tumblr, I’m posting an action a day to oppose what he’s already doing. The most important one is to call the House Oversight Committee (202-225-5074) and insist on a bipartisan investigation of his financials and apparent conflicts of interest. I’ve posted many other ideas in the past couple weeks if you’re not sure where to start.

I am no longer on Facebook. Please email me or text.

I will be updating website soon.

Denis.

ब्लॉग, ब्लॉगर, ब्लॉगिंग और करियर Blog ,Blogger, Blogging Free blog, Google ranking  kya  hai  इससे Career कैसे बनाया जा सकता है. कुछ समय पहले तक मेरे दिमाग में भी बहुत प्रश्न धूमते रहते थे कि ब्लॉग क्या है , ब्लॉग कैसे बनाते हैं ब्लॉग के क्या फायदे हैं फ्री ब्लॉग क्या होता है गूगल रैंकिंग में […]

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क्लिक करिए और सुनिए दो मिनट और 37 सैकिंड का स्वच्छता पर ऑडियो स्वच्छता का महत्व और हमारी जागरुकता – ऑडियो धरती को रहने लायक कैसे बना जाए ? क्या वाकई में स्वच्छता अभियान में हमारा कोई योगदान हो सकता है ? या फिर  दान पुण्य के नाम पर गंदगी फैलाना ही जायज है…!! हास्य […]

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Not every children’s book with illustrations qualifies as a picture book. Picture book is a unique format, distinct from chapter books or illustrated novels. Picture books are designed for pre-schoolers and elementary school readers, and while the latter may be able to read independently, these books are intended to be read aloud — which is a unique craft challenge, meaning they must “sing” to the ear.

The following are some distinguishing characteristics of picture books:

A picture book has…

• 32 – 48 pages, with 32 being by far the most common. These pages are divided into 16 double-page spreads, generally featuring either a minimal amount of text and prominent art, or a balance between the two. (Bear in mind that the first and last couple of pages are usually reserved for title, acknowledgements and copyright info.)
• 0 – 1000 words maximum, with 500 or less being the preference in today’s market.
• Illustrations on every page (or every facing page.) The art may be full color, black and white, or any combination thereof, but it complements and furthers (rather than just reflects) the story.
• A simple plot and a limited number of characters, with a child or child-like protagonist at its center, the same age as the book’s target audience.

A picture book does NOT have…

• Chapters – these fall under the categories of early reader, chapter book or novel, depending on the length.
• More than 1000 words (with some exceptions, especially with respect to older, “classic” picture books, such as Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings, which has 1149.)
• Less than 32 pages, or more than 48 pages. (Again, with the exception of older classics.)
• Dozens of characters, complicated plots or sub-plots.
• Adult Protagonists (with the exception of fables and fairy tales.)

Craft elements of narrative fiction Picture Books

Begins “in media res” – the problem or conflict is established on page 1

• Satisfying dramatic arc – beginning, middle, end
• Child or childlike hero, in pursuit of problem/goal, who learns/changes by end
• Emphasis on action, dialogue and behavior, rather than exposition/description
• Fun/engaging use of language for “read-aloud-ability”: word play, rhythm, alliteration, parallelism, patterns, onomatopoeia, personification, verse
• Economical, lean text – few adjectives and adverbs; don’t say what art shows
• Visual progression – story makes for variety in illustrations
• May use anthropomorphism (esp. to deal with tricky subjects)
• Theme, message or takeaway revealed through action rather than moralizing

Lately I’ve been focused on unpacking, meeting the birds and trees in the nabe, writing my book, and doing my other job. I’ve been disinclined to take on much beyond that, but yesterday I sent my first Tiny Letter since January, and it felt good.

After a couple years of erratic dispatches, I think I’m going to aim for once a week now. SI’m always glad when a description I give at the beginning of something fits what I end up doing with it, and this one does: Ideas & Intimacies.

The letters aren’t archived online–I like the veneer of privacy–but unless I’m working on a new one, I usually send the latest to new subscribers.

What do writers do when they receive a response from an agent that reads:

Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to read a sample of your work.  I enjoyed reading what you sent, but I am afraid that after much consideration I am going to have to pass on it.

The agent gives no reason, no feedback, no opinion.

The writer takes these comments in stride and forges on with their work. If you as a writer have a thin skin or don’t like rejection, don’t sit down and write. Be a critic instead. Everyone is a critic but without writers there would be no critics.

As a writer you are your own critic and need constructive criticism. That’s where a writers’ critique group comes into play. After months of constructive criticisms and rewrites, your work gets better, more polished and then you resend it to an agent. Will they read it? Will they contact you for more?

Yes. That’s just the way it works in the hard world of getting published.

If you are a writer. Don’t get discouraged. Keep going. Persistence and polish will win the day.

In words.

Denis.

सोशल नेट वर्क साईट, कमेंट और झूठ का बोलबाला कमेंटस के लिए कुछ भी करेंगें बेशक, हमें सोशल नॆट  वर्किंग साईट्स जैसे फेसबुक, गूगल प्लस के माध्यम से अपनी बात कहने का मौका मिला है तो इसका मतलब यह तो नही कि उसका दुरुपयोग किया जाए .. अंटशंट लिखा जाए, किसी का अपमान किया जाए […]

The post सोशल नेट वर्क साईट, कमेंट और झूठ का बोलबाला appeared first on Monica Gupta.

  भेदभाव की राजनीति – युवा बनाम प्रौढ लेखक भेदभाव बहुत है समाज में … जी नही, ना तो मैं किसी जाति न किसी गोरे, काले और ना ही अमीर, गरीब का भेदभाव  कर रही हूं ये भेदभाव है युवा और प्रौढ लेखको के बीच… बात बहुत पुरानी है जब बचपन में लिखा करती थी […]

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क्लिक करिए और सुनिए मेरी आवाज में 1 मिनट और 35 सैंकिड का ऑडियो … कैसे हैं आप ? कैसे हैं आप ? असल में, हम अक्सर अपना ख्याल नही रखते … अच्छे कपडे पहनेंगें, अच्छा प्रफ्यूम लगाएंगें ,  पर जब बात होगी सेहत की उसके प्रति लापरवाह रहेंगें… अगर आप मेरी बात से सहमत […]

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क्लिक करिए और सुनिए  फादर्स डे  पर 2 मिनट और 34 सैकिंड का ऑडियो मेरी आवाज में फादर्स डे- ऑडियो पापा, पिताजी  डेड  नाम जहन में आते ही दो बाते उभर कर आती हैं एक तो रौबीला चेहरा और दूसरा नाजुक सा दिल जोकि  महसूस तो नही होने देता पर असल में, होता मदर्स की […]

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I just saw these beautiful sketches over at Emily Hughes’ Instagram page, and couldn’t resist posting.  Aren’t they great? So curious to see what we end up with, for the final cover?

ऑडियो – क्लिक करें और छुट्टियों का आनंद लें कल एक दोस्त से बात हो रही थी वो पूछ रहे थे कि कहां जाना चाहिए छुटटियो में .. उनसे बात करते करते मैं भी सोचने लगी कि ऐसी कौन सी जगह जाया जाए कि खर्चा भी कम हो सामान भी न ले जाना पडे और […]

The post ऑडियो – क्लिक करें और छुट्टियों का आनंद लें appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Click here and listen the audio ऑडियो – समाज कार्य और समाज सेवी अगर आपके पास 1 मिनट और 55 सैंकिंड हैं तो आप सुनिए ऑडियो मेरी आवाज में  कैसे समाज कार्य करते हैं ये  समाज सेवी … पिछ्ले  दिनो  कुछ समाज सेवियों से वास्ता पडा. आप सोच रहे होंगे कि ये वास्ता शब्द किसलिए इस्तेमाल किया […]

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यहां क्ल्कि करिए और सुनिए अपना राशिफल   ऑडियो – आप का राशिफल – मोनिका गुप्ता   हम  सभी को अपना राशिफल सुनने का बहुत शौक होता है तो सोचा कि क्यो ना आपको आपका राशिफल ही सुनाया जाए तो हो जाईए अपना राशिफल सुनने को तैयार . 3 मिनट 12 सैकिड का ये राशिफल […]

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क्लिक करें और सुनें  व्यंग्य आम बनाम आम आदमी                            ऑडियो – व्यंग्य – आम बनाम आम आदमी ऑडियो – व्यंग्य – आम बनाम आम आदमी गर्मी का मौसम है और बहार आई हुई है आम की… सोचा आज इस बारे में ही […]

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I’m back from my free range field test: a weekend trip to Fruita, Colorado for some plein air mountain biking fun. (If you missed the first post about all of my new plein-air equipment, you can read all about it here.)

First stop were the Kokopelli trails, which take you along the edge of the Colorado river. There are gorgeous vistas at every turn, and I hiked a few meters off trail and painted one of my favorite views of the canyon. If I’d been walking, it would have probably taken about four hours to get to this spot (and another four to hike back!) but with the bike I could get there in no time.

Most bikers on the path below didn't even see me.

The equipment really improved the experience. Not only was I more comfortable, but I had a much easier time judging color and value with the help of my shade umbrella.

The final painting

One benefit of combining mountain biking and painting was that my husband could do extra laps while waiting for me. Sometimes he had a good view of my painting spot:

See the white dot of my umbrella?

I was painting this interesting rock formation. So many holes!

So, you ask, how was all the equipment?

The Umbrella (Bestbrella white)
Pros: Provided a neutral, even light. I found it easy to set up and relatively stable. It even protected my painting against the odd sprinkle of raindrops.
Cons: I’m not sure I’d use it in a downpour or high winds, but that’s not really what it’s for. When the sun was at certain angles (like right behind my head) it was difficult to properly position the umbrella because the easel got in the way of the tripod pole. I think this is actually a problem with the tripod, not the umbrella: if I had a taller tripod I could have clamped the umbrella lower on the leg in order to miss the easel.

The Easel (En Plein Air Pro Traveler Series)
Pros: Easy to set up, lightweight, simple.
Cons: The easel is fitted with holes to hold your brushes, but a lot of my brushes are either too big or too small to fit in these. Some slide all the way down to the ferrule, while others stick out quite a bit. On more than one occasion I’d absentmindedly put down a brush only to have it slip right through.

The Stool (Walkstool Comfort)
Pros: Durable, easy to set up, pretty comfortable.
Cons: You can only use it with the legs fully extended when it’s on level ground.

The Backpack (Camelbak Motherlode)
Pros: Spacious, durable, well-balanced, lots of convenient pockets.
Cons: It’s not designed with women in mind, and was wide and bulky on me, particularly around the shoulder area. But the width makes it perfect for holding the easel, so I’m not complaining.
Other notes: It can also throw off your center of gravity while biking, which makes technical terrain very difficult. I wouldn’t recommend this for beginners. In fact, I made my husband carry it most of the time so that I wouldn’t mess up and fall off the cliff.

I'm just posing. I gave it back to him right after this photo.

The tripod (an old mini travel tripod–I have no idea what brand or model.)
Pros: Very small, compact and lightweight.
Cons: My mini tripod is clearly not meant to hold a bulky plein air easel and umbrella. It’s unstable, and is so small that there’s no way you could use it while standing. The short legs make it difficult to level on steep slopes. It’ll do for now, but I’m going to start saving up for something a little more versatile for the future.

We also visited 18 Road, on the other side of the valley.

Conclusion:

All in all, I’d call it a success! If you’re thinking of doing more “free-range” painting and are hesitating about investing in equipment, I recommend that you go for it. No matter where you go to paint–be it far off the beaten path or as close as your back yard–it’s a fun challenge and a great way to improve your painting skills.

Do you wait for the muse to ignite your imagination?

And wait, and wait, and wait—

Then, consider fueling your fiction with an ever-ready  source of inspiration.

FEAR.

Our characters lead us places we’d rather not go—that’s the fear I’m talking about.

Of course, we don’t want to go down that road, but then why did we invent that character in the first place?

Forget the muse and tap into the energy of personal grief and failure—the emotionally honesty of our characters may depend upon it.

What do you fear about your story?

This is week-5 of my course, Don’t Get it Right, Get it Written, and some students seem hesitant to blitz that first draft. Is more instruction needed, or are they waiting for inspiration?

Waiting for the muse—waiting, waiting, waiting.

My muse may not give me the silent treatment, but I don’t count on her to make my fiction ring true. Not since the time a beta reader—unimpressed with my work-in-progress—asked me:

“PJ, what do you fear about your story?”

I retreated to a café with my notebook to reflect upon my story, my protagonist, a self-indulgent artist with a dying wife, a son with a nervous disorder, and a runaway daughter. Kids! What a responsibility. Parenthood, it’s a set up for failure. Sure, I struggled to raise my own child. Okay, we weren’t the best parents in the world. Did our own self-indulgences mess him up? I don’t know. Do we have to go there?

I had to go there.

Never mind what I thought my story was about, this was powerful fuel for the story that had to be (re)written.

(For the record, I don’t have a daughter, though I have a son who ran away. He was five when he packed his little red suitcase and marched as far as the sidewalk, where he stopped, then tromped back into the house, slammed the door, and said there were too many kidnappers out there. He’d leave in the morning. But I digress…)

The fuel that fires the engine

My novel, ROXY (Tradewind Books, 2009), features a 17-year-old heroine who travels to Greece to tend her estranged grandfather on his deathbed. The idea grew from the seed of compassion I felt for my own dying grandfather, whose mind “flickered like a fluorescent tube,” he said. He was in tears as he struggled to reason and remember.

Fear of death—there’s a bottomless tank of jet fuel.

SMOKE THAT THUNDERS (Thistledown Press, 1999), was inspired by a one-legged river man. As a hydrologist in Africa, I visited old Changwe every month at his river gauging station. When my contract expired he begged me not to go, even put it eloquently on paper. The letter spoke to me of innocence and goodwill and cruel fate. Whatever became of him?

My heart still breaks for old Changwe, who appears in my novel. His lifelong dream to become one with his river serves to fuel the story engine through the final act.

Writing should be risky

We enjoy forcing our protagonists to suffer their failures, but what about ourselves? I feel that a story should threaten the writer, somehow. Writing should be risky.

By tapping into our fears and our failures we can animate our fictional characters, and thereby fuel the story engine.

Leave the muse alone. She’s fickle, coming and going as she pleases. Nor does she know much about tough love.

Fear—there’s the mistress we should summon. She’s right here, right now, ever ready to fuel our fiction.

Twitter Abusive Language अगर आज की तारीख में कोई पूछे कि किससे डर लगता है तो मैं तो यही कहूंगी कि न प्यार न थप्पड से न ही किसी और चीज से डर लगता है डर लगता है तो बस टवीटर  पर जाने से… असल में,  टवीटर में भले ही 140 शब्द ही इस्तेमाल होते […]

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Welcome to my new site, which I built myself using Headway Themes and WordPress. Please check back as I unveil a new shop and new artwork.

“Every story is an escape story.”

I’ve taped that slogan to the wall of my work station.

It clarifies my character’s trajectory.

It helps my story “come true” because it acknowledges a fact of our human condition:

We are all escaping something.

That notion hijacked my brain after a decade of professionally assessing and writing film scripts. I found myself emotionally invested in characters who were trapped. And it remains the case in every good story I encounter.

Here’s what I continue to discover:

All the best protagonists are trapped within the gravity field of an idea, a relationship, or any situation that makes life not worth living. Naturally, they’re going to escape. Or die trying.

Three great escapes:

The Great Escape—Steve McQueen is a prisoner of Stalag Luft III. Of course, he escapes.

A Room with a View—Lucy Honeychurch, on holiday in Italy with her chaperone, tries to escape the company of man to whom she is unsuitably attracted.

In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart is a prisoner of his self-pity. If he doesn’t put his broken heart behind him, audiences will demand their money back.

Three stories, three kinds of prison—a concrete jail, a relationship, a belief system.

Three kinds of escape dominate most story plots.

#1. Escaping a prison or place

Prison stories depict characters whose goal is a physical escape. O Brother Where Art Thou, for example. And the futuristic Escape from New York. And the current The Maze Runner.

Escape or die trying!—it’s box office gold.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy yearns to escape Kansas for a place “where troubles melt like lemon drops.” Once she lands in Oz, the story is all about finding a way back home.

In Casablanca, which is essentially a love story, almost every character is preoccupied with escaping the Nazis by flying to Lisbon and onward to freedom in America.

The escape to greater freedom—it’s a condition of our human condition.

A more subtle and more common escape theme in fiction is…

#2. Escaping a Relationship

Love affair, job, family—these are relationships from which it’s never easy to walk away. A prison break is nothing compared to escaping some relationships.

Fatal Attraction depicts a happily married man who risks a one-night-stand. Big mistake. His partner in infidelity assumes a relationship from which our protagonist struggles to extricate himself. He’s lucky to escape with his life.

In the Booker Prize winning novel, Hotel du Lac, a bride on the way to her wedding instructs the taxi driver to “Keep going! Don’t stop. Pass the church! Whatever you do, keep driving!” She escapes the wrong man and goes into hiding. Close call!

Once again, in Casablanca, Bogey has escaped to the ends of the earth in hopes of never crossing paths with the woman who broke his heart. Who hasn’t felt the need to escape a relationship? Yikes! Let’s not even go there.

But the most subtle and most significant escape theme concerns…

#3. Escaping Oneself

From On the Waterfront, to Moonstruck, to Good Will Hunting, to Silver Linings Playbook, the protagonists are on a trajectory toward escaping their own self-destructive attitudes and beliefs. Casablanca! Again. The protagonist is engaged in all three escapes.

The hero’s redemption (and ultimate victory) hinges on their transcending their self-concern. And it rarely happens unless the writer brings the hero to the point of despair.

It’s another fact of life—and fiction:

“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.”  ~ William S. Burroughs

Why do we need to escape ourselves?

Because we are all liars. By necessity.

“We tell ourselves stories that can’t possibly be true, but believing those stories allows us to function. We know we’re not telling ourselves the whole truth but it works, so we embrace it.” ~ author, Seth Godin

The delusions that underpin our human condition—and our equally human yearning for the truth—drama depends on it.

It’s as if fiction exists to remind us that we are born to escape.

Born to escape.

If it’s true that we’re born to escape, it’s one of the juiciest facts of life. It may explain why we read and more importantly (for writers), why we are driven to write fiction in the first place.

This week, check it out for yourself—the films you watch and the novels you read—see if it’s not true that:

EVERY STORY IS AN ESCAPE STORY.

If you’re writing a story and creating a protagonist—can you identify the prison they’re trapped within? What kind of escape is he or she engaged in?

Any thoughts? Share them in the “Comments” below.

William Shakespeare – Shakespeare 400 Anniversary चाहे हमारा पाठयक्रम हो या सिनेमा जगत  … विलियम शेक्सपीयर हर दिल और हर वर्ग पर एक अलग ही पहचान बनाए हुए हैं .. शायद ही कोई होगा जो इस नाम से वाकिफ़ न हो. हॉलीवुड से लेकर बॉलीवुड तक शेक्सपीयर के किरदार अलग-अलग रूपों में जीवंत हुए. नॉक […]

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गर्मी का मौसम – गर्मा गर्म गर्मी आ गया गर्मी का मौसम और अपने साथ लाया गर्मा गर्म गर्मी … हालाकि इस साल अच्छी बारिश का अनुमान है पर गर्मी भी अपना रंग दिखा रही है … सभी डर रहे हैं इस गर्मी से … मौत तक सूर्य के तेज ताप से कांप गई है […]

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सूखा, हैलीपैड , छिडकाव और पानी पर राजनीति जल एक गम्भीर सकंट जहां एक ओर पानी के लिए  ट्रैन  पानी की दुर्दशा देखते हुए महाराष्ट्र रवाना हो रही हैं ताकि पानी की किल्लत न रहे वही दूसरी ओर जब नेता हैलीकाप्टर से जाते है तो छिडकाव करके हैलीपैड को सुरक्षित बनाया जाता है ताकि धूल […]

The post सूखा, हैलीपैड , छिडकाव और पानी पर राजनीति appeared first on Monica Gupta.