Poet, Author, Editor, Creative Writing Consultant

Friday, July 19, 2013

My Writing Speaks for Me




When I first published a piece of fiction, and it was with an international publication, my father, who was alive then and whose critical appreciation I always looked for, read my story and smiled. “I like it very much. I am so proud of you.” His words were music to my ears.

“How much did you receive for this story?” was his next question.

“Nothing, Dad, but it is big thing just to be published here,” I replied, surprised at his question.

“You express yourself very well, but this field obviously has no money. You should look at something else.”

I thought about it, my father did have my best interests at heart.

But I knew myself, my mind and my passion. I had to write. They say the path chooses you. I say that you also have to choose your path. I could have done anything else, but I stuck to writing. I knew that writing fuelled my spirit. That with writing I came alive.

Over the years I wrote poems, articles, essays, short stories, a novel, and my work was published in India and abroad. I won awards and recognition.

I have a long way to go. But I know that whenever my fingers fly on my laptop and the words begin to form on the screen, I am in the right place, creating my next piece of work. 

I would like to believe that a woman ‘As Beautiful as her Work’, is me. I am as beautiful as my writing and as confident as Megha is with her presentation. I am sure, just like she is, that whatever I present will hold the reader’s attention, for my work is an expression of myself.


Megha knows the worth of her work. I know this too; my writing scintillates with my passion and illuminates my true beauty. 

I am a Mia woman.

This blogpost is my entry for the ' Tanishq’s Mia blog contest in association with Ripple Links on the topic “As Beautiful As Your Work”. 


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Ancestral

What your ancestors give to you 
may be just that certain hip in your walk,
 that certain slip in your tongue 
or maybe just the way you look at things 
or feel a certain spring
 the unquantifiable parts of you 
that show in your smile as you skate
 on the edge of things
oh yes, don't say that you are just you, 
while that may be true
 there have been others that make you
break you.

(C) Abha Iyengar, 1st July 2013 (Ruminations in this Kickstarter Month)