Lucifer House Inc. - Entering 2015

I am writing a New Year post rather late in the year. But still it is January and I need a post per month on this blog. Since March, 2011, I have not missed a single month without at least one post and I hope to keep it that way. 

Last year was a good year. I wanted to post every Tuesday the entire year on my Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog ‘Three Realms of the Mind.’ I was able to achieve that. I had a reading target of 52 books – I achieved 92, though I missed some of the books I had actually targeted, reading some easier books instead. Unexpectedly, I got some off time at work and I was able to participate in National Novel Writing Month Marathon in November and complete first draft of my novel. I also managed to get a story into an anthology by Indireads. You can choose to either buy or get the novel for free by subscribing to the publisher’s newsletter. Check out the details here.

I have lot of plans for the coming year as well. I want to continue the trend of a post a week without fail on Three Realms of the Mind this year as well. I have taken on a stiff reading target of 110, which includes a short review on Good Reads as well. I have joined 2 writing groups that require me to write a total of 37 stories this year plus reviewing at least 10 times as many stories. I also plan to edit the novel I wrote last year and have it ready for sending to publisher at least by the end of this year.

One thing I have always felt over my 7 years of blogging is that so many people get requests to write guest posts while I hardly ever received any. I don’t know if that really matters but along with comments and page views, one of the indicators of how one’s writing is perceived by people. Last year I was happy to receive a guest post request from a long time blogger friend Saravana. It has been followed by two more such requests. I hope to be able to write worthy posts that justify the two bloggers’ faith in my writing abilities.

So that is a lot of stuff – so too much activity is not going to be seen on this blog. I had wanted to start a new blog for my memoirs this year. I have dropped the plan and this shall be my memoirs blog. As and when a memory of some event from my life comes back to me strongly, I shall be penning it here. It shall also be the place for all my general updates. I may also participate in a contest or two if any grabs my attention. Indiblogger has introduced this Happy Hour Concept that lets you grab Rs.1000 or Rs.2000 voucher just for writing. One can’t let such opportunities pass by, can one?

Amongst other things, I would like to mention the basic idea for the story published this year as well as my novel originated as blog posts on this very blog. Among the stories I plan to write this year, one will be the completion of a project started on this blog and lying in cold storage for a long time – retelling of Mayan mythology. So this blog has been an incubator of sorts for me to try out ideas and develop them. I hope this blog continues to play this role. In the past I have often thought about abandoning this blog as it seemed too haphazard and without any direction. But now I am more certain of what this blog means to me.  I have gone in all directions over the years and explored various avenues. At the end of the day, it boils down to the first lines I wrote on this blog back in April 2008 completing a fill circle.

"This blog is meant to record some of my random musings about various things I encounter in life. These little thoughts blown away like grains of sand by the great wind of life . This blog is meant to capture those grains of sand within this oyster and preserve for eternity as pearls of wisdom." 

For whom the bell tolls

A book of faces