Thursday, May 31, 2007
do it again
Marina Lewycka's first book was rejected 36 times before she finally found a publisher at the age of 58. Now A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is a worldwide hit.
That was from this interesting article in the guardian unlimited and should be a good thing to remember by all aspiring (and despairing) authors who are lurking in all kinds of places everywhere except that this same article went on to contradict itself several paragraphs lower by saying this…
After 36 rejections (she has kept all the letters) for her previous work - two completed novels, poetry, short stories, romantic fiction –
So, seems like a short history was not rejected 36 times after all but she had many rejections for her other previous works… Just plain careless journalism I guess . be that as it may, as madam lewycka rightly mentioned writing can be a compulsion (and I pity people who have the writing disease but write badly) but still, I guess you can only get better and better , so you should do it again and again and keep on going on and on and on like ariston …
But here’s an interesting info for me personally. The writer will soon publish the second novel “two caravans’ and this same article says…
Two Caravans has the same characteristic blend of comedy and desperation as her first book. It concerns a group of strawberry pickers drawn from several countries who fetch up in Kent, and traces their lives, loves and battle to survive.
I was in kent once and during university break I too was a strawberry picker one summer picking the best strawberries in the world as big as a small fist with all kinds of old people, pensioners, students and mostly gypsy families…one time I was taking a rest at the edge of the field under a pear tree and I saw this lady came towards me, looked left and right but did not see me , took off her panties squat down , closed her eyes and let out a stream of yellow urine right in front of me …full frontal beaver and all…a nice bonus for the day…
So, quite looking forward to read this book when it comes out . may be she would be describing the same strawberry field who knows? but first need to read a short history of tractors in Ukraine that I bought from the last warehouse sales . It is lying there somewhere in my library …
That was from this interesting article in the guardian unlimited and should be a good thing to remember by all aspiring (and despairing) authors who are lurking in all kinds of places everywhere except that this same article went on to contradict itself several paragraphs lower by saying this…
After 36 rejections (she has kept all the letters) for her previous work - two completed novels, poetry, short stories, romantic fiction –
So, seems like a short history was not rejected 36 times after all but she had many rejections for her other previous works… Just plain careless journalism I guess . be that as it may, as madam lewycka rightly mentioned writing can be a compulsion (and I pity people who have the writing disease but write badly) but still, I guess you can only get better and better , so you should do it again and again and keep on going on and on and on like ariston …
But here’s an interesting info for me personally. The writer will soon publish the second novel “two caravans’ and this same article says…
Two Caravans has the same characteristic blend of comedy and desperation as her first book. It concerns a group of strawberry pickers drawn from several countries who fetch up in Kent, and traces their lives, loves and battle to survive.
I was in kent once and during university break I too was a strawberry picker one summer picking the best strawberries in the world as big as a small fist with all kinds of old people, pensioners, students and mostly gypsy families…one time I was taking a rest at the edge of the field under a pear tree and I saw this lady came towards me, looked left and right but did not see me , took off her panties squat down , closed her eyes and let out a stream of yellow urine right in front of me …full frontal beaver and all…a nice bonus for the day…
So, quite looking forward to read this book when it comes out . may be she would be describing the same strawberry field who knows? but first need to read a short history of tractors in Ukraine that I bought from the last warehouse sales . It is lying there somewhere in my library …
