The Middle of Things
I started writing something and I just erased it all. I can't jump in like you know me, and though some of you were so kind as to come and tell me that indeed you DID give a rat's ass, I think I need to start at the beginning. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end to things. And sometimes, they get jumbled up and it's okay, and sometimes it is just time to tell the beginning. I think this might be one of those times.
My name is Sujatha. I was born in Albany, NY a little over a year after my mother arrived here from Kerala, India. My father saved his money for one year to bring her. My father arrived in Albany in January without a coat or any boots. This injustice appears in my second novel entitled The Beginning of Everything. I say injustice, because you'd think someone from the postdoctoral fellowship he was coming to join might have clued him in on the weather. And you can't even buy a coat in Kerala. Someone should have met him at the airport with one of their old ones out of the closet. Maybe that's just me; I'd have done that. So would my father. My parents were married two weeks after they met. I was raised by the best of people.
Many moons later, I find that I am living my dream. I'd say this is the middle, because, though a lot happened in between my birth in October in Albany and living the dream, it had better not be the end, because I have a lot left to do. So we will say that where I am right now is the middle. So this blog is about the middle. I think that is a fair representation of things as they stand.
I had a job I liked well enough, but all I ever wanted to do was write novels. It took me a long time to build the courage to go for it, and when I began, I used to write from 10pm to 2am, because I worked, and I had two babies, and my husband was in Iraq. So I can say I began my first novel writing three paragraphs a night. Many of these paragraphs sucked. So that is where i began, sucking in the middle of the night. There is a particular taste to your day when you spend your very worst minutes on the things that mean the most to you. For me: my kids and my book. It tastes like something washed up from your stomach, and it tastes like that all the time.
Shortly after my husband came home from Iraq I quit my job to write my book and I finished it in 7 months. Then I got an agent, then I sold the book. I'll tell you those stories one day; they're good stories.
That book, my first novel, is called As It Was Written. It releases in February, 2010 from Thomas Dunne Books. I like to say that it is the story of Dr. Raman Nair and his five fat daughters and the ancient Brahmin curse that follows them from India to the States. It is a literary fiction with a broad cast of characters, a big family of beautiful girls and all the craziness that erupts as these girls navigate their way through love and life. There is a story within a story, an ancient tale woven into the modern tale. It is a story about the redemptive power of love, I suppose. Certainly it is a story replete with love, but also betrayal, loyalty and family, the ties that bind through time. I'll tell you more about it. And if you buy it, I promise to find a way to sign it for you.
So there is the beginning and some of the middle. The middle is an ongoing story. I think that is what the blog is about. The middle.
Peace and love,
S
My name is Sujatha. I was born in Albany, NY a little over a year after my mother arrived here from Kerala, India. My father saved his money for one year to bring her. My father arrived in Albany in January without a coat or any boots. This injustice appears in my second novel entitled The Beginning of Everything. I say injustice, because you'd think someone from the postdoctoral fellowship he was coming to join might have clued him in on the weather. And you can't even buy a coat in Kerala. Someone should have met him at the airport with one of their old ones out of the closet. Maybe that's just me; I'd have done that. So would my father. My parents were married two weeks after they met. I was raised by the best of people.
Many moons later, I find that I am living my dream. I'd say this is the middle, because, though a lot happened in between my birth in October in Albany and living the dream, it had better not be the end, because I have a lot left to do. So we will say that where I am right now is the middle. So this blog is about the middle. I think that is a fair representation of things as they stand.
I had a job I liked well enough, but all I ever wanted to do was write novels. It took me a long time to build the courage to go for it, and when I began, I used to write from 10pm to 2am, because I worked, and I had two babies, and my husband was in Iraq. So I can say I began my first novel writing three paragraphs a night. Many of these paragraphs sucked. So that is where i began, sucking in the middle of the night. There is a particular taste to your day when you spend your very worst minutes on the things that mean the most to you. For me: my kids and my book. It tastes like something washed up from your stomach, and it tastes like that all the time.
Shortly after my husband came home from Iraq I quit my job to write my book and I finished it in 7 months. Then I got an agent, then I sold the book. I'll tell you those stories one day; they're good stories.
That book, my first novel, is called As It Was Written. It releases in February, 2010 from Thomas Dunne Books. I like to say that it is the story of Dr. Raman Nair and his five fat daughters and the ancient Brahmin curse that follows them from India to the States. It is a literary fiction with a broad cast of characters, a big family of beautiful girls and all the craziness that erupts as these girls navigate their way through love and life. There is a story within a story, an ancient tale woven into the modern tale. It is a story about the redemptive power of love, I suppose. Certainly it is a story replete with love, but also betrayal, loyalty and family, the ties that bind through time. I'll tell you more about it. And if you buy it, I promise to find a way to sign it for you.
So there is the beginning and some of the middle. The middle is an ongoing story. I think that is what the blog is about. The middle.
Peace and love,
S
...you learn something everyday!
ReplyDeleteI did not know you were born in Albany. Too funny...
Now that we are all caught up......
ReplyDeleteIla, yes you did!! Remember, your dad trained at Albany Medical College and I was born at Albany Medical College, that is our soul tie! But yes, Steve, now we are all caught up and right in the middle of things.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blogoshpere, Sujatha! I can't wait to read your book!! and about your journey..
ReplyDeleteGND, I should have known you already knew all about this blogosphere, you know everything. Thank you for reading. I am so new to the whole thing, I have no idea what I am doing.
ReplyDeleteI would like very much to read those stories about how you sold your book! Thanks for stopping by my blog and luring me here. And, congratulations on having musical children who know that excellence is its own reward. (After my own heart...)
ReplyDelete