I spent the whole day cleaning and organizing, both my kitchen and the blog. And I want you to see and appreciate what I did! Well, not my kitchen, it’s still not that great. But the blog stuff, YES! Most especially, there’s a reason the “Shahrukh on Letterman” post is at the top of the homepage, it’s really cool! And Updated as of this afternoon. Check it out!
Updating the Shahrukh post was easy and fun. Fun in a different way, and not easy at all, was updating the index for my Film Reviews, and Hindi Film 101 posts.
Every single review in alphabetical order and divided by language, is here.
Every single Hindi Film 101 post, history or opinion or analysis, is here.
dontcallitbollywood 
That is a lot of work! Did it give you happy feels seeing all your writing properly tended and presented to the world? Sometimes projects like this are the only time I realize how much I’ve done over time.
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It was kind of nice! The Hindi Film 101s in particular, there were a lot more of them over the past several months than I realized. Hopefully it’s helpful to the readers too, and not just tedious digging through for what you want.
On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 8:59 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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You know, you basically have a book right here. You just (just, ha!) need to pull it together and choose which publisher gives you the best offer.
Or, it’s a couple semesters of film courses for some lazy professor.
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Pretty sure it already is a couple of semesters of film classes for lazy professors/students, and a handy resource for professional paid writers who don’t want to do their own research. Sigh.
On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 9:00 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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You could collect your 101 as a manual for Hindi Cinema interested people and publish it as an updated e-book (or something similar) …I’m sure you know somebody who can do the editing work.
You also could try to contact a good Indian newspaper and offer your reviews as a freelance review writer with an overseas view.
You definitely could send your ShahRukh-related film plots to RedChillies.
Does the desi-rooted population in Chicago have a kind of own network (e-paper, print or otherwise)? You could offer your reviews to them.
In any way, your writing is worth to get out of the shell of a blog 🙂
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No, I don’t know anyone who could do the editing work, or anyone who would be interested in publishing.
I’ve contacted newspapers and never heard back.
I haven’t contacted Red Chillies, but generally speaking for that kind of cold submission they want bound scripts fully worked out, not just ideas.
I agree my writing is good enough to leave the blog, but I can’t seem to find anyone else who thinks the same way. The last time I came close to being published, it was for free, on another website that had a similar reach to what I manage here, and they rejected the first 6 drafts of my article before they finally just stopped writing back to me. And remember that time my writing was cited in a professional widely read article on another website? I got in touch with the editor at that website, had a little back and forth, and finally was told “not interested”.
If you know a publisher, a newspaper editor, anyone at all who could help me, send me the information in the “Contact Me” link. Or give them my email and ask them to get in touch with me. I’m blogging because I try and try and I simply cannot get published anywhere else.
On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 2:59 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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English language papers in India?
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If you know an editor at an Indian English language paper, send me the contact info through the “Contact Me” link.
Otherwise, assume that I have tried all of these options before through cold applications and been rejected in the most humiliating ways possible.
On Mon, May 20, 2019 at 11:11 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Little India, an on-line and print mag, and India New England, a small but good newspaper, are pretty open to contributions. Is there an India Mid West? Have you checked out The Binders on Facebook?
I started writing for professional journals and mags as part of my quest for tenure, and for Silhouette Romances (remember them?) and Marvel Comics which, believe it or not, finally did the trick. In between, I worked, raised two children, and put up with a sexy husband who lounged a lot. I didn’t started writing novels until my early fifties and was pushing sixty before somebody noticed. Point is, it’s a slog.
You possess the heart and soul of a writer; you HAVE to write like you have to eat. And you write swimmingly. So that’s more than half the battle. You must look at the other half, the “OMG, not another rejection” half as an ADVENTURE. Pick what you want to work on; a Bollywood novel, a compilation of reviews (which will be dated before you get them out) a personal essay, a short story (these are the easiest to get published on-line) and then figure how much time you have in a given period (6 mos; a year) to devote to the effort. Then, the tricky part. Divide that time in half and spend the first half writing, researching, tweaking, revising, and the second half sending it out. I sometimes emailed as many as 15 agents/publishers a week. Keep records; make a folder of all your rejections and watch it grow. At the end of your six months, or whatever time limit you chose, move on to another novel, story, essay, etc. By the time you’re forty, you’ll have an unpublished but significant body of work.
Now here’s where it gets better. Go back to that body of work, punch it up, and START SENDING IT OUT AGAIN. In the time it took you to compile it all, you will have learned a great deal, perfected your craft and grown immeasurably as a writer. I guarantee, this time, somebody will say, “Hey, this Margaret Whatshername is good. Let’s send her a contract.”
Have you got what it takes to put yourself through that? Do you want to write and get published badly enuf? I don’t know you well but I suspect you have some hard thinking to do.
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Thank you! You’ve given me a lot to think about. Very useful.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 7:42 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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