Your body’s a dream that’s turned violent, and that’s the way I like it

Because I am ALL ABOUT the lists this week, this post is going to be a list as well.

 

1) First, I need to pimp myself. I do. I’m sorry. I am a freelance writer, and as you know, this work pays peanuts. Probably even peanut shells sometimes. And when you have a blog, you should be able to use it to like a little oh-look-at-me-and-maybe-toss-some-money-my-way tool every now and then, right? Right. Justification over, let me tell you what I’m planning for next weekend. It struck me that there are LOADS of workshops all over Bombay. For cooking and dancing and photography, even for SARI TYING (which I should really attend.) And I thought, hey, I could totally do a workshop. So, ta-dah, I’m doing a creative writing workshop at my house in Bandra next week (Sunday, June 20th). For the bargain price of Rs 1500, you get three hours of intensive writing exercises, critique, advice on how to get started and stuff like using social media, getting a publisher and so on. Sounds awesome? Write to me at thecompulsiveconfessorATgmailDOTcom to sign up. Link to the Facebook event here.

 

2) Went for this interesting party the other day. It was hosted by this website called Internations and I was asked by this friend of mine, so I dragged Ira along as my date and the two of us went. Expat parties are usually not my cup of tea, I mean, completely expat parties, where it seems as though everyone is living in this little bubble which they basically transport from country to country. But this one was quite fun. I met loads of interesting people, including a German door maker and the location was fabulous; at the Novotel’s bar which has this nice outdoor section overlooking the sea and where they play excellent alternative rock which sort of went with the whole ambience. Good fun.

 

3) Scholastic asked me to go down to Pune to talk to some of their marketing staff earlier this week. My mother and cousin were still in town, so I took them along as well. The chat itself was brief, but two nice things happened—I got a chance to hold the new book and smell it and love it and gasp at the inevitable typos and we had a nice long drive down the Bombay-Pune expressway which is really beautiful. I’ve been down it before, to go to Kamshet and Goa and so on, but when you’re with out-of-towners who marvel at these things, it’s nice to take a fresh look. We also stopped at the famous Shrewsbury biscuits bakery for them to take presents and man, it was the most crowded bakery I’ve ever been at. Who knew they were so popular? My mother left today and I’m all waaaaaah, I miss my mommy! Sigh. I guess in some regards, you never really grow up.

 

4) Oh, also. Speaking of Scholastic and pimping and so on, they now have an excerpt from Confessions online. Here, in fact. If you’re curious, take a look and let me know what you think. I’m looking for honest feedback! The contest with Friends Of Books went well, too. We got a lot of entries, and I’m going to be making my final decision soon, so stay posted.

 

5) I still haven’t been to see SATC the worsequel. I know it’s going to be terrible. I know I’m going to hate it. I also know I’m going to watch it. By postponing the viewing, I’m hoping to hold on to some of the magic of the show while I still can before this movie irrevocably ruins it for me. Did anyone like it?

 

6) By the way, a tip for anyone in Bombay who’s got visitors? You don’t even need to show them the sights anymore. The Bandra-Worli sea link is SO fascinating that my mother and cousin could talk of nothing else. I did my duty as a family member though (reluctantly leaving Bandra) and showed them stuff like Brittania, the Asiatic Library and the Tea Centre, among other things, but nothing compared to the sea link trips.

 

7) I just bought drop crotch pants from this very nice (and pretty cheap) boutique in Bandra called Creative Handicrafts. (They’re an NGO giving work to underprivileged women.) Drop crotch pants are very cool and  attractive and comfortable and I love them, but I didn’t realise they don’t give you much stretching room. Result: walking up the stairs, I had to literally WADDLE. Not sexy, no.

 

And that’s all I have for you this week. Except that now that I’m done with almost every single TV show that I love and they’re all on a break till September, I’m at a loss. I’m looking for something Gilmore Girls-esque. Any suggestions? Or, I could just rewatch Gilmore Girls, I suppose. That should keep me occupied for a while.