Is night the best Time for Writing?

I have heard this thing from many people that their best time of writing is at night. I do not know the reason but I think that they may feel that at night, nature is quite and there is less sound pollution to deal with if you live in a city. As for me, I am more of a night worker. I don’t know how I can change my sleeping habit. I wish that I could do it but it is very difficult. At day, interruptions are easier to happen. For example, a guest may come to your home. You may have to do the shopping and cooking. Then there is the sound of cars all the time if you live in a busy neighborhood like me. However, at night, there is less distractions. In fact, it is now 5 AM my time in my city and there is no sound at all. So, I can concentrate on my writing better. The only problem is that I have started to feel sleepy.

I don’t think that night is the best time for writing. I think that if possible you should try to work at day time because it is the natural thing to do. If you are awake at night all the time then you just make your health weaker day by day. 

A writer should Work 8 Hours or Even More

When you want to take writing as a profession, you may think at first that it has a lot of freedom. You get free from 9-5 job. Yes, it is true but at the same time, you have to work more. The only good part is that you can work anytime you like. You don’t need to go to office and work 9-5. On the other hand, you can work in your home. Sometimes, you have to go library for research. Thanks God that Internet has done this part much easier. In the past, to check something, I had to go a library that has Encyclopedia Britanica other reference books but now thanks to Internet, I can find any information any time.

Well, I have to say that Internet has given us best opportunity. Anyway, coming back to the original topic, just remember that you have to work at least 8 hours or even more. Sometimes, I feel that I want to write but it is difficult to sit so long time. However, then I have to find another field. Writing is a serious work. You should not neglect it at all.

The Gift of the Magi: Just One Reason to Read a Short Story

It was perhaps my good luck that in college, we had to study the short story The Gift of the Magi written by O. Henry. It my most favorite short story and I have ready it many many times. I first read it in 1990 and that was 19 years ago. My enjoyment of reading it has not diminished at all and has increased over the years. That time, I was a teenager boy and the story profoundly affected. I dreamt that someday, my own couple life will be like this. Thanks God that it has been even perhaps better. However, for the idea of happy couple life, I think that I owe a lot from The Gift of the Magi.

The plot of the story is very simple. Jim and Della are a loving and happy couple. Their economic condition is not good. It is the day before Christmas. Jim had no money to buy any gift for his wife and vice versa. He had a gold watch which he inherited from his family and he sold it to buy a set of expensive combs so that Della can take better care of her lovely hair. Della has extraordinary hair and they are long and shiny. She sold the hair to buy a chain for that gold watch of Jim. This way, what they bought became useless but they understood that they are the happiest couple.

This short story created the thrust in me to find a girl like Della in real life. Fortunately, I found one and she was in Internet in another country. Even we did not have the same language and she was very weak in English. Still, we love each other a lot and we waited for each other in Internet for nearly 4 years. Many people around me laughed at me that I was wasting my time for an Internet girl. I came from a lower middle class family and even saving enough money to visit her country was impossible for 4 years.

It was my good luck that I read The Gift of the Magi at a very early age and it surely influenced me a lot. All I can tell you is that if you have not read the short story then do it right away. You can read it free in Internet here: http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html

I wish that in our own time, we have good short stories like this. By the way, there is one short story that I have written and you can find it here: http://write-translate.blogspot.com/2006/02/helpless-short-story.html

So, enjoy my story for the time being. 

World Cup Cricket 2011 will Start from Bangladesh

It gives me a lot pleasure to inform you that ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 will start from Bangladesh- my country. This will be the biggest event for this country. We have never hosted any sporting event bigger than perhaps SAF Games. So, it is nice to see that the opening ceremony will take place here and also the opening match. The first match will be between India and Bangladesh. In World Cup 2007, Bangladesh caused a major upset by defeating India. So, we are hoping that the same thing may happen in 2011.

I can imagine that Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur will be packed with the spectators and there will be huge support for Bangladesh national team. Bangladesh will play all the group matches in front of their home crowd. The matches will take place in February and March and at this time of the year, weather is excellent. There is almost no possibility of rain despite the fact that Bangladesh has one of the highest rainfalls in the world. When it comes to security concerns, I think that of all the 3 countries hosting the event, Bangladesh has most peace and least amount of violence. So, you can think of coming here that time.

For complete schedule of the event, visit this entry: ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 Schedule

Where is Bangla Literature in this Blog?

Today, I got an email from a reader that in the Feedburner, I claimed that it is a blog about Bangla or Bengali literature but where is any information about it. I replied the reader through email and here, I would like to just remind the readers that in the achieve of this blog, you can find content related to Bangla literature. You can also do some search too. One of the things that discouraged me from continuing about it was the lack of response from the readers. I wish that I could get some dedicated readers who would visit daily and put comments and thus we can have good interaction. I started this blog out of passion about literature not to earn money. So, if we could get some interested readers then writing would have been enjoyable for us.

Hopefully, someday we can give more time and more people would visit here. I started this blog 3 and half years ago and still I cannot find a lot of information about Bangla literature in Internet.

Senecan elements in The Spanish Tragedy

The Spanish Tragedy is the most popular and successful drama of Thomas Kyd. Thomas Kyd was a dramatist of Elizabethan age and The Spanish Tragedy is often called as revenge play. It is deeply influenced by the roman philosopher and dramatist Seneca. That is why, we can find many Senecan elements in this drama.

Before going into details about the Senecan elements it is better we try to discuss something about Seneca and his life and his ideas. Seneca was a politician in Roman age. However, he was also a scholar but he was perhaps unlucky in life because in Roman history at a time when there were too many conspiracies. Court life was always dangerous and Seneca for most of his life had to deal with many dangers in his life. In fact, his own personal life was full of tragedies and in the end he was forced to commit suicide because he king suspected that he was against the king. In Senecan tragedies, we can find many bloodshed and violence. Horror and super natural elements are also present. As I have already said that he was in Roman Empire court and that is why he often talked about kings and queens.

The Spanish Tragedy starts with the murder of Don Andrea by Don Balthazar and Don Andrea was a Spanish noble man. It was a battle between Spain and Portugal and Don Balthazar was the Portuguese prince. After death Don Andrea went to the second life and there he met with the character of Revenge. The Revenge promises that he would help Andrea to take revenge for the unfair death that he suffered. Thus, from the start we can understand that their will be super natural elements and there will be a lot of bloodshed in this drama.

The presence of super natural elements is anther Senecan element. In The Spanish Tragedy, the revenge is a super natural character and he is present though out the drama. In fact, he talks and speaks like a human being in stead of his super natural elements. He promises to Andrea and he keeps his promise.

Horatio is the friend of Don Andrea and he was a brave soldier. He showed a lot of bravery by capturing the Portuguese prince and this way the king of Spain was very happy with him. Don Andrea was in love with Bel-Imperia and Bel-Imperia was the niece of Spanish king. Horation came to Bel-Imperia and told her that Andrea was murdered. Bel-Imperia became very sad and got very angry with Balthazar that he unjustly murdered her lover. However, we see that Bel-Imperia soon falls in love with Horatio and she think that Horatio was a good man. Then the two had good relationship. This matter was not like the brother of Bel-Imperia Lorenzo. Lorenzo was a evil character and he was a Machiavellian character. He understood that the Portuguese prince had fallen in love with Bel-Imperia. So, he makes even plan and arranges that Horatio is murdered.

The murder of Horatio makes two persons very angry. However, I should write here that Lorenzo hires some people to murder Horatio. Then Lorenzo himself thought that if these two people betrays him in future or reveals that Lorenzo is the main villain. So, he arranges that these two murderers of Horatio get killed. Thus, we can find that Lorenzo is a very bad character. Both Hieronimo and Bel-Imperia understand that Lorenzo and Balthazar were the murderer of Horatio and this matter made them very angry. The mother of Horatio is Isabella and because of this great loss of the death of her son she becomes mad and she commits suicide.

Hieronimo makes a plan to get revenge and he seeks the help of Bel-Imperia. Bel-Imperia happily agrees to help her because Bel-Imperia is also angry for the death of both Don Andrea and Horatio. In the end, Hieronimo arranges a drama to be staged and this drama is a drama within a drama. The drama was arranging in a way that Bel-Imperia kills Balthazar and kills herself. Before that Hieronimo kills Lorenzo and in the end Hieronimo could commit suicide. So, within a short time the audience can see that four deaths happened in the stage. Murder and violence is perhaps nothing new in drama. When there is a tragic play, naturally there will be death and sometimes murder and bloodshed. However, in the dramas that have Senecan elements like The Spanish Tragedy, violence and bloodshed are in extreme level. They create horror in the mind of the audience. The people get killed in a short time is perhaps more melo dramatic than tragic.

It will be unwise to say that The Spanish Tragedy is only a drama about revenge. It is perhaps more than revenge. There is a question of deniable justice. Don Andrea is murdered unjustly. Horatio is murdered in a very bad way. Hieronimo wanted to seek justice from the king of Spain but he could not. The king did not listen to him properly and this matter force Hieronimo and Bel-Imperia too only become more angry and murdered both Lorenzo and Balthazar.

Here, I like to say something about political matter. The Spanish Tragedy was written at a time when Queen Elizabeth was very powerful in England. The British parliament was still not so powerful and there was no democracy. England was still a monarchy in which the king or the queen was extremely powerful. Perhaps people like Thomas Kyd understood that if there is no democracy then justice can never take place. When justice is dependent on the whim of only one person like the queen or kind then ordinary people would suffer. Horatio was not an ordinary man. He was the sun of Hieronimo who was the chief Marshal and a very high positioned officer in the royal court of King of Spain. Still because Horatio was got killed by the nephew of the king, his father Hieronimo could not get any justice. So, I think that Thomas Kyd has symbolically staged that democracy is more important if we want to ensure justice in society.

In conclusion, I like to say that The Spanish Tragedy is a very good drama and it is full of Senecan elements.

Online Transaction and Bangla Literature

I would not blame you if get shocked from the title of this entry. There is no relationship between online transaction and Bangla literature. However, since I started this blog on Bangla literature almost 4 years ago, I realized that this is a field in which earning money is almost impossible in Internet. So, if you cannot earn money then you have to take it as a hobby and I did it. As a result, I have not been able to publish even just 100 entries related to Bangla Literature in this blog because I simply don’t have the time and motivation.

Today, Bangladesh Bank has issued a circular and through it has legalized online transaction in Bangladesh. Thus from now, people in Bangladesh would be able to buy and sell something in Internet. Well, I think that it has opened a new opportunity for Bangla Literature. Now, if someone wants to send some money online to me then it is possible. It does not have to be 1,000 taka. Just imagine that if someone sends just 10 taka after reading this blog or any website about Bangla literature then it will perhaps encourage people like me to give more effort. It does not matter to me if I can get money but I am sure that this announcement of online transaction in Bangladesh would create a lot of opportunities. Bangla literature will be benefited as a result.

What do you think?

Related News

Internet money transfers introduced

Why Web 2.0 is Good for Freelance Writers?

I have been using Internet since 1997. At first, there was almost nothing to do and it was very expensive. Then, I got a second chance in 2002 and I have been using Internet almost every day since December 17 2001. The dot com boom was over by that time and there was nothing for me to do. I live in a country in which still there is no means of online transaction.

Anyway, when I saw Web 2.0 emerging in 2006, I became very happy. There was blogging. There was online writing opportunities. And now, perhaps we are heading for Web 3.0 in which many printed newspapers and magazines will be closed and opportunities will increase Internet. I consider myself lucky because I am perhaps an early adopter of online writing. I flourished in Web 2.0 and I think that I can find good success in Web 3.0.  

After the Recession: Will Things be Better for Writers?

The economic recession did a lot of damage for writers and journalists. Many journalists lost their jobs and many freelance writers found that the projects got dried up. Now, it seems that the economic recession is coming to an end. Things now look much better than a year ago. Well, in the last few days, we saw that Microsoft, Google and Apple all made handsome profit and it shows that the US economy is moving on. So, there can be new hope for writers.

I am not that much optimistic because the recession is not yet completely over. Secondly, the days of printed newspapers and magazines are going to be numbered and more and more advertisement dollars would get shifted to Internet. And in Internet, you are on your own. It does not matter if you are a highly skilled freelance writer with 2 decades of experience. You have to compete with bloggers like me. We all want a pie of that market and anything goes here. Most of all, you have to make sure that your entries are read by many people. When you are writing for a newspaper or a magazine then you don’t have to bother about this part. However, in Internet, you have to give a lot of effort for it.