the disapproving knife

Try this on for size.

Imagine you spend around 10 hours on sketching. At the end, you pick it up and hold it in front of your face, look at it and exhale in relief. For you, that’s the best work you’ve done so far. You can’t take your eyes off it. You can’t wait to share it with your friends and family, because let’s face it; you are hungry for appreciation. You take a picture of it, and whatsapp it to your closest people.

While your entire whatsapp list is showering you with appreciation, and clamoring for more, there is always one single message disapproving of your work that messes up your mind.  And if that one, disapproving message is from the one person you respect the most in that field, it makes you want to tear up your art and throw the little pieces off the balcony. For me that person is my sister.

What happened was, after a lot of reading, plotting, self-realizing, brain storming I finally began work on my first novel. Clichéd as it may sound, the first chapter I wrote was about love. As soon as I finished it, I couldn’t wait to show it to my friends. I felt good about it. I was positive about it. I mailed it to some of my friends and of course, my sister. While all of my friends said that it was interesting and made them want more, I ended up upset in the end (the reason for writing this blog post in the first place).

• ·         My sister thought, that it was mediocre.
• ·         She began by telling me that the story was clichéd (expected! :/)
• ·         It was exactly like a chetan bhagat story (should I take that as a compliment?). But I don’t know how that happened. I haven’t read a chetan bhagat for years and something that old doesn’t inspire me enough to match my entire style to him.
• ·         It was predictable. (I think she covered that when she said clichéd)

·         Not to mention the tone from how I met your mother. (Again, don’t know how that happened!)

·         We’ll talk tomorrow. (There is more of this disappointment?)

Writing this post as I wait for tomorrow, hoping that something good will come out of her mouth, that will soothe me after a sleepless night that I’m going to have. I think I have to stop asking people for their honest opinion!  :/ L