The Brigade That Builds Brands - Pooja Kapur juggles a jewellery design biz & Army life with elan

The Brigade That Builds Brands is featuring artist & jewellery designer and Army wife Pooja Ganapathy Kapur this week. If you ever thought that passion for something cannot be turned into a career, especially while being on the move, then you've gotta read what Pooja has to say. I hope that this interview, like all the others, will give you enough inspiration to create a brand/project of your own. Being a #militaryspouse can mean frequent postings, lots of social commitments, lack of basic facilities like a good internet connection & more; but if you have the will and the gumption to do something, you can be an entrepreneur from wherever you are posted. So, go on and enjoy Pooja's interview.

C. Please tell us something about yourself – what do you do, where are you based and how long have you been a fauji wife.

P. 41 years on this earth, mother of 2 boys, 18 and 14 year's old respectively. Married into the olive green for 20 years. Based at Bangalore currently. Belong to a beautiful hill station called Kodagu /Coorg. An artist by profession, a jewellery designer by passion, a dreamer, believe in being positive and nothing is impossible if you set your heart and mind into it. In the past I have owned a playschool, a boutique, dabbled in the teaching field, owned an online clothing line and was the brand ambassador for Armed Forces for hotel Marriott.

Inherited Love by Katie Mettner

There’s much to love about author Katie Mettner’s Inherited Love. Cuddly dogs & heroes, characters with regular imperfections (I don’t like perfect dudes and dames!) and plenty of goodness to go round. I enjoy wholesome stories like these where there’s more good than evil, tantalizingly unusual names to mull over and protagonists who aren’t the perfect body shape, always swathed in designer glad rags.

Author Katie Mettner with her novel

Cinnamon Mabel Dalton (Cinn for short) has a cracker-jack of a grandmother, and she’s just inherited a slobbering Saint Bernard and a house from her. With no clue about how to take care of him, she starts talking about pet care with Dr. Foster Kern, a slightly chubby, baby-faced vet and director of the Humane Society, as well as a friend of her grandmother’s (he’s just a few years older than our Cinn here). What begins as a tete-a-tete in a dog park named after Cinn’s grandmother, turns into so much more.

The Creative Writing Student’s Handbook by Cathie Hartigan and Margaret James

Book review by Chandana Banerjee

As a writer, creative writing teacher and evergreen student, books about creative writing are special for me. Reading a book on creative writing book is like sitting with another writer, and learning their tools and tips as they take you through their writing or teaching journey.

Cathie Hartigan and Margaret James’s book is packed with creative writing know-how that they’ve taught to students over the years and practiced as authors & writers themselves. From chapters on finding your voice, to getting the basics of creating characters and plots right to building the foundations of a solid story, there’s a lot of creative writing nitty-gritty in this book.

What’s particularly interesting is that they also talk about topics that are often not mentioned in other creative writing books. For example, how to write flash fiction, craft a novella and how to promote your fiction through a blog. As a non-fiction writer, who’d like to transition to writing fiction, and try my hand at shorter pieces of fiction, all of this, and in general everything they’ve mentioned in chapters 5 to 12, is what I found much more engrossing than the first four chapters.

With lots of examples sprinkled across the text to help the writer understand how to really create a beginning or character or story arc, The Creative Writing Handbook is all about showing you how to do a piece of writing rather than just telling you how to.

Who is this book recommended for? I’d say anyone who wants to learn how to start writing any sort of fiction, or a writer, who is already knee-deep in creating stories, but needs a book to refer to every now and then.

What can you do with this book? After you’ve read through the entire book, go back to the chapters that you want to explore more and re-read + put the lessons in practice. The thing about being a writer is that even if you read tonnes about the craft of writing, you’ll still have to dip your fingers in ink.

As for me, I’m diving back into the flash fiction and novella chapters, and also getting myself a copy of the author duo’s ‘The Short Story Writer’s Workbook’.

So go on, get your copy of The Creative Writing Student’s Handbook and learn how to craft a crackling story!

Thank you Margaret James, for sending me the book to review!

Are you an author with a book that you’d like reviewed on my blog? Do get in touch via Twitter (@4GGorgeousGreen) or email me at chandanabanerjeewrites@gmail.com.

Till then, read lots (my blog too ;-)), and follow us on:

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#bookreview #creativewriting #thecreativewritingstudentshandbook #writers #newbiewriters 

The Brigade That Builds Brands: Monika Tomar Saroch talks about being an artist & Army wife

The Brigade that Builds Brands is all about Fauji wives / military spouses, who create businesses or stay uber creative while juggling all the social + family commitments. It's a whole new ballgame with multiple postings, plenty of social commitments, living out of boxes + suitcases, stints of single parenting and being posted at super small places. Today, I've invited Monika Tomar Saroch over to the blog for a tete-a-tete about how she can juggled a successful career as an artist & art teacher while being an Army wife.

C. Please tell us something about yourself – what do you do, where are you based and how long have you been a fauji wife.

M. I am Monika. I am an artist and right now in Delhi. I have been married to an army officer and it’s been fifteen years of bliss.

C. What has been your business or creative journey been like: how & when did you start your venture?

M. I started painting again when my son was three months. One of my friends told me that I could paint professionally and it was a moment of realization for me as this is what my calling was. The journey has been beautiful so far. It has transformed my life completely. Its full of struggles and rewarding at the same time. From someone who started a novice to a professional with many exhibitions so far, it has been an amazing experience.

Book Review: Secrets And Tea At Rosie Lee’s by Jane Lacey-Crane

Book Review by Chandana Banerjee

Here’s a brand new column about book reviews and authors – something to look forward to if you enjoy reading as much as I do. In the past, I’ve written about books that I’ve enjoyed; but from now on, I will be posting my reviews about new + some not-so-new books as well as interviews of authors. Whether these are books for grown-ups like us, Young Adult fiction, non-fiction and even cute children’s books, there will be something we can all tuck into while we sip our coffees and ponder about what to read next over the weekend (or what books to buy for our children).

So, onto my #bookreview of Jane Lacey-Crane’s first novel ‘Secrets And Tea At Rosie Lee’s’:

Abigail aka Abby Cowan is almost 40 with a daughter about to leave for college and a café that needs both – some serious profits and a makeover in terms of the menu and décor to keep it afloat. When Abby takes up a catering job to help out her event manager friend Liz and earn something extra to pump into the Rosie Lee café, the side job turns out to be much more than she bargained for. A chance meeting with the host of the party sends her reeling back into a past thick with secrets and reignites all those sparkler-like feelings that she thought she had got over long back.

Jack Chance – her first love and first kiss is no longer the boy next door, but a successful and dashing millionaire in America. He’s still in love with Abby but this only brings back painful memories for her. Also, with Abby’s emotionally-distant mother and the secrets that she’s got stashed away, an old gangster who resurfaces to collect something that he feels Abby has been hiding and answers that she finally begins to find, Jane Lacey-Crane’s first novel is packed with everything good you’d want in a weekend read.

The Brigade That Builds Brands: Nupur Heda Patil crafts a Tarot practice around an Army life

Hello folks! Today, we’re back with another interesting fauji wife/military spouse entrepreneur interview in our The Brigade That Builds Brands series. Meet Nupur Heda Patil, a Tarot reader, Angel Healer and Reiki practitioner + relatively new Army wife. She is passionate about her work, is happy to set up her practice wherever her life with her fauji hubby takes her and has a positive outlook to work-life balance.

Here’s what Nupur and I chatted about setting up a brand on the move, doing work you’re passionate about and juggling the fauji life & our calling in life.

C. Please tell us something about yourself – what do you do, where are you based and how long have you been a fauji wife.

N. I am Nupur Heda Patil. Born and brought up in a traditional Marwari business family, it was a dream to start something of my own when I grow up. My idea of marriage was a choice based union. I met my soulmate in 2010; we were friends for a long time when we decided to take a step ahead. With two different cultures and families coming together, lot of hustle bustle finally with the blessing of everyone we believed in, tied a knot on 1^st Dec 2014. Being a fauji wife is not only about being married to the man in uniform but it also brings a lot of responsibility towards my soldier and his life. Thankfully my husband helps me in every single step and he is my friend, mentor and my life partner.

Post marriage I kept juggling between jobs. Picked up teaching at one station, counseling at the other. The only constant job profile I have had is my Tarot. I have regular telephonic clients and events in the city which keeps me busy. Planning to set up an office at the next station so that I can take face to face clients in future. Right now enjoying the best of spiritual growth and a sense of fulfillment in Nilgiris at Wellington.