Month of Love...

The month of love will start from tomorrow.

What I gift people who truly love will be up on mu blog on 3rd Feb, 2016. It is a poem that is approved, appreciated and published by a new journal. The poem is titled as Emotional Passage.

Before the month ends - as I wrote this year I want to focus on short stories and different forms of poetry other than haiku, tanka...

Very happy to receive an email that a poem of mine is shortlisted for a new journal. The editor wrote the below mail in praise of my work. He liked it. I wanted it to be published in Feb ' being the month of love'. It will be live on Wednesday.

"
Thank you for your recent submission, I really like your poem 'Emotional Passage' and I would like to publish it in Anti-Heroin Chic. I have a spot open for it on wed Feb 17th & I'll email you with the link once it is up. Thank you for your interest and support in this relatively new journal and for the kind words. "

Tomorrow I will share all the links where I am published this month, and shortlisted for the next month.

Short Story and A Poem - Published!

I am very excited to share the link of my first short story published in 2016. This story is inspired by a true life incident. The editor has approved, and finally published it on Readomania.

This is a true happy moment as this is my first short story written, and it got shortlisted. 

http://www.readomania.com/story/a-letter-to-her-daughter

Another feather in my cap as my poem is also approved by the editor, and published on Readomania. Here is the link for my readers to read -

http://www.readomania.com/story/i-am-the-creator

Feeling happy!

Published on VerseWrights

Phew !

Finally , I am reading the last submission for the anthology - 'Nothing is Mystery' for Author's United. But it is like a long journey about to end. Yes but we have another stage of proofreading the edited documents.

Yes - I have got good numbers to share with my readers for the month of January. I just finished the monthly status check for the published and unpublished work. A number of submissions are made for the journals, and the contests. 

I picked my favourite ones for the January month. Also - the ones I could not submit in second half of 2015. VerseWrights is one of them. My two tanka and two haiku are published in the current issue of VerseWrights. I am immensely thankful to the editor for such an amazing and encouraging feedback.

So if you missed reading my work from initial submission till date at VerseWrights - I am happy to share the link. You can read some of my best haiku, and tanka at the below link , or you can like the Facebook page of VerseWrights.

http://www.versewrights.com/archana-nagpal.html

Happy Monday!

Unthinking and Thinking

I am a hyper active person. I cannot sit idle for even a minute. I cannot relate to people who come to me complaining - I do not get time for myself, or I have kids, or I have ...blah blah....endless, clueless reasons. From my home to my studies, from my work to my workouts - I think its all about time management. I cook all three meals a day. I write for three hours a day, I spend 1 hour reading a day, I try to do 25 kms of workout to keep my body in shape to fight my pains, and I think its all about time management. Ofcourse - I dont spend time in watching movies, or kitty parties, or pot luck gossips, or religious meetups (as I think to connect to God - I want to be alone, and in deep meditation) - use time wisely. Inspired by these thoughts comes my first published poem of 2016 - Unthinking and Thinking!

A poem is shortlisted for Writer's Drawer portal. 

This is my first poem selected for this portal, indeed my first initiative for this portal. This year I plan to write non-haiku stuff as well. SO here we go with the first one...

.I wrote this poem in 1 minute 34 seconds. My shortest record so far. Unthinking and Thinking is inspired by a feeling of doing nothing on a lazy sunday. Truly believe in Dolce Niente....

smile emoticon

..Have fun reading it, and have a fantastic lazy sunday....

http://www.thewritersdrawer.net/unthinking-and-thinking.html

Tanka Published !

Three tanka are published in Whisper's January 2016 Issue. Thank you Karen for the encouraging and impressive feedback. Here is the link for my readers -

http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.in/2016/01/tanka-by-archana-kapoor-nagpal-india.html

following
my steps
a dragonfly …
finding my way out
my of thoughts
_________________

entering
from all sides of my room
the first snow ...
in mother’s lap
I collect the warmth
_________________

in
my pot of water
the rising sun …
at every tinkle of a bell
pelting holy flowers

Hugs n Love
Archana

I Am The Creator

I wrote the below poem to share a thought with my women readers.The news and hype around rape cases have a created a phobia in a woman of every age group. Flashing headlines in red - ' Another Gang Rape blah blah' leaves me in panic for hours. Half of the battle is lost if you surrender to your fears. Read this poem and note the last two lines of my poem.

I Am The Creator 

I unlock my thoughts,
And capture the negative words,
These black and white letters,
In this daily newspaper,
I sip a harder crime,
That travels more to my mind,
I experience a lurch in my stomach,
As I board the train to my office,
Every man around me,
Reminds me of some crime,
I rub my fist in hesitation,
Hiding myself behind my fear,
I squeeze and shrug every minute.

I feel every eye is watching me,
I pull my scarf to hide me,
Not letting anyone to touch,
I finally miss my station,
I see many calls on my number,
Worries of family and endless troubles,
I get down at the next station,
And go in the right direction,
I look up in the mirror
The mirror looks at me
I ask myself, ‘who created this fear’,
Laughing at my naivety the mirror answers,
 ‘You yourself created this fear’.

~ Archana Kapoor Nagpal

A Special 2016 Moment !

Phew !

It was a busy hectic day for me. Filling university forms, and travelling to the other side of the city. Jayanagar is damn far and the traffic is really painful (indeed in every city of India).

I always learn to submit things at the last moment. Something like boarding the train once it is off the station. But finally my form is submitted for the course. Yet to get the acknowledgement else I am pushed to the July batch. But I am OK with both the options. Acceptance. I did my best to submit but rest is my destiny.

Editing another two stories for the anthology - I am just having fun in reading these exciting stories woven around mystery and thrill. I want to share a special moment with all of you....in the below post from my official author page. I want to steal a moment from your busy day to share my happiness. It is an achievement for me as a haiku poet. But before you read this - three tanka are already shortlisted as my first submission of 2016. Though - due to studies and my work with AU, this year I might not submit much stories or poems but still every submission is like my child.

"The New Year starts with a moment of happiness and proud for me as a writer. It doesn't matter how many poems/stories you write as a poet or writer. But it makes a difference to your journey when you look back and admire that you crossed a milestone. Ofcourse, my milestone is infinity but 100 haiku on my Living Haiku Anthology Profile makes a difference to me. I saw this LHA in Feb, 2014 when I started writing, and sharing my haiku in the forums. A moment to steal from my past and present to my readers - to visit the below link, and read my some of the best chosen haiku.

http://www.livinghaikuanthology.com/surnames-n/242-archana-kapoor-nagpal.html

Thanks to the entire LHA team. A special thanks to Don and Hansha."