Writer’sBlock

If our civilisation is dug out in future and the book, The Lord of the Rings, unearthed, they’ll think it was the history of our times

Arefa Tehsin is a reading, travel and wildlife enthusiast. Her book, Iora & the Quest of Five, has been recently published. At present she is editing Land of the Setting Sun, a storybook for older children.

  • QDescribe your favourite writing space.

    A patch of soft grass by a flowing stream amidst forested hills.
  • QDo you have a writing schedule?

    Creativity strikes any time I open a Microsoft Word document.
  • QEver struggled with writer’s block?

    No. The writer’s block has struggled with me instead.
  • QWhat inspires you to write? Do you have a secret trick, or a book/author that helps?

    The prospect of looking out of a window, on the pretext of work, is inspiration enough.
  • QCoffee/tea/cigarettes — numbers please — while you are writing?

    I can write with or without caffeine, at a noisy or dull place, in a sad or happy mood. Writing is my overriding habit.
  • QWhich books are you reading at present?

    Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander and The Grasshopper’s Run by Siddhartha Sarma.
  • QWho are your favourite authors?

    Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mirza Ghalib and Dr Watson — the personal biographer of Sherlock Holmes.
  • QWhich book/author should be banned on grounds of bad taste?

    The writers of political parties’ agendas.
  • QWhich is the most under-rated book?

    Begone Godmen, which is out of print now.
  • QWhich are your favourite children’s books?

    Tintin, Tintin and…Tintin.

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I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

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