[A word of thanks to Goanetter Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, who spends time
mentoring and passing on his skills, during his annual sojourn in Goa. --FN]
Victor and Lea were (unnecessarily, if you ask me) apologetic for a
seven-minute delay at Porvorim on Saturday at 9 am. But, after that,
everything went smoothly.
How was the book-editing workshop, someone wanted to know....
In his usual thorough style, Victor/VRR had done his elaborate 'home work'.
He came armed with reams of neatly-printed A4 papers and a series of
'assignments'. Everyone (all the five participants) present were very
serious. Venita could not make it due to a sudden indisposition, while
Mayabhushan wanted to attend but applied too late.
To be frank, I see this as a process, and not just a one-off event.
Personally, I feel that I've gained immensely from this workshop, and also
Victor's earlier generous gesture of editing one of my manuscripts, which I
had given him just to write the foreword to. (When you see your own,
otherwise invisible mistakes... that's when learning happens the best.)
Of course, one can't expect to demand off Victor's time indefinitely, and
I'm grateful that we have a skilled veteran writer taking time off his
still-hectic writing commitments (even at the age of 83) to mentor and share
skills with us during his visits to Goa.
In his usual style, story-teller Victor kept us engrossed by throwing in
some interesting stories from his own many decades of experience ("Gee,
you've got a nice tan!" "My dad is pink, my mum is brown, and I'm normal".)
Prava was almost pinching herself in disbelief that the book-editing
workshop happened just while she was visiting Goa. Melinda looked with
disbelief how mistakes can slip in to one's text without even being aware
(or because one is not aware). DogEarEtc.com's Leonard was tuned in to ideas
of how to beat the commercial pressures. Savia told us interesting stories
about how she sold her first fiction book. And your's truly was discussing
book covers and other things, making the most of Victor's mentorship.
Lea offered quiet and patient support (objecting just once, when Victor
pointed to her, when asked when he would be visiting next!). The XCHR team
was very helpful, offering tea both during the morning and evening sessions,
despite it being a Saturday half-day.
My wider concern is whether we can work to bring together all these various
emerging strands -- more books being published here, the book economics
working here finally though in a rather modest way, more authors coming up
to write books, more freelancers offering services in editing or printers
taking on outsourced work, etc. -- in a way that builds the book in Goa.
In the past, I have appreciated Victor's willingness to share his skills.
And I'll do so once again now.... Thanks, Victor! FN
--
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