Through the September Curse: Monthly update

September has been a true mixed bag of a month. For a few years now, I’ve felt that September, in general, has been somewhat of a cursed month for me. I’ve always found the idea of Wall Street (and adjacent) believing in the September Curse quite funny. Still, I do observe that the richer someone is, the more religious and superstitious they tend to be, and Wall Street definitely is where they all spend most of their time. I find this even funnier because, at the core of my being, I’m an atheist — I don’t really believe in luck or curses. Still, I hold onto the hope that some invisible, inexplicable form of luck exists and that it is favouring me to some extent, while I keep trying to put all my effort into improving and creating!

Unfortunately, 2025 seems to have brought the worst of the ‘September curse.’ August felt hopeful, as an upgrade in photography equipment led to small shoots and talks of many more for September. However, the way those talks fizzled out or got delayed has put me in a semi-panic mode. Two big projects which would have provided advance payments would have helped cover my bills, but now I’m scrambling to figure out alternate options to come up with approximately 750 USD to cover the gap. (I don’t want Mutual Aid, as much as I prefer someone buying one of my art/photograph. I know I get a smaller cut of what they can offer, but I feel better knowing they got something in return too!)

While I have been stressed about it for a while, I still have a week or so to find some paid project to figure out solutions. Not to be a Debbie Downer, I also wanted to share what I did manage to achieve in September and what exciting plans I have for October.

Oh, and before we jump in to the blog, here’s a gentle reminder to all you lovely folks (as well as to help with SEO search results): Lucid Illusions is actively looking for new photography and videography projects in India. I’m available for corporate interviews, advertisements, or short films — just drop me a line. I’m also interested to work in a writer’s room, help develop scripts, as well as work on the edit table on post.

Now, to kick things off properly, the few times it hasn’t been raining, the clouds have been absolutely gorgeous! Take a look at how the view from our window has changed since last month.

A photograph showing large fluffy clouds above hills.

The Business of Creativity: Clients, Cashflow, and Computers

The side hustle has been slow, obviously, but the main projects I’ve been targeting have faced crazy delays this month. Two big projects were delayed by the client, and my regular monthly gig was cancelled due to a clash with local festivals. I also had a few people reach out about outdoor shoots, expecting the monsoon to have receded, but we were hit with more weeks of heavy rain. (Honestly, it would be nice to have a government that believes in the climate crisis and works toward our future, rather than focusing solely on the present.)

The one thing I’ve been trying to find time for is editing my backlogged footage and photos. The focus needed to edit videos, as opposed to images, is a whole different ballgame. I really wish October brings some paid project stability so I can worry less about making ends meet and can focus on honing my video editing skills. Sometimes it feels like I’m trying to run away from present work and hide behind the excuse of practicing.

On a brighter note, I updated my work laptop this week. For the first time in a decade, the upgrade resulted in small things breaking, but I’m generally happy with the update and have managed to fix the initial hurdles. I’m just getting my muscle memory used to the slight UI/UX changes now! I’m glad that my scanner seems to work without hassle, even after the update. This is perfect as I’m planning to make new art for October challenges; my target for the month is to create at least 10 art work (inspired by prompts for Birdtober and Invertober).

While I’ve not been able to make any art (that I would share) in September, I’ve updated Inprnt with new scans. Also, if you want to check out some of my original art for sale, you can visit my DM2Buy shop if you’re in India, or my Ko-Fi Store for the rest of the World.

Building the Network

This month, I spent a lot of time stepping out for special screenings to meet people in the industry. I pretty much lost my main creative network during the pandemic, as many people left the city or the industry entirely. I’ve actually gotten to meet a few people whose work I knew of, and it was a wonderful experience to talk to them in person. These conversations really brought my love of writing, shooting, and moviemaking back to the forefront.

I also got to watch some movies I’ve wanted to see but didn’t have access to, and watching them on the big screen was special. This has given me a long list of new blog post ideas — the list of things to write about is never-ending! Not having enough dedicated time sucks, so I’ve decided to borrow S’s netbook, giving her my backup laptop, so I can write first drafts while travelling, whether on a train or sitting outside a movie theatre waiting for a screening to start. (Can you guess where I wrote most of this blog post over the last two days?)

What about my writing?

I very strongly felt that I didn’t write a lot this month, especially based on the handful of stories that I’ve shared online (next section) and the very few blog posts I’ve shared. But on the other hand, I’m glad I’ve started keeping a sheet of all the stories I’ve sent out this month. Eight new stories were sent out this month (Three Lobed, Apex, The Bombay Lit Mag to name a few). I received a total of five rejections this month (out of which three were for stories I sent out in July and August), and I also received one acceptance — I’m very excited to share the link once it goes live.

So apart from reading a tonne of flash fictions, thanks to Strange Pilgrims (they are open for submissions) I found out about CNF, and I’m totally in love with it. I’ve written a few pieces in the past that I never felt could be classified as flash fiction, and I would just call them prose. Learning the correct terminology has been a perfect happenstance! I now have a lot of personal stories that I want to build on and send out to multiple magazines this month. It’s definitely one of my recent favourites that I’ve written. I also sent out a few stories that (if selected) could be part of a printed anthology, so fingers crossed for that (you see what I mean about the hopefulness and the habit of falling back to superstition).

I have also spent a lot of time ideating and researching for some stories, and even when I talk about it (working on a few Patreon posts talking about my process and general idea that should be out in October), I still feel like I didn’t do enough writing this month. I understand I’m competing with myself, and I might be progressing better as compared to my previous month, but I feel like I am not hitting as much of the mark I want to.

Let me reshare one of the first pieces I wrote that can be tagged as CNF: The First Saturday of Forever

I’m also sharing a list of stories I’ve written that are available online this month.

• Accessible for members on Patreon:

  1. ‘How you Feline Tonight?’: A melanistic leopard, who has unwittingly helped a monster, finally defeats the monster.
     I have started sharing #FridayFlashFiction on Patreon, a week in advance. Few of these stories will be exclusive to Patreon members. I’m also starting a new section on Patreon, where I describe about what I’m writing, what goes in my head and how’s the research for some of the stories are going.

• Accessible on this website:

  1. The Serpent’s Embrace: A dismissive anthropologist travels to a remote jungle to study a tribe’s “primitive fetish”.
  2. The Collector: A Crow that is collecting shiny trinkets for his friend!
  3. Sown in Light: The perfect summer getaway holds its own secret.
  4. Witchcraft 101: Soul Binder: A woman missing her grandmother finds a solution using the Witchcraft 101 app. What could go wrong?
  5. Eclipse: A photographer wakes up, not remembering when he went to sleep, and finds more than he wanted to know.

For Spooktober, I’m planning to share one of my horror stories daily and you can follow me on Bsky for daily stories.

Quick Recap.

1. I started a Patreon page in the beginning of the year, but I’ve hardly been able to grow it. Honestly, I didn’t even know what to offer (because part of me wasn’t confident enough). I had three followers till the end of August. For September, I wanted to set a target of 25. While I haven’t been able to hit that target, I currently have 15 followers, a growth of five times! I do have multiple tiers, and I feel they all add something of value for members and patrons. For October, I think I want to target getting 15 new followers.
2. I wanted to send out at least 10 stories this month, and I was very close to that goal. For October, I’d like to keep the target at 10, but I want at least one of them to be over 5,000 words.
3. I wanted to research and work on some long-form ideas, and I honestly feel great about their potential. There still needs to be some more research, as well as the final drafts, so one of these stories should be turned into a first draft to build upon.
4. I really need to edit and share more of my Photos/Video work this month. I should set a clear number, aiming for five sets of events to share, perhaps using #ThrowbackThursday or #FridayFlashback.
5. I should also be working on the wedding content I’ve shot, as this is going to be the peak season for that type of work.

Support Me

If you’d like to pick up The Forgotten Alley e-book, you can check Amazon or any other store that you prefer. You can also support me on Ko-Fi. Check out Darkroom with new photo prints, INPRNT for art prints, and RedBubble for moore art merch options. Want to commission me to design movie posters, or write stories that you can gift someone? Just drop me a mail. Every bit helps me make rent and cover utilities for next month.

Reading Suggestion

I ended up reading a lot of Fiction, Non-Fiction as well as some very interesting articles this month, sharing some of them with you here.

1. Funeral for a Demon
2. Bone-Eater Earth
3. Homecoming is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self
4. The Song Between Worlds
5. Mud Season
6. Chipmunk
7. Quiet
8. Mothers Not Appearing in Search
9. No Laughter in a Vacuum
10. Cassandra
11. Restaurant Space for Lease
12. What I Want to Know
13. To Plant an Oak in Sand
14. The Myth of the AI First Draft - An interesting article.
15. The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem - A brilliant piece about the publishing industry.

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