My Path to "Get Published"

Anuja Chandramouli

For some strange reason, people assume that writing books on mythology are a piece of cake and the surest way to launch a career as a successful, author. They wouldn’t be entirely off the mark of course. After all, this is a red-hot genre, thanks to the likes of Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Anand Neelakantan and recently, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. People cannot seem to get enough of mythology and history, especially since there is controversy, stardom and big bucks involved. Usually, though, it involves a lot more work than randomly choosing a trending character from one of the Sanskrit epics, refurbishing the old legends to suit modern sensibilities and packaging it all very prettily. Luck and arbitrary chance are the key factors here. In this regard, it does not hurt to have your fingers and toes crossed although opinions vary as to the overall efficacy of this method towards determining your fate.

Mercifully, I was not aware of all these things when I embarked on my own writing career. It would have made things even more complicated than they were. At the time, like every aspiring author, I daydreamed about emulating the feats of a JK Rowling or Hilary Mantel and tried not to dwell on the other side of the spectrum which has way too many talented writers languishing for lack of recognition or remaining unpublished.

Having taken the sensible decision to merely live in the moment, work really hard on Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior – Prince, focus on perfecting it and worry about its future in future, I tried to do just that. Barring a few terrifying moments where you confront the distinct possibility that you may not be as good as your dream demands fulfillment, I managed to complete the first draft, to my satisfaction.