PRIYANKA BANSAL

Had I not felt vulnerable and lonely, I probably would have never started writing. While I meditated a lotto calm down my

soul, I met myself.

I don’t know where to start and what to write. Becoming an author was never planned or pursued. It just happened. I have done MCA and also have worked in HCL, Noida. Way back to school and college, I was a commerce student and had tried CA twice, but failed.

After realizing and convincing my family too that CA isn’t my cup of tea, I finally dropped the idea of doing it. I could have tried once again had the government accepted the proposal of removing mathematics from my entire life.

I remember I wrote my first poem in Xth Std. It was an

English poem on positivity titled, A ray of hope. It was appreciated a lot by friends and family, it boosted up my moral.

I kept scribbling few words in rough copies but never shared much with family until I made a proper diary a few years later. The first page of it had an extension of my name that I did my myself to feel different about myself, to feel good and I still remember it!

I started maintaining the diary properly with dates and titles and wrote, rhymed anything that touched my heart, be it pain or happiness. I had stuck a few pictures even in it relating to the writeup. Sadly, I don’t have it anymore, Rajat flew airplanes out of its pages.

Scribbling here and then fairing out everything in dairy continued together with studies.

But with increasing pressure of studies,

writing took a back step. The table soon got loaded with project files, papers, notes and the budding writer in me failed to observe life and its happenings around.

After completing MCA when I was planning to do a job in some MNC, I got married and I know my capabilities.

Life is never easy. When you are planning your best, it shows you something else.

Before anyone could even ask about managing both job and home, I myself made clear about not looking for work anymore. I knew I won’t be able to handle both.so the idea of working in an MNC took its last breath in my mind and I was happy.No regrets.

After a break up with writing for a few years, we became just friends again :P Staying back home all alone, compelled me to resumed writing. I again started penning down poems, both in English and Hindi.

It was that time when Facebook entered our lives.

I started posting my poems and to my surprise, they were like by a huge number of people. I was thrilled. It was like a yummy icing on some tasteless cake. My poems were the icing and the tasteless cake, being my life then. Yes, it was dreary. Being in a nuclear family and staying alone at home all day. It was tough. But that was also my time, my alone time. I read and wrote a lot

and posted a lot more. Initially, I posted even short stories on the wall when someone told me about a thing called blog.

I then made blogs for different kinds of writings.witll talk further later but first, let m say sorry to the readers/mutual friends for torturing them with really long pots of up to 1000 words on the wall.

Coming back to where I left, I have four blogs now on poetry, short stories, articles, and scripts.none of them are updated till date as most of the material is in print. I have 3 books in my name till yet. I hope you know me a bit :P The poetry I write is purely based on observations and to some extent life experiences. If you read Rubroo (Hindi poetry collection), you will definitely relate to it. It is based on everyone's life. A very common and relatable base each poem has.

Had I not felt vulnerable and lonely, I probably would have never started writing.

While I meditated a lot to calm down my soul, I met myself.

Whereas, the English love stories are pure fiction. Once a friend suggested reading the then national bestseller and after reading that I realized I too can to write such daily life stuff. The love storybook ( That’s a heart handle with care) is the outcome of it =D

Getting your work published is a tough task. You have to send manuscripts to a lot of publishers, wait for responses and get rejected most of the

time. I too have faced all such but now tables have turned.

I don’t have to run after people, instead, they come to me and wait for my response. That’s how good writing gives you name and fame.

Any journey is incomplete without a helping hand. Many people helped me too in taking to the place where I stand. Initially, I didn’t even know the difference between an article and a short story! What did they mean by manuscript!

What number of word count is good to read, the meaning of kindle, how are covers designed, what do we mean by self and traditional publishing and a lot more? My very first work that got published was a paid one, for an anthology by a known publisher.

You know how desperate we all are to get published and earn the name. But that was the first and the last time that I paid. It was rs 2000 for a single poem in a book!

Now you can ask me anything about this industry.

I am not a renowned writer but a small advice to the youngsters and the new ones.

Don’t run after filling pages and getting published. Unless your writing touch hearts, it is worthless.

If you write pain, your reader should cry and if you write humor, he must definitely laugh.

(As told by the author)