Reflecting on my journey as a writer is probably the post I enjoy writing most. Writing is such a slow business and wins are so few and far between that it’s easy to get bogged down by all the endless waiting, the ghosting, and the rejections. Yet, when I look back at my year, I […]
Uncontrollable – The Story Behind the Story
I love to read about how a book that I’m reading came into being. What made the writer write this particular book? What are some of those little stories the reader knows nothing about? And that’s why I’ve written a post like this for three of my books: Sisters at New Dawn Dragonflies, Jigsaws and […]
My Year in Writing: 2023
The year 2023 was remarkably kind to me as an author. It was a year full of lit fests, school visits, and, most importantly, new stories! Uncontrollable What can I say about Uncontrollable, my first verse novel? ‘Addictive.”Unputdownable.”Ambitious and original.’I keep going back and reading all these heart-warming emails I’ve received about it.Yes, it is ambitious. […]
Five Fictional Friendships I Loved Writing
Three years ago, to celebrate Friendship Day, I wrote about five times fictional friendships won my heart. For Friendship Day 2023, here’s a post about five fictional friendships I enjoyed writing. And because I can’t choose which one to write about first, I’ve put them down in the reverse order of publication. Dhara’s Revolution “I […]
My Year in Writing: 2022
What can I say about a year when I FINALLY managed to take my books to audiences? At lit fests in Gurugram, Vadodara, Jaipur and Pune, I shared my books, interacted with children, and did school visits once more. Almost all through 2022, I was on a high! And yet, the true highlight of the […]
Careers in Writing – Fergusson College
A career in writing – what does that mean? As part of UGC’s STRIDE (Scheme for for Trans-Disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy), the English department of Fergusson College invited me to talk about making a career in creative writing. What I loved was that I didn’t speak just to students of the English department; […]
My Year in Writing: 2021
The year 2020 was such a boost to me as a writer! With a poem published by OUP, a picture book, a chapter book, a middle-grade book and a collection of short stories, how could 2021 even hope to compete? Even so, with two publications, an award shortlist, a book going into reprint and tons of […]
Book Spotting!
When my first book, The Story-Catcher, was published, we started playing a game. We would go to every bookstore in every city we visited and try to find a copy of the book. It was impossible. And yet, it was exciting. I even got a spreadsheet from my publishers, listing the stores in which my book […]
The Clockwala’s Clues – The Story Behind the Story
When I wrote of how Sisters at New Dawn and Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells came into being, I had every intention of documenting the journey of each published book. So much for that. It’s been three months since The Clockwala’s Clues was published, and I kept postponing writing the story behind the story. Yesterday, however, I visited […]
Reflecting on Reading on International Women’s Day
A few years ago, I was invited to judge a ‘Come as a Character’ competition at Symbiosis International School, and it was good fun. I encountered all kinds of characters, ranging from Matilda to Ebenezer Scrooge. I’ve now seen multiple schools that conduct similar activities; I’ve done so myself at my Writers’ Club. Yet, for […]
Happy Book News
On Saturday afternoon, the doorbell rang. It was a courier. For me. From Penguin Random House. When you receive an unexpected package, do you try to guess what it could be? I do. It was a slim package, so the easiest guess would be that it contained one book.But why would Penguin send me one […]
My Year in Writing – 2020
I’m beginning to write this post on a day when I received a miserable royalty report for one of my books for the year 2019-20. Yet, the year 2020 has been all kinds of wonderful in terms of publishing for me. So many of my projects have seen light of day, though they have suffered […]
Reflections – Part 2
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the first series of reflections, written by children from my first batch of the creative writing programme. The idea of a reflective statement is something that I came to appreciate when I was teaching the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. While I was teaching, however, many students hated […]
A Few More Writing Activities
A few days ago, I posted five writing activities that I created last month; here are a few more. I find that short activities of this sort are wonderful ways both to get started and to wind down. Finishing a workshop with some sort of activity leaves participants feeling energized, rather than exhausted. Quick ones […]
Five Writing Activities for Children (and Adults!)
As I was preparing to launch my online creative writing programme, I posted one writing activity per day on social media, and I loved the responses I received. Writing activities can be so much fun, and not just for children. They work just as well for adults who want to sit down and start writing […]
How to Write a Limerick
What is a limerick? A limerick is a (usually humorous) five-line poem with a strict AABBA rhyme scheme. It’s fun to write and, usually, fun to read. I’ve always loved limericks by Edward Lear, and over the past few years, I’ve read many, many more. Do you remember the nursery rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’? That […]
The Chat Box
I love virtual school visits. I enjoy talking to children about my books, encouraging them to explore reading and writing, and taking them through my journey as a writer. Visiting schools virtually was such a novel experience that I wrote an essay for The Curious Reader about it. But of course, as virtual visits go […]
Nine Days of Spine Poetry
I’ve been fascinated by spine poetry for a while, but I’ve just been too lazy to try it out. A couple of weeks ago, I shed the laziness and began. Like all kinds of writing, I liked some poems more than others. Some of the poems were so unappealing after a couple of days, that […]
Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells – The Story Behind the Story
Stories of rejection can be empowering if they have happy endings. I realised that when I shared the story behind the story of Sisters at New Dawn. I think, since writing is such a solitary affair anyway, knowing that you aren’t amassing those rejections alone makes you feel warm, and a little less alone. So, here’s the story […]
Letters I Receive – VI
Okay, so this blog post cheats a little because even though it is about letters I’ve received, I’m also going to write about ones I just received – as photographs. They’re letters that I sent over 18 years ago. In my previous post, I wrote about the only crossed letter I ever wrote. I just […]