I enjoy writing. It gives me immense pleasure when I see words turn into meaningful sentences – sentences that convey happiness, sadness, love, passion, melancholy and various other emotions we feel as human beings.
Over
the years, I have written several stories, poems, research articles, study
reports as well as articles for journals, news papers, among others. But the
year 2022 has been a totally different and better one as far as my writing is
concerned. This year two of my stories were published in Paperback format.
Titled, ‘The Kiss of Midnight’ and ‘The Fetishes of Darkness’, these two books
have been well received by the readers and as an author this gives me immense
satisfaction.
I
mostly use my own experiences (and sometimes experiences of my close friends!)
to weave out stories by mixing it with layers of imagination. In a way, these
stories act as a journal of my own life and help me keep my memory afresh of
events and happenings gone by. Nostalgia is a feeling which I often relate with
and many of my stories have a nostalgic touch.
Another
interesting source for my stories got added to my quiver in 2022. Earlier I did
not prefer travelling through trains, but over the last one year, I have
started to enjoy train travels. Speeding along the tracks with an array of people
from diverse backgrounds has given me further fodder for my stories. One such
story, based on my train travel along the picturesque Western Ghats, will be
published next year as an E-Book. Titled, ‘Love Along the Western Ghats’, the
story is a mix of reality and fiction, the core idea of which was developed
while we chugged along the hills on the Vistadome coach of the Karwar Express.
In
2022, I also got introduced to a wonderful place called the Himalayan Writing
Retreat (HWR), a place nestled among the Himalayas in Satkhol, Uttarakhand. A
visit to this place and attending a Writing Course at this place is in my
bucket list now. This year, I participated in a 30 day writing challenge organized
by HWR in the month of November; it being recognized as the National Novel Writing
Month. Based on a daily prompt, I enjoyed writing 300 word stories each day of
November.
I
also entered into a Flash Fiction contest organized by HWR. Powered by the
Story Cabinet App, the Contest invited short stories on certain categories. I
was elated when I found that my story – The Price of Life – was one of the
winning stories in the Contest. A beautiful T-Shirt from HWR further added to
my elation. I had written the story based on a real life tragic incident that
occurred in Dima Hasao district of Assam and the story winning the contest made
me feel that I should keep writing more such stories based on incidents that
occur around us. There are certain things that need to be told!
In
the month of November, I also completed my goal of writing one lakh words in
the month. This included study reports, research articles, short stories,
chapters for books/edited volumes, among a few others.
Towards
the end of the Year, in Christmas of 2022, I received quite a good news. My
name was featured among "50 Aspiring Authors and Researchers" by Fox
Story India, a Google-verified news platform of India.
The
year 2022 taught me several things as far as my writing in concerned. I learnt
to observe more, to be more patient, to write and re-write the same thing over
and over again till it gets perfect, and to be more reciprocating to what a
reader feels and want to read.
I
have several literary goals set for the year 2023 and I hope I will be able to
accomplish those.
Hope
you all too had a good year and have learnt and grown over the years.
Wishing
you all a Very Happy New Year 2023.
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