How I Became A Writer

Dream it.

I was 23 years old and living with my parents as we typically do in India until we get married or move out. I was working as a Features Editor at a lifestyle magazine and had started to hate my job of coming up with ideas for articles I had no desire to write. For months, I dreaded the thought of waking up and going to work.

Create it.

So, one Saturday morning in November 2009, I sat at my dinner table and powered up my laptop. I decided it was time I wrote what I wanted to write. I placed my fingers on the keys, grazing the little grey squares as I contemplated the words, and flowing out like a river came the first two paragraphs of what would become the first chapter of Rea and the Blood of the Nectar. It’s important to mention that in those early drafts, my main characters were called Rose and Bryant Bennett and their parents were John and Hyacinth. They had a housekeeper named Sookie who whipped up mouth-watering treats like chocolate scones and syrupy pancakes.

Question it.

You’re wondering what's wrong with that? Well, here I was a girl raised in India (where I lived up to my mid-20s), who had no connection to the western world except for the books I read and the TV shows and movies I watched, but who didn’t think twice about inventing characters in MY book that looked nothing like me, lived in places nothing like where I lived, and ate foods I did not eat on a daily basis. I hadn’t realized that everything I consumed as a child, a young girl and a teenager subconsciously informed the type of characters I thought should appear in my books. And they were nothing like me.

Fix it 

That’s terrible! It was only when my writing teacher asked why my characters were not Indian did I pause to wonder. Don't get me wrong, I loved the books I read in my childhood (enter The Famous Five, Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew), but I would’ve loved to read about girls and boys like me going on adventures, saving the world and being heroes. After all, kids from every corner of the world are amazing and should be able to see themselves in books.

So, here I am, over a decade later, married to a wonderful man with whom I have a lovely daughter. I’m still a writer and I love writing books for kids. And I hope that by reading them, they can also discover a tidbit or two about Indian culture along the way!