A few years ago, an idea struck. I wanted to write and publish a delightful story about the animals in my backyard. But, I knew nothing about the finer aspects of writing a book. Without wasting time, I enrolled in an online course on the art of writing for different audiences. After sessions with published authors and writing exercises, I was finally ready.
I wrote the first draft of my story.
But the next day, I scrapped it.
Then, I wrote a second draft, followed by a third.
Two days later, I scrapped both versions.
Seven drafts later, I buried the whole story, hiding in folders within folders. The problem was that I felt my poor little story did not measure up to what the course creators claimed a book was supposed to be like. Trying to alter the story to fit a standard only made it worse.
In the months that followed I was drawn to book stores and libraries wherever I traveled. What I saw expanded my insight. There were so many different styles, voices and formats and some of the best ones in fact defied norms. But I still did not return to writing the book.
For the next couple of years, I folded my book-writing desires, shoved it somewhere deep and focused on my job. But it was like trying to keep a lid down on a pot of boiling milk. When my contract finished, I knew what I had to do. The writing kicked off once again, but this time, it was fueled by rage for time wasted trying to meet some invisible standard.
The self-publishing process was not easy and deserves its own post. My goal was simple: publish a good, readable (and enjoyable) book without errors rather than aim for a ‘bestseller’ on my first attempt.
After rounds of revisions and collaborating with my brother from Sculpt Monkey for illustrations, “The dog who let out his awooo” got published to Indian audiences late last year. Then I shut down and went to sleep, relieved and exhausted.
Surprisingly, I want to do it all over again, without the crippling self-doubt, of course. As I work on my second book, I remind myself of one thing alone – I can be me through the words I type.