Top Secret Game With @blogchatter for #BlogchatterEbook Carnival
Ebook1: I take on the Baton of Blogchatter EBook Carnival from Maheshwaran whose ebook ‘Puglia: Hidden Treasures of Italy‘ is also part of the mix.
About Maheshwaran’s ebook: Travel guides give people detailed lists of places in a region. But one finds it difficult to plan and worry about the lack of time to see so much. This book is a new type of travel guide with clear details on what to do every day and the sequence to see them.
My Experience With #BlogchatterEbook Carnival
‘Writer? Me? Oh my god, Piyush, I have no creativity at all and can’t write to save my life. And here you are telling me to write a poem and present it on stage!’
This was my reply to my friend and colleague Piyush, eighteen months back when he suggested I write a poem and present it on stage during the founding day function of the organization where I work. Well, to cut a long story short, I did write a poem. I did present it on stage during the function and it was indeed a huge hit. And that chance attempt at writing a poem and its huge success set me on track as a writer. I have come a long way as a writer since then.
The first thing I did to pursue my newfound hobby, was, of course, to start a blog. I did not have much success with my blog for nearly a year, mainly because I did not bother about SEO or keywords or back-links or any of those things. I did not submit articles to any other popular sites where bloggers usually write. Initially, there were just fifteen to twenty page-visits every day for my blog. Sometimes it would dip to something as low as eight or nine. Once in a while, it would shoot up to thirty or forty.
But I saw little by way of concrete success as a blogger. I continued posting because I had fallen in love with writing. After that, I participated in the Super Blogger Challenge 2018 and became friendly with several bloggers in that forum. I heard about the Blogchatter A to Z blogging festival and the #BlogchatterEbook carnival from some of my fellow contestants there.
I have always hated the fact that I have often been accused of having a poor imagination. I had an innate desire to prove that this is not the case. Until that point, my blog did not have any posts that could come under the head of imaginative or creative writing.
The first thing I did to pursue my newfound hobby, was, of course, to start a blog. I did not have much success with my blog for nearly a year, mainly because I did not bother about SEO or keywords or back-links or any of those things. I did not submit articles to any other popular sites where bloggers usually write. Initially, there were just fifteen to twenty page-visits every day for my blog. Sometimes it would dip to something as low as eight or nine. Once in a while, it would shoot up to thirty or forty.
But I saw little by way of concrete success as a blogger. I continued posting because I had fallen in love with writing. After that, I participated in the Super Blogger Challenge 2018 and became friendly with several bloggers in that forum. I heard about the Blogchatter A to Z blogging festival and the #BlogchatterEbook carnival from some of my fellow contestants there.
I have always hated the fact that I have often been accused of having a poor imagination. I had an innate desire to prove that this is not the case. Until that point, my blog did not have any posts that could come under the head of imaginative or creative writing.
When I heard about the #BlogchatterEbook carnival I decided to take the opportunity to indulge in some creative writing. After giving it some thought, I decided to write a novella in the thriller fiction genre and present it in the #BlogchatterEbook carnival to see if that turned out to be a success. That would tell me if I really lack imagination as charged. Mind you, I am not a nut-job suffering from a persecution complex. In fact, I have been appreciated phenomenally in school for my academic excellence.
But I did feel I would so love to write a complete story and put an end to what I have been hearing since childhood. I have always heard that if you want to write a book you have to have the plot, the characters etc, laid out clearly in your mind before you begin writing. Well, I tried to do this but could think of nothing and almost gave up the idea.
Then I told myself: ‘To hell with thinking up plots. I will just start writing and see where that gets me.’ I picked up my laptop and simply penned the first chapter of my novella which had just five paragraphs. And the rest of it flowed. And in two weeks I had a complete novella ready. I sent the document to my friends Krishna Kumar Subramanian and my sister Sudha Somanathan. Both of them told me it was really good. That was how my first e-book ‘Eighty Hours To Save Karen‘ was born.
Blogchatter published my e-book in the #BlogchatterEbook carnival and I am happy to state that it has received some exceedingly positive reviews. I have also given an interview or two. Here are the links to those reviews and interviews.
Nupur Maskara’s Review of My E-Book
Tomichan Matheikal’s Review of My E-Book
Lavanya Srinivasan’s Review of My E-Book And Interview
Sona Grover’s Review of My E-Book
Lancelot Quadra’s Review of My E-Book
The #BlogchatterEbook carnival has changed the priorities in my life and helped me prove to myself that if not a brilliant one, I do possess an above average imagination. At least that is what the reviews of my e-book seem to suggest. I now know for a fact that I do have the skills to write creatively.
I am fifty-two now and I will be retiring in another three years. And thanks to Blogchatter I have discovered a new skill, at a point in time when I have half a leg in the grave. At the moment writing is not my priority. But yes, in another three years time, I plan to devote all my energies to writing.
In all humility, I understand that I have a long way to go before I can write like a true professional. Come to think of it, when I read some of the e-books published in the carnival, I had to admit to myself that several authors whose books I read had far superior writing skills compared to me. At the moment I am going through the learning phase
In all humility, I understand that I have a long way to go before I can write like a true professional. Come to think of it, when I read some of the e-books published in the carnival, I had to admit to myself that several authors whose books I read had far superior writing skills compared to me. At the moment I am going through the learning phase
In any case, I am happy I participated in the e-book carnival. I am indeed proud of the fact that I am a published writer and in addition have become a Goodreads author. I am euphoric that I have achieved something new, at that point of time in life when I ought to be thinking of hanging up my boots and resting on my laurels. Thanks to Blogchatter I find I have something to do post-retirement.
Thank you Blogchatter! Thank you so much for your campaign and for giving me an opportunity to test my skills and discover something new about myself at the age of fifty-two.
You can download my e-book here.
Ebook2: I pass on the Baton of Blogchatter EBook Carnival to Lancelot whose ebook ‘The Alphabets of Life – for mortals‘ is also part of the mix.
About Lancelot’s ebook: “The Alphabets of Life” is a collection of rare and unusual words which are related to experiences and emotions we go through every day. How these experiences can help one avoid making the wrong call and doing the right thing forms the crux of this journey.
It's a good thing you were told you had no imagination. Imagine, you would have never pushed yourself to prove them wrong.
Your writing journey is very inspiring. Also, I can relate to the fact that not all writers are plotters.
Write more, publish more!
Thanks you so much Sona.
awesome i appreciate your writing skill is to good
Inspiring blogging journey for all new bloggers like me 👍 Thanks for sharing 🙂
Wishing you all best for your future journey 👍
Congrats! It's awesome to hear that your blog has turned you into a budding novelist! Downloading your ebook to read 🙂