My journey from Blogger to Author

The book that changed my thought process was The Secret. I read it in 2008, and at that time I had a dream that one day I’d become an author and write my own novels. Around that time an article came in “Life” supplement of “Times of India” which had a title as “Want to become a writer”. Following principles of The Secret, I hanged that newspaper clipping in my cabinet so it would remind me repeatedly to become a writer. 

I belong to the family of non-writers and so I took some time to break that mental rut and in this process I started this blog in 2009. I wrote several posts and later struggled to maintain the continuity as I juggled between my professional commitments and personal aspirations.  However, I kept that tiny little flame alive and in 2017, I started writing my story. Although I was very busy in those years as I changed my job and we had a newborn in the family, and all these changes took my energy and engagement for some time. Some of my close friends kept on asking me about the book and even read a portion. They motivated me to finish it. So finally, I finished writing the raw version in Feb-2020, oblivious to the fact that finding a publisher followed by editing and marketing is equally tough as writing a book at the first place.

However, I got a publisher  who promoted debut authors.  After the painstaking editing work, the book is now ready to launch in October. It is a fiction and is a story about professionals who face hardships in corporate and personal life. It i written under the backdrop of a lovestory.

Here is the book cover and the blurb.

Blurb:

Teesha, an ambitious marketing workaholic, who is still battling the scars of her previous relationship, and Akhil, a consultant and an ace at his job, go through an internal battle, trying to defeat the demons of office politics and boost their respective careers. Will they be able to overcome the challenges that destiny has thrown at them in return for their hard work? Pulled into the drudgery of the brutal corporate world, will they be able to lead happy and content lives? Will love find a way into their lives?

Rati, a single mother and a freelancer, decides to launch a mobile application. Will she be successful in her startup venture and get the social identity she craved for? Will she gain acceptance as a single mother?

Lifeline is a story of love, friendship, money, office politics and startups. It is a story of survival and portrays love, care and respect revolving around myriad relationships and situations that we encounter in our lives.

Hope you all will like the book, it will be launched in October.

Two magical ways to manage tough people

Have you ever had troubles in managing tough people?

 Is there a colleague who would give you a hard time to share that report, or a neighbor who would not speak a respectful sentence to you, or a real estate agent who knows that you are on his mercy? How do you deal with such people? I sometimes have had a hard time dealing with such personalities. 

Recently, I attended an open session of Toastmasters- a club of people to hone their leadership, communication and many life-skills, where a speaker gave these two wonderful ways to deal with such people.

1) The Bheem Way

2) The Hanuman Way

This sounds funny but is interesting and should be helpful for all of us.

The Bheem Way

This technique tells us to bluntly challenge the person for a task. Challenge his ego that he could not do a particular task, and after some time you will find that he will do the task.

The Hanuman Way

This technique tells us to give utmost importance to the person. Tell him you are the only one who can do this task, and he will do the task may be more than what you would think.

You may ask me, “ how to decide which technique to use?”

I would say," Well, interesting question but before applying the technique you understand that person’s character. The Bheem way should work with people who have proven themselves repeatedly infront of the world and have gained some fame in their known circle. 

The Hanuman way should work with people who are very talented but don’t believe in showing off their talent. There can be other ways also, but I think these two approaches can be helpful."

Also, you should not use the same technique again with the same person or else he will beat your guts out if he turns out to be a Bheem or a Hanuman.