World Book Fair

It was the World Book Fair and this is what happened all around the week. Moonlit Matinee received a wonderful response from people and I also got a great share of meeting old and new readers and some really wonderful authors. Sharing a few pics with you guys:

 

That's how the baby looked :) 

 

With the lovely and beautiful authoress, Swagnikaa Roy

 

The gang of writers, bloggers, book promoters and publishers

 

With the author of 'Life and Promises' and compiler of 'Moonlit Matinee', Pulkit Gupta (left) and Founder of Engineers' Adda, Gaurav Kushwaha

That was just a glimpse, the whole story of 9 eventful days can just not be described in words :) To all the readers whom I met, I am deeply indebted to you for making the week a success. Every ounce of happiness that I receive from book, is just because of you guys! If we couldn't meet then we'll surely, some day, if not today. Till the, take care and stay blessed!

Love,
Harshita

The Insignificant Author

The World Book Fair has just come to an end. Like every year, this year’s fair was as colourful and splendid as it could get. With books all around, it was tough to control myself from emptying my pockets. Like every year, we got to hear some of the best authors in town. People from across the country came, just to witness the grandeur this event creates. A number of books were launched as well, including my endeavour too.

In this entire hullabaloo over whose book got the maximum coverage and which book turned out to be a hit with readers, what I, as an author, happened to observe is that there are so many of us who struggle to make our books reach to the readers. There comes a time in my life when I feel like giving up, when I feel why am I standing all day in the fair to interact with people who may or may not take a copy of my book, why am I wasting away my weekend tiring myself to the hilt instead of taking the much needed rest from work. There are times I feel like just shouting at my publisher for not being able to get proper distributors, there are times I feel like slapping the distributor who has no other work than looking at my cleavage, there are days when book sellers don’t take me seriously just because I am a girl who looks way too younger than her age, there are moments when I simply feel like throwing off the pile of books on the middlemen who is just concerned about his commission rather than looking into the value of my writing.

I got published last year when I was in my final year of engineering. I had no support from family or college. I had no one to back promotions, I had no one to cover me and my book, and it was just me and a group of friends at college who spread about the book on Facebook. I got published through one of those small houses known to give a chance to debutantes. When I received a confirmation from the publishers, I was overjoyed and couldn’t thank them enough. I am still obliged to them for giving me the much needed platform. At that time, it had good distribution and quite a number of people knew about it. I didn’t have to invest anything, would get some royalty and was asked to promote it well through social networking sites and my blog. Unfortunately, by the time my book released, my house’s distribution fell and I knew I had to fight my way by getting in touch directly with distributors and sellers. The one good thing my publisher did was share their list of sellers with me so that atleast I could talk to them if my book had reached their stores or not. Majority of the stores I contacted didn’t have my book and I was soon a delivery girl for these stores.

I have experienced it all in the past one year of being in the publishing industry but then, it is at the fair I see so many authors fighting away a one man battle, I watch them talking to people humbly even when they have been standing at Pragati Maidan for ten days at a stretch without a chair to sit on, with the single motive of reaching out to readers. I see so many self published authors working ten times harder than me for their book. It is then I realize yet again that there’s nothing better than watching people read your work and appreciate it. It is then I understand that witnessing your delighted readers talk about your effort infront of everyone is no less than winning the Booker prize. It is then when I feel like those hundreds of sleepless nights and caffeine filled days have paid off. It is then one feels rejuvenated even after standing all day in the fair because there’s sheer joy in getting to see the figures rising higher and higher. And it is then, I sit to write about such realizations on a khooni Monday at my office, juggling between churning travel content and loads of coffee to keep me awake because of the exhaustion of the previous day’s fair.

The Making of 'Moonlit Matinee'

So yes, there's a special news. Since I am still working on my second full fledged work, I thought of bringing this treat for you this Valentine's Day.

Do you like the cover?

Moonlit Matinee is an anthology of short stories comprising 11 prose, 1 poetry, 1 sonnet and 1 ballad. On New Year's eve, Pulkit approached me to associate with him for this book and I still can't believe that it's already coming out. The past 1.5 months have been extremely tiring not only becayse I had to edit this book but also because simultaneously, I had to pack and shift from Delhi to Gurgaon, adjust to a new life and workplace and also figure out the ways of a PG yet again which was extremely tough because for six months I had lived independently in a flat with my friend.

I clearly remember packing when Pulkit called up and said he needs the edited work early next morning. Ah! How could I? I was yet to finish my packing, I knew it'd take atleast 3 hours to complete everything and the loader was expected to come before 6 a.m. in the morning. "Oh! This couldn't be happening," I said to myself. But I knew, it was important and it was to be done because the typesetter wouldn't be available after that for a fortnight which would again delay the book's release. Thinking all this, I somehow finished off with my packing and also the final editing.

And that was not all. At the last minute, I didn't seem to be satisfied with my story so it was changed and 'Bon Voyage' came into light. That one week starting from 24th January to 31st January has been the most hectic time of my life. 27th January was my joining date at Ibibo Group. I had so much to learn here and also get the book done. I have simply forgotten the number of times I'd have read the book. I don't know how I did it but this book has seen me working the most in such a short span of time and has also taught me a lot about time management. I have sincerely put in all my efforts for the book and I do hope it reflects in my work.

Alongwith 11 other writers, Pulkit and I present before you 'Moonlit Matinee'. This is our gift for all our beloved readers on Valentine's Day. Spread love! Spread happiness!

Much love,

Harshita

P.S: If you wish to order a copy, do check out the link here.

The weekend

The picture down there probably explains how wonderful the weekend went. On a lazy Saturday morning, I started off with this novella and couldn't just put it down till it was completed.

Sharing a few lines with you that I just couldn't help noting down. I can not promise a review though I'll try my best.

Talking about Sunday, it was one hell of a day. One of my friends is getting married and since it's the first wedding in our circle, all of us our super excited about the whole event. We have all been planning stuff since the D-day is just so near.

By the time, it was time for dinner I had no energy to cook and was in no mood to have the plain dal-chawal so treated myself with pasta. Thankfully, it turned out to be wonderfully yummy!!

Guys, you can have your share too :) 

Hope you had a lovely weekend and wishing you a happy Monday!

The astral land

This post has been written by a person who wishes to play hide and seek with us.

You, you, you experience things and… they change you, it takes you into a new horrendous place; the place is somewhere beyond death and life, in that place you see your entire life in front of you… it forms images, plays a film in the somewhat closed theatre of our mind; the film consists of all the things that in one moment or the other in our life, did pierce us with the feeling of regret, even though it might have been a tiny sparkle but it shows us the picture of our life; the closed spaces we never visit, now, why I’m writing this is a totally different story and that’s one hell of a story… the instance of your life when you realize that very second when you’re trapped inside that place, a place where humans don’t fancy to visit regularly, it might be the end of it, the end of your existence… it all adds up to something, an unfinished equation that you might leave for someone, a puzzle you’d gift to your loved one to solve; the assumptions humans make and talk about during their life fail to come to a definite conclusion because the puzzle is unsolved, it is always unsolved, something has not been done yet, they’ve not served their purpose of life; we aren’t a satisfied race, we boast about our bravery but our mind rules us and it penetrates our imagination with fear, the most unruly, mortifying and unfaithful of all fears is the fear of death… death doesn’t end our life, it makes us disappear from the face of this unsatisfying planet, it removes our identity from this jealous and self centered race of living beings; the fear of death haunts us with the memories of every unfinished relationship we’ve had in our life and forms a cluster of emotions banging our head, it gives us reality checks; the most important and the most dangerous thing when you, you, you are stuck at a place like this is hope, yes hope is a good thing, the very best of things but hope is a beast that feeds on fear, the fear of death… they are twins, and are meant to live and breathe together; this place changes your life in a way nothing ever would, the nothing used here can be assumed to be an action of the highest intensity or an act of guilt of the lowest ground a human’s character can touch, and we can go down pretty low… this place is a good place to visit, it gives you a new life; initially it’d kill you but eventually you’ll learn to live with it and then you’d take it as a new beginning, that’s the purpose of that place, the place where you feel the certainty of death; fear is an act of dying, almost everything in the world is an act of dying, and we all wait for our moment, the moment when we’d find our pathway to start an act that’d eventually lead us to dying, because living is about dying –in a way, only… 

Book Review: Uff.. Ye Emotions 2

Eleven stories talking about emotions, the feelings that differentiate humans from animals, each with a flavour of their own. On a boring afternoon I started off with UYE-2 in order to take a break from the gruesome work piled on me. I'll be honest here, I didn't start off with the stories in their order, instead began with the ones written by people whom I call friends.

While Himanshu and Udita's story dealt with what is generally referred to as puppy love, Meghant and Heena's was about sacrifices made by lovers even at the cost of their lives. There's something each story teaches. NECRT of love taught us even though the kids may be unaware of the fact that babies do not get produced by a kiss but love is something that know no age and can be true even when all you care about is grades and that pink bag. Life is dear to all but love is dearer, the sacrifices made by Kent's parents is something you'll cry for.

Love can happen any time, anywhere, even if it's after marriage, 120 minutes by Sarvana was indeed a refreshing read. When you feel there's darkness around, all you need is to bend a little, love is just round the corner, probably that's what Ishani taught us through 'I'll be there'. Tarang Sinha's 'Dilemma' touches on two sensitive topics namely widow re-marriage and child adoption, how does society figure it out how you can sacrifice the man of your life for humanity and a child's love. Shalini Katyal's 'The Woman who Waited' is wonderfully written with a language that is sure to strike with the readers, love never dies even if death separates bodies is what the author has perfectly described. 'The Pale Pigeon' by Siddhartha Yadav takes you to the love of the old age, the love that has seen and fought everything coming out victorious and content everytime.

Mahi Singla and Vinit Bansal need no introduction and have carved out stories as per our expectation. While The Client depicts a love that sees no class, When Destiny Strikes talks about love that comes between friendship but again friendship and a good heart overpowers everything.

Two stories left to talk about are Hickey by Heema Shirvaikar and Moksha by Kunal Marathe. I would say these two are my personal favourites, all you'll react on reading them is a big WOW. I am not going to say anything about the story because all they need is your genuine read. Sometimes, stories leave you speechless and somehow, these two have left me with no words for their description because their beauty lies in the words.

All in all, a good attempt by everyone. All the best guys :)

This review has also been posted on Goodreads.

Get a copy here.

Merry Christmas

Found this on Google while browsing through Christmas wishes, somehow this shares my thoughts in exactly the way I wanted to. Thank you everyone for being a part of this journey, happy Xmas :)

Love
Harshita