I used to be a writer before I became an author

With ‘This Maze of Mirrors’, my second novella; not smiling on the inside

I began writing for a private release. My life was in shambles those days. Putting pen to paper was like picking up each crater of a shattered planet and hold it up to the sunlight. Writing, when undertaken honestly, opens up crevices in your soul that nothing else will. Not therapy (tall claim, I know), not midnight conversations with your best friend, not the confessions of a church box.

A blank sheet doesn’t have eyes. It doesn’t give you the look or talk back. A blank sheet is safe.

Then writing became fun. I met beautiful people through writing. Quora friends, poets on Facebook communities, you name it. That led to a real life writing group formed with some locals. Meeting face-to-face every month to share your work with is like finding a brick of gold in your backyard. I was fascinated by these writers, and I couldn’t believe that this good thing was happening to me.

Writing Group — I’m the one in black

Then came writing competitions. I won a few. Got good kicks while a part of me judged the competitions that chose my work as the best.

Suddenly, everyone around me was publishing a book. I was getting invited to book launches and book talks. In…