• What are your interests other than writing?

As you might have guessed from my book ‘From Stressed to Sorted’, I love doodling and sketching. I carry a small sketchbook with me on most days.

I happen to spend a considerable amount of time with my deck of Tarot cards and often have back-to-back sessions booked during weekends. I recently bought an Oracle deck which I particularly love!

I also enjoy reading and playing boardgames – when I first moved to Bangalore, I’d often go to boardgame meetups to meet new people and play new games.

• What inspires you in life?

The best part of being a Tarot card reader is that I bring smiles to people’s faces. It gives me immense joy to be able to provide them with peace of mind and clarity. Touching people’s lives – this inspires me. The fact that I am, in some small way, either through Tarot, my writing, or my words, helping others get closer to their dreams gives me more satisfaction than anything else. Another thing that inspires me internally is the fact that I handled my mother’s loss the way I did. I always tell myself – if I could handle that, I can handle anything in life. And this thought inspires me to wake up in the morning and have the courage to face whatever life throws at me.

• Out of all your books, which is your favourite

Some of my favourite all-time reads include Roots by Alex Haley, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, I also enjoy the occasional quick read by Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult or Celeste Ng.

• How often do you write?

Once a week, sometimes more. There have been times when I haven’t written something for weeks if I’m busy with work, and others where I have written daily.

• Do you have a set schedule for writing, or are you one of those who write only when they feel inspired?

I have a very difficult time following schedules and routines. I write whenever an idea hits me. There are days when I am on my way home from work and I flip out my phone and write a blog post there and then. There are times when I wake up with a fresh idea and write it down. It’s unpredictable and completely random.

• What other genres do you enjoy reading?

I love reading all kinds of books. From contemporary fiction to humour to non-fiction to short stories to mythology – I read anything that catches my fancy. However, if I had to choose a genre, I’d pick literary fiction. I particularly love trying out new/unknown authors.

• Have you ever written a character based on the real you in some part?

There is a little bit of me in each of my stories – they are all based on my real experiences. In fact, I believe that each one of us has been through these situations at one point or the other, in some form or the other. By using the techniques mentioned in the book, I have managed to overcome these situations, and hence would not relate to any one character completely. But I would say I resonated with Maya in ‘Rewrite’, who rants about her life to her best friend, and Amiya in ‘Unhold’, who has a tough time letting go, to quite some extent.

• Can you tell us about your current projects?

I am currently focussing on launching a paperback version of my book. I am also working on a doodle art project and looking at revamping my YouTube channel.

• If you were to change your genre, which one would you choose?

That’s not too difficult! I’d choose fiction – it comes easily to me, and is also one of the reasons why I decided to add flash stories in the beginning of each chapter in my book.

• What does literary success look like to you?

I’ve always been more interested in touching lives, as opposed to making money. Success to me means inspiring as many people as I can, through my writing, and speaking sessions. Becoming a known name and a successful motivational speaker are part of the dream.

• Out of all the stories in book which one you like

To name a few, Shankar’s story in the Chapter ‘Rediscover’ is very close to my heart. I feel it is a story that will resonate with many. I can say the same about Ruchi’s story in ‘Reclaim’.