In Conversation With Shradha Khanna

Shradha Khanna

About Shradha Khanna:

An MBA in International Business, Shradha has multifarious talents. After working with her family firm, she ventured into speciality baking. Being a trend setter and breaking traditional barriers by opening the first eggless bakery owned and managed by a women entrepreneur in Agra.

Blessed by his Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Shradha is humbled and honoured to be a member of the Art of Living family which gives her a platform to further unleash her creative talents and abilities and share them forward to bring a smile on others face.

Encouraged by her mother, to pen her thoughts soon saw her seeing her first novel ‘Should I Fall in Love’ with Rigi Publications in bookstores in 2016, her second novel ‘The Emotional Connection’ with Juggernaut books on their app in 2018, third & fourth novel “What Went Wrong” & “In Denial” with Kalamos Literary Services LLP.

LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writing it and its content.

Shradha: About Book – It is second book in Emotional Connection Series, could be read as a standalone.

To the people standing on the other side, to them, my life seems perfect.
>> Born with a silver spoon
>> Educated, young and beautiful
>> An aspiring job
>> Rich and devoted boyfriend, head over heels in love with me

But to me, nothing matters. It’s a famous proverb – “Life is always greener on the other side”, and my life is the best example of it.

Born with a silver spoon but have to fight my way to achieve my dreams at every step of my life.

Educated, young and beautiful, that’s definitely a blessing.

An aspiring job – I am allowed to be a part of it only for a few months as everything in my life comes with a deadline, before I even decide to go for it.

Rich and devoted boyfriend, head over heels in love with me – every girl’s dream but I need more than that.

What will you do if you have to choose between a beautiful planned out life path or a path you have no idea about.

How will you justify to everyone if you choose something which no one agrees to?

Most importantly how do you decide to choose between two best options in your life?

Meera has everything she wants in her life but not what she desires the most. Will she ever find out what is important, even if she does, will she be able to hold on to the best things in her life or will she lose everything in the process?

My journey of writing –

Meera was a difficult character to write as she is constantly changing her mind and is a bit selfish.
Generally every story ends with finding and falling in love, then there is .. and they lived happily ever after. In reality, it is not the same, every couple has their own set of difficulties and situations to go through. A relationship, a commitment requires a lot from both the people. It is important to maintain one’s individuality, their dreams, and passions along with your partner’s dream & passion.
The idea behind the story is, Love is important so is knowing yourself. It’s my protagonist Meera’s journey of finding herself.
While writing her somehow I fell in love with her & so proud, that in the journey of finding her purpose she did not lose her identity or her core nature.

LiFT: Why you chose this title?

Shradha: Well this title because there is still that belief, that once you find love in your life you do not require anything else. My characters too struggle with this notion that, now, finally when they have each other why are they falling apart?
The book revolves around this question, the myth & the hard reality that only Love is not enough.

LiFT: When did you realize that you want to be a writer and what’s your inspiration behind it?

Shradha: I have always wanted to be a writer. I have been writing poems & short stories since childhood but never had the courage to post them. Eventually my mother’s constant prodding & convincing powers worked. Here I am, author of 4 published books.

Also there is this quote from Toni Morrison “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” has always made an impact on me whenever I am writing.

LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?

Shradha: Honestly, my goal is to write at least 10 stories, where I can write about relationships as they are in reality and not the fairy-tale version. Beyond that I have not thought about it yet.
Going on my speed it takes almost 1 and half year for me to write & publish the novel. Calculating on that speed, I have six more to write, so here goes my nine years.
Remaining one year I would plan for a solo trip from the money earned.
In between, if any of my books gets the limelight with other famous authors present, it would be dream come true.

LiFT: How much do you think marketing or quality of a book is necessary to promote a particular book and increase its readers?

Shradha: Both marketing & quality plays an equal role. I believe marketing definitely helps in increasing your audience but to sustain them you need to deliver quality every and each time.

LiFT: What is the message you want to spread among folks with your writings?

Shradha: That nothing is impossible and every dream, passion is supposed to be followed.
If you believe in yourself, have confidence everything will eventually fall into place and it takes times for that to happen.

LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?

Shradha: I am Purchase head at the reputed pharma company.
Apart from this I am a teacher at Art of Living an NGO, where I teach people to meditate and smile.

LiFT: What are the activities you resort to when you face a writer’s block?

Shradha: I read, read and read lot of stories by different authors until I get my Mojo back.

LiFT: What if your story will be adopted as a movie? Whom would you want to work as a director or actors in it?

Shradha: Director – Shakun Batra or Rhea Kapoor or Zoya Akhtar.

Actors: Meera – Alia Bhatt & Himanshu – Aditiya Roy Kapoor

LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If yes, please tell us something about it.

Shradha: Oh Yes.
All I can say is it is something that we are asked to ignore or accept without complaints in our lives.

LiFT: What are your suggestions to the budding writers/poets so that they could improve their writing skills?

Shradha: The only suggestion I have is, to be always in touch with your feelings when writing.
If the story or poem has the ability to move you only then write, not to please the audience.
If you can read your own story or poem again and again only then write it, because if you can’t be a fan of your own work, how could you expect the same from others.

Click here to order Shradha’s Book – What Went Wrong

 

What went wrong

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