We recently connected with Anju Gattani and have shared our conversation below.
Anju, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I honestly feel like my purpose found me.
I’ve been writing and published for over 30 years, as an international freelance journalist, a newspaper reporter and fiction author. When pen hit paper at the age of nine, and I saw my work (drawing of a panda followed by a four-line poem) published in Hong Kong’s leading English language newspaper, South China Morning Post, I felt like I was heard. I’m not saying that I wasn’t, by the way. My parents, incredible people, raised me and my two sisters with all the love and confidence in colonial Hong Kong, but I was extremely shy and quiet in social settings. Being able to voice my thoughts at that age affirmed I was heard and seen. As the writing bug bit harder over the years, I filled diaries with poems, finaled in essay competitions and then morphed into a freelance journalist. I learned the value of the story behind the story—stories shared off the record. The struggles and triumphs of people in the roles they played as parents, caregivers, working professionals and the obstacles they encountered and overcame. These stories sat in my subconscious like seeds and traveled with me as I raised my 2 wonderful children. Some of them spilled in various facets of my writing.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
A multi-award nominated fiction author, I’m proud to share the Winds Of Fire Series: One woman’s journey in modern day India against all odds toward justice and self-empowerment.
Book 1, ‘Dynasties’ is a proud 2023 Georgia Author Of the Year Nominee, finalist for several awards and was an International Book Of The Month Pick by the International Pulpwood Queens & Timber Guys Book Club Reading Nation. Book 2, ‘Once And For All’ is also an International Book Of The Month Pick by the same fabulous book club and ranked as a bestselling new release on Amazon across several categories when it launched, Jan 2024.
What began as a story in 2001 has grown into a series of books and it’s been exciting to create, write and develop the characters as the story unfolds. My first drafts are handwritten, and the words literally bleed on the page as the story unravels. I end up delving into a lot of research which also means reaching out to and connecting with advisors and professional experts in various industries. Feedback from trusted beta-readers is also crucial to help navigate my inner GPS on the story’s development and edits which could easily be followed by several rounds of rewrites, revisions and proof-reads until I have a polished manuscript. The journey of creating and writing is one-half of the excitement, the other half of refining, revising and filtering the story and characters down to a tee is a ride like no other! I love every part of the process and that’s crucial to any artistic endeavor.
I write books to Bridge Cultures and Break Barriers and address an array of themes in my project from advocating for mental health, raising awareness of domestic violence and abuse, to exploring issues of families, relationships, economic disparities, parenting, identity crisis and more…
I continue to work on future books in the series and would love for readers to subscribe to my newsletter via my website so I can share sneak peeks and we can stay connected.
I love to chat with book clubs in person, via Zoom and other streaming sources and would love to participate in any book-related and book club events. Please contact me via my website’s ‘Contact Anju’ page. https://www.anjugattani.com/contact-anju/
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
With any creative pursuit, whether it’s a hobby or profession, patience, perseverance and determination with a strong pinch of thick skin to handle critique and feedback are keys to a successful journey. There are going to be highs and lows in your pursuit, but extract the information you need to push forward, filter the relevant from the irrelevant and find your tribe. After having been published for 10 years without having met another freelance writer, I was ecstatic to finally meet a room full of professional writers. These wonderful people became my tribe and my tribe continues to grow and give me a sense of acceptance and belonging. The definition of success varies for each artist and because any form of art is such a subjective field, you need to find what gives you, the artist, happiness and peace with your work.
Don’t give up.
Don’t lose hope.
No matter what medium you choose to tell your story on canvas.
Only you can tell your story the way it must be told.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
‘Mirage’ by Soheir Khashoggi was an eye-opener. I read that book in the late 1990s and realized that stories of diversity, color and the unique human experiences can be told and sold to mainstream audiences. With novel-length fiction, characters are key (as with all writing) and the pillars that uphold a project. However, fleshing out complex characters was a major obstacle in my writing journey. ‘The Art of Character’ and ‘The Compass of Character’ by award-winning author, David Corbett was the key (two of many) that taught, supported and helped me in my pursuit to nail the novels in the Winds of Fire series.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anjugattani.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anju_gattani27/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anju.Gattani.Author/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anju_Gattani
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@anjugattani5263
Image Credits
Author Photo: Daryl O’Hare Photography
