Chapter 1: I write because I must write

The moment I think 'This is for my book which is going to be published some day..' my hands shiver, mind goes blank and I keep starring at the notebook or computer screen for hours without achieving a single ,simple, sensible statement.

On the other hand, I can write seamlessly for hours when I know nobody is watching or no-one cares...Like right now..I know nobody is reading this blog. Perfect place to start my dream project!

Exactly why I am writing a book is still not clear to me, same as why am I living this life, or why was I born? I hope I find the answers to some of those questions while writing this book.

Why is writing a book my dream project, and is it really my dream project ? Will I be utterly depressed at the end of my life if I don't write a book?

No , I won't. Because book or no book, I know I write because I write. In the middle of a happening party in some club in Goa or Bangalore or Mumbai while everyone is chatting or dancing , I chose to pick up a pen and scribble a few lines on a tissue paper, or on the back of my ATM withdrawal slip or some other bill or I borrowed a page and a pen from the waiter to write down a few lines. I can tell you that got me a lot of attention from the boys. But no, that is not why I pulled that stunt.

I just naturally get these bouts of writing. I don't care where I am or with who I am, all I want to do is write. Sometimes I do that in the toilets, sometimes at Airports in the waiting area.

This will probably be the first book anyone wrote entirely using their mobile phone. It is not the most comfortable , neither the most formal ....But it definitely has become the most personal tool for communicating our deepest feelings. This is an experiment. And here are the conditions:

1. I will actually write a full length book using entirely mobile phone.
2. It must be written within 365 days I.e 1st of Jan 2019 till 31st of December 2019.
3. It must be published : atleast one copy must be in print and sold ( whether I feel I had anything of worth to say or not, it must be published!)

I shall add more rules if I feel like along the way. My book my rules!

One of the major reason I did not write a book all this time was because I wrote in english and it is not my mother tongue. Neither am I an english scholar. Not that I want to create material of great literary significance . But when it comes to English, a lot of people seem to have their expertise on the subject. They may not all be writers , but people definitely have an opinion about good and bad english. So a word of caution to readers here: if you want to read a book to enhance your language then you are not holding the right book. But if you consider english as a language to simply communicate and understand different people and what they think, or are curious about life in general, then maybe I could provide you with some entertainment value. Whether this will turn out to be a profound experience I do not know yet.

I wanted my first book to be a super hit. It was going to be a story laid out in three different time zones, in three different locations around the world and had countless number of characters. I wrote it for 6 months in a non linear style. Developed some of the characters, wrote some scenes in patches but I lost it somewhere in the chaos of my life. That is what always happens to me. I feel I have discovered a great story and suddenly my life takes an unexpected turn and bham! Story gone!

I sometimes wonder which is the real story of my life...The one I am struggling to write or the one which is written for me already.

So, in this great attempt to write the story and the book, I read several other books. I read books on writing well, on the art of story writing , on English language etc. I still have no clue about how to write a full length novel. Finally, I picked up a novel from the district library of Navelim "The fifth Heart" by Dan Simmons on the 1st of January 2019 and decided to use this book as a base or foundation with whose help I will write my great epic story. Why this book? Well I just picked it up randomly after spending a couple of hours in the library. And how do I plan to use this book to write my book?
Answer:  Moral support!