CHENNAI: There is a common perception that to be a writer, one should read books first. Meenakshi Jaiganesh is all about breaking this stereotype. With his first book set to be released earlier next month, the author talks about his book and more with City Express.
“I’m not an avid reader. In fact, I fall asleep if someone asks me to read a book,” says Jaiganesh. He faced a lot of criticisms and questions when he decided to publish his stories. Not being a voracious reader himself, he doubted his writing skills. “With a lot of encouragement from my colleagues and family, I just decided to publish the book.”
His book, Anecdotes To Kill Time, is a compilation of six short stories — One Night, First Love, Red Carpet, An Interview, An Angel, and Dropouts — that portray various shades of love. He claims that his stories end in an unpredictable way. “I’ve deliberately written it in such a way that you may think you know how it ends but it would end differently,” he says.
He didn’t start writing until he began working in TCS when he was benched for two months. “That’s when I started writing to vent my frustration.”
He published his first short story ‘An Interview’ on a social networking site for TCS employees, Knome. After a year, the IT professional resumed writing when he felt incomplete without it, by then he was working in HCL. “My colleagues and boss were so encouraging that they kept pushing me to write.
When I decided to compile it into a book, one of my colleagues actually offered to edit the copy,” he says.
Every budding author has gone through the phase of finding the right publisher. Jaiganesh was no different. “Once I decided to compile all my stories, I needed to find a publisher. I was about to give up when I came across Notion Press in Facebook,” he says.
Jaiganesh found himself getting good ideas for stories mostly after midnight or early morning. He found his inspiration in his own life and also from those surrounding him. What are his plans for the future? “I’m working on my second book, a novel.”
Anecdote To Kill Time is available for pre-order in Amazon till January 9, after which it will be available in other e-commerce websites and as e-books.