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I was thinking about a reluctant superhero, an X-men like character who wouldn’t use their powers. And why? That question led me down a rabbit hole, and I ended up with this story.
A version of this story was published in the journal Whiplash. But once the rights reverted back to me, I started tinkering with it again. Finally, I released it on Kindle in 2021.
It went on to be the bestseller on the Amazon Kindle store in the science fiction section. The story has had quite a journey and through it all, it taught me so much about writing, and even publishing and book marketing.
One Dream Is Not Enough
In 2019, Mr. Badri Baldawa, the first Indian to visit the North Pole, requested me to co-write his biography. He had attempted it himself, but kept falling short of words and structure. Enter me. I was young(er) then, and I told him I’d write his biography in 6 months. Turns out, it took me 6 months just to write the first draft and almost a year after to edit it. Come December of 2020, I finally sent him the completed manuscript. Writing a book in someone else’s voice has taught me so, so much.
It was published on 10th September, 2021.
Hack Into Your Creativity
When Michael Burns, a friend and mentor, asked me to help with a book he was working on, I instantly agreed. He was writing a book which compiled thousands of writing prompts—prompts for writers to use—to get them writing. Writing is my first love and it’s always a joy to help others discover writing too. I drafted these prompts while I was on a trek through Ladhak. It was a fun project and kept me writing through the mountains.
This one is quite special—it was the first time any of my words appeared in a book.
Movies
The Autobiography of a Dictionary was the first story I’d ever written way back in school. Once I decided to follow my path as a writer, I rewrote this story and it was published in an online journal called Your Story Club. Eventually, a director from the Bahamas, Vijay Subramanian, reached out and asked whether he could convert my story into a short film. I readily agreed. Two years later, he made the film. And it has been a huge success. You can watch it below for free.
It’s almost funny, but just when Vijay was finishing the audio work on his film, another director, Shifas Sharaf from Bangalore reached out. He wanted to make a short film on the same story, but in Malayalam. I was quite curious to see how another person might interpret my story and how it will translate to a different language. I gave him a go-ahead and they made the movie, now called Bio. My curiosity was sated, both the films are completely distinct. The Malayalam version has such a dark tone to the whole story, I love it. You can watch it below for free.
Publication History
Short Stories
- An Act of Kindness to be published in The Written Circle’s anthology. [December 2021] [Second prize winning story in The Written Circle’s Short Story Prize]
- Anomalies to be published in Bluegraph Press. [2023]
- Message from Mars published in The Meraki Magazine. [February 2020]
- The Box published in Chaicopy Volume 3 Issue 1 Yours Truly. [March 2019]
- Home published in Whiplash. [December 2018] [Now an ebook on Kindle]
- Autobiography of a Dictionary republished in Futura Magazine. [April 2014]
- Autobiography of a Dictionary published in Your Story Club. [Editor’s choice]
Self-Published Short Stories
- Time in a Bottle published in the Coffeelicious. [Januray 2021]
- Halloween published in the Coffeelicious. [October 2017]
- Tea Time published in the Coffeelicious. [July 2017]
- 7 Extreme Ways to Become the World’s Best Writer published in the Coffeelicious. [May 2017]
- The Handover published in the Coffeelicious. [January 2017]
- #Pencomics published in the Coffeelicious. [April 2016]
- Age of Text published in the Coffeelicious. [December 2015]
- Make a Wish published in the Coffeelicious. [June 2015]
- Truth in a Lie published in the Coffeelicious. [March 2015]
- A Tale of Years published in the Coffeelicious. [December 2014]
- Hell Hound published in the Coffeelicious. [October 2014]
Personal Narratives
- About Me — Akshay Gajria published in About Me Stories. [August 2022]
- For my Readers. [September 2021]
- Health(ier) Standards [August 2021]
- The Magic Potion. [June 2021]
- Why I Decided To Go Bald. [February 2021]
- On the days I can’t write…. [November 2020]
- The Child in Me. [September 2020]
- Meeting Sirius. [March 2020]
- Avoir l’Esprit d’Escalier. [October 2019]
- Home: Then and Now. [December 2017]
- Death of the Bookstores. [December 2017]
- Fragmented Memories. [November 2017]
- A Writer’s Thoughts in his Moment of Plight. [October 2017]
- Islands of No Rain. [October 2017]
- Birthday Blues. [September 2017]
- Back to Basics. [September 2017]
- Writing on Those In-Between Days. [January 2016]
- Writing by Hand. [August 2015]
- The Mother. [August 2015]
- Last Point in a Bucket List. [May 2015]
- Some Tea Lovin’. [March 2014]
- A Tale of Two Coffees. [March 2014]
On Writing
- My New Secret Power: Effie published in The Writing Cooperative. [September 2022]
- Armour Up: How to Protect Your Writing Time published in The Writing Cooperative. [August 2022]
- Build Your Writing Stamina published in The Writing Cooperative. [June 2022]
- Please Do Not Write a Book published in The Writing Cooperative. [April 2022]
- Show up for Your Writing published in The Book Mechanic. [November 2021]
- Adventures in Self-Publishing published in The Book Mechanic. [August 2021]
- Why Do We Write published in Storymaker. [July 2021]
- Re-reading published in the Coffeelicious. [August 2020]
- Self-Editing Your Second Draft published in the Book Mechanic. [April 2020]
- A Note on Editors published in the Coffeelicious. [February 2020]
- Finding my Voice published in the Coffeelicious. [November 2019]
- Headspace published in the Writing Cooperative. [January 2018]
- Don’t be a Writer published in the Writing Cooperative. [January 2018]
- My Writing Time published in the Coffeelicious. [November 2017]
- Whom Do You Write For? published in the Writing Cooperative. [October 2017]
- An Editor’s Confessions published in the Coffeelicious. [July 2016]
- Thriving on Rejection. [November 2015]
- Why Do I Write? published in In Your Own Words. [March 2014]
Writing Experiments
- Books and Broken Hearts published in the Coffeelicious. [October 2021]
- A Dollop of Nonsense published in Storymaker. [October 2020]
- What We Hold On To published in the Coffeelicious. [October 2018]
- Mental Landscapes published in the Coffeelicious. [August 2018]
- Parenting 101 For Serial Killers published in the Coffeelicious. [June 2016]
- An Experiment published in the Coffeelicious. [August 2015]
- The Silence published in the Coffeelicious. [November 2014]
Technology
- A Writer’s Studio Setup published in Mac O’Clock. [March 2022]
- iPad Air 5 or iPad Pro 11”? published in Mac O’Clock. [March 2022]
- Who is the Studio Display For? published in Mac O’Clock. [March 2022]
- Using Apple Watch Series 2 in 2022 published in Mac O’Clock. [February 2022]
- Best Text Editing Keyboard Shortcuts for iPad published in Mac O’Clock. [February 2022]
- This Accessory Will Take Your iPad Setup to the Next Level published in Mac O’Clock. [January 2022]
- I was wrong about iPhone 13 published in Mac O’Clock. [December 2021]
- The Magic Keyboard for the iPad: A Writer’s Review published in Mac O’Clock. [November 2021]
- The New MacBook Pros are Great published in Mac O’Clock. [October 2021]
- iPad Mini is a Gap Filling Device published in Mac O’Clock. [September 2021]
- I’m Sticking to my iPhone 12 published in Mac O’Clock. [September 2021]
- How to Download Kindle E-books on an iPhone published in Mac O’Clock. [August 2021]
- The Magic Ingredient in my iPad Pro Setup published in Technology Hits. [July 2021]
- Is iPadOS 15 really a Disappointment? published in Mac O’Clock. [June 2021]
- WWDC21: 9 Exciting Little Features in iPadOS 15 published in Mac O’Clock. [June 2021]
- My iPadOS 15 Wishlist published in Mac O’Clock. [May 2021]
- Should the iPad Pro run MacOS? published in Mac O’Clock. [May 2021]
- The Apple TV is a Land of Missed Opportunities published in Mac O’Clock. [May 2021]
- I have a crush on the new iMac published in Mac O’Clock. [April 2021]
- iPad Pro 2021 — The Future of iPad is Now published in Mac O’Clock. [April 2021]
- 5 Great Games on Apple Arcade published in Mac O’Clock. [April 2021]
- My Writing Workflow on an iPad published in Mac O’Clock. [March 2021]
- Get the most out of your iPhone published in Mac O’Clock. [February 2021]
- The Writer’s Computer published in Mac O’Clock. [January 2021]
- My Reluctant iPhone 12 Purchase published in Mac O’Clock. [December 2020]
- Thoughts on the HomePod Mini published in Mac O’Clock. [December 2020]
If any piece of my work or writing helped you, consider buying me a cup of tea. Or three. It’s up to you.
Akshay Gajria 