Tag Archives: self-help

Advance Reader Copy: How I Tamed the Dragon Named Fear

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I am ready with the first draft of my second ebook, titled How I Tamed the Dragon Named Fear! It is a non-fiction self-help book with an autobiographical element. The theme is fear and how we can handle it.

Before I embark on another round of edit of the book, I thought it would be best to get some feedback. I want to understand if the book is working the way I want it to – and what better way than actually have some people read it!

Hence, I will be giving out Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of the book next Monday (Dec 19). An ARC is not necessarily the final version of the book that will get published. The idea behind ARCs is to get a feel of the reader’s reaction to the book and based on the feedback, make additional changes. I hope with the feedback that I will get through the ARCs, I will be able to make some important changes.

So if you’re interested and would like a copy, please let me know in the form below. In the comment, please mention the following:

  • why are you interested in reading this book?
  • the preferred format in which you’d like the book (pdf/epub)
  • the date by when you will be able to share your feedback with me

Look forward to your hearing from you!

 

Finished the first draft!

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After a really long time, I have gotten around to finish a WIP, which I can safely call a rough first draft. For those of you who do not know, I published my first book of fiction in June, 2015. It took me close to 15 months to get the first draft of my second book out. But well, finally it’s done. I just emailed it to a couple of friends for review, post which I will be doing another round of edit.

The book is currently titled How I tamed the dragon named fear. It is a non-fiction piece with an autobiographical element. The theme, as might be self-explanatory from the title, is fear and how to handle it. As an individual, I have struggled with fear and anxiety for a long time. Last year, before I came to Bangalore I was a wreck at the thought of living so far away from my family. It was then the idea to keep a fear journal came to me. I started writing down the things that made me anxious and trying to find solutions for them. In the process of doing so, I realized I could share it with a larger audience.

I am really excited about this book for two reasons:

  • This is my first venture into non-fiction
  • Through this book, I actually tried to address a problem that I have faced for a long time and I am excited to see if my experience helps others

I am planning to do a February, 2017 release, even though I still have to narrow down the final date. I think it will depend on the kind of feedback I receive from my beta readers. I need to know if the book is actually working in the way I want it to.

Meanwhile, I am going to utilize December to chalk out promotional strategies and other things that go with publishing a book. Do let me know if you have some tips for me for the book promotions.

Time for me to cook myself some dinner and jump in joy! After all, it’s not everyday that you finish a book! What say?

 

Researching for my next book

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As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I am working on a non-fiction self-help guide for my second book. The topic of the book is fear – how I have grown with fears and insecurities and overcome them little by little. The idea is to share my personal journey with the hope that it shall be helpful for a few out there who have been negatively affected by fear all their lives.

If you are one of those people, please take some time to fill out this survey. I am trying to understand how fear affects each one of us through this. Your responses will greatly help me in doing that. Note that your responses may be used in the book. Also, please feel free to share the survey with anyone you think might find it relevant.

Thanks!

What scares you?

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This July, I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. I am trying to complete a short non-fiction book that I had started last September.  The book is titled How I tamed the dragon named Fear? 

As you can guess from the title of the book, it is about Fear. I have always been a timid person. I have been afraid of snakes, of people, of social situations, of examinations, of leaving my family behind and countless other things. There have been very few days in my life when I have woken up in the morning and felt really confident, to take the world in my stride.

Fortunately, my situation has improved over time. Over time, I have grown less and less afraid. I still don’t claim to be the bravest person in the whole wide world. I still wouldn’t watch Conjuring 2 even if you paid me to do so. But I have become more comfortable in my skin, and better prepared to deal with fear and the emotions that are associated with being afraid. I felt that if I could write my experiences down, it might become a nice self-help guide.

HITTDNF is going to be very small non-fiction, full of examples from my own life. It is also my first experience at writing personal essays. I am enjoying this different writing experience. As part of research for this book, I want to know more and more about Fear. I want to know how this Fear is experienced by others, how much Fear controls the way we behave and if we can ever really become completely fearless.

I would love if you guys can start a discussion in the Comments below regarding your thoughts on Fear. Share with me situations in which you have been utterly paralyzed by Fear. How did the situation end? Have you learnt anything from that experience? If that situation were to repeat, would be feel as afraid? I am looking forward to your responses. You shall be helping me with my book as well by participating in this discussion, so TYPE ON!

 

How do you handle Fear?

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I have been in some difficult situations in the past few days. Today morning, I found my Googling ‘How to deal with fear?’

In retrospect, I realized I have been afraid all my life. Of course, like most things, the phobia has its origins in my childhood. My father was (and is) a strict parent. Suppose, my brother and I were playing and we accidentally broke anything, I kept worrying through the day how father would admonish when he came to learnt about it.

In school, I have always been the model student, trying hard not to break any rules. I was only once punished by my fifth grade English teacher for not doing the homework. Years of abiding by rules has created this image of me: I am seen as a ‘good’ girl, and even after I finished school, I found that was the image I was constantly trying to fit in. I wouldn’t get into arguments with anyone except my immediate family. That is not to say I do not feel angry when someone says or does something bad to me, but when the bad thing happens, I would avoid it but saying to the perpetrator on the face. Afterwards, I will be feeling bad and fuming inside, trying to confide in the people who care about my side of the story. In every bad situation, I have an inherent trait to feel like a victim.

I am not saying arguments are good. In fact, as Dale Carnegie said, “You can’t win an argument.” I do believe it is true. But then again, not saying my side of the story to the person who drags me through mud makes me feel extremely bad about myself – like I can not protect myself. It makes me feel vulnerable. Because I am not used to being in arguments, I would stop short of saying anything even when I know I am more right than the other person, because I am scared that the other person will bring up some logic that I will not be able to refute (people do crazy things when they are in arguments, they lie and manipulate and you can never argue with a liar and a manipulator without yourself being one). I am not very imaginative (which is why most of my stories are reflections of my own life), and that is also why I am not a good liar. At the same time, when I stay silent, I feel disgusted when I imagine the other person is thinking me weak, because I said nothing. When you trash someone and that person does not revert, don’t you feel you have the upper hand in the situation?

But as I see more and more of the world, I feel that whatever I was taught in school is failing miserably in the school of life. When you are small, you believe there is justice. But the more I see of this world, I realize, justice is a concept and not a practice. And so, my fear of humiliating myself continues, because every time a bad thing happens, my first instinct is, “I can’t handle this.” I think I fear humiliation more than I fear Death. In other words, I fear people (and what they might do) more than I fear isolation.

What are you afraid of? Do you think we can ever get rid of every fear that we have and be strong? How do you handle your fears? What tips do you have for me? Share your thoughts in the comments below.