Mr Ujwal Shankar is a Working Professional from India, with over fourteen years of demonstrated service industry experience. Skilled in People Management with a bachelor’s degree from Symbiosis Law School Pune and a master’s degree from the Institute of Rural Management Anand ( IRMA Anand). He is currently Pursuing Doctoral Studies in Human Resources Area from Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Jamshedpur.
- Where are you from?
I belong to the state of Jharkhand in India.
- Why do you write?
Writing for me is a plunge into creativity. I also feel good, productive and engaged when I write.
- What do you write about?
I mainly write about my insights drawn from my observations of world around. Many of my writings involve the concepts of attitude, values and beliefs, while relating it with other psychological constructs including wellbeing.
- Do you have a specific writing style?
When I write, I tend to go by the impact of words and their placements , rather than rules of grammar ; so there is always a struggle between being creative , or being grammatically correct.
- What are obstacles that come in the way of writing?
I tend to be perfectionist ; and end up discarding what I write for most of my time.
- Whats the most memorable thing asked/said by a reader about your work?
A reader messaged that felt that she fell in love with me when she read my book ; knowing that I am married, she wished I had written the book earlier
- How long have you been writing?
I have been writing since a decade, but my work never got published, and never saw light of the day as I always ended up in discarding what I wrote for lack of perfection.
- When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?
Around 14 years back, my lady boss at that time, commented that instead of being banker ( I was working in Private Bank in India) , I should have been a scriptwriter, as I had a fascinating way to narrate events. This was when I became conscious that all my narrations used to be more lucid, mainly because of my keen observations of surroundings and people involved in an event.
- What is your work schedule like when you are writing?
In my case, when I start to write, I tend to do it continuously for 4-5 days, and then I take a break of 10-15 days to focus on my other works. When I start to write, I forget everything else, and time just stops. Sleep is the only break which forces me to stop momentarily. However, I am more productive for 5-6 hours till after I wake up.
- What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I loathe to follow set rules when it comes to expressing myself through writing. Many a times I am misunderstood for wrongly constructing sentences, but , instead, I just omit to follow the rules to make the words more impactful at right places.
- How long does it take to write a book? (if you’ve written one -published or non)
My experience has been, that when one writes from ones experiences, than many years of observations are needed before someone can write a book based on that. For my current book, I spent years observing and studying people and situations. However, once I decided to write, I wrote 20% in 4 months, and then rest 80% in 2 months.
- Do you have suggestions on how to become a better writer?
Writing is an expression of how we look at world. A good writer has to develop both skills, i.e. – how they perceive the world more minutely than others, and how they are able to put it into words.
- What challenges do you come across when writing/creating your story?
In the beginning, all ideas look great, after one day, all ideas appear rubbish.
- What do you think makes a good story?
A good story is one which can inspire people, and to which people can relate to.
- What does your family think of your writing?
They have been telling me for years that I should write!
- Do you see writing as a career?
Definitely, but it’s more like a hobby for me than work.
- Do you have anything specific you’d like to tell the readers?
My experiences do not come from success, they come from failure. Same gets reflected in my writing, I write for people who face obstacles, but want to overcome it. I write, because I want my experience from failures, to help other succeed, by not committing the mistakes I committed.
- When did you first consider yourself a writer?
To be true, I wrote my autobiography as a part of submission in a course titled “Managerial Competency and Career Development” during my second year PhD. Credit goes to Prof Premrajan, who in a way forced me to write my own autobiography in days, which my lazy self would have taken years. Since it was an academic submission, unlike my other works, I could not just throw it in garbage for being not perfect. It was when I submitted it, I realized that maybe I need to move further with my writing.
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