Meghana Pawar Kiran Manral, a vibrant personality who has been embellished with noteworthy skill sets to flaunt! A boss lady who is an over-achiever and an award-winning persona but is a super humble soul. I am so honored to have met her in person and now, be able to have her onboard for my #CelebratingWomen series!
Kiran Manral is the Author of seven popular books! Her blogs were on Labnol’s list of India’s top blogs. Her parenting blog, www.karmickids.blogspot.com was ranked among the top 5 parenting blogs in the country by Blogadda. The lady has been a former journalist with The Asian Age and The Times of India. Kiran currently writes a column on feminism at SheThePeople.tv, and has been a columnist on sexuality at DNA, on gender issues with Tehelka, and on parenting at yowoto.com. Kiran Manral has been a part of several volunteer initiatives and, was a part of the core founding team of Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Month and Violence Against Women Awareness. She was awarded the Women Achievers Award by Young Environmentalists Association in 2014, and the WOW Award in 2016. She was among the six authors shortlisted for the Femina Women Awards for Literary Contribution in 2017.
Let us dive straight in the Q and A and learn a thing or two from the woman herself!
Tell us more about your journey, how did you begin writing and blogging?
- I think I’ve always been writing. I would write short stories and poems as a child, and then I got into advertising as a copywriter and then into journalism as a feature writer. I quit full-time work when I had my son, and that’s when I began blogging. After around eight years of blogging, I wrote my first book.
How to you balance work and personal life, considering so much is going on?
- With great difficulty. I am a hopeless home keeper and am lucky that I have my mother in law who micromanages the home. That really clears up a lot of time to work. But I must confess, home and family do get neglected quite a bit and I do have immense guilt pangs about it.
You are a remarkable speaker. Any tips for the amateurs?
- Thank you. I don’t have any tips as such, except perhaps stick to topics you are comfortable with and subjects you know. Look for friendly faces in the crowd and speak to them and meditate a bit before going up to speak.
Your personal mantra for happiness?
- This too will pass. Nothing is permanent, good or bad. So just get through each day with kindness and grace.
How can aspiring authors decide whether to opt for the regular publishing system or self-publish their work?
- Well, that completely depends on individual books and circumstances. If you aren’t willing to wait the time it takes to go through the publisher route, you could always self-publish. Some of our most successful authors today have begun by self-publishing.
Is copyrighting the book necessary before the publishing process?
- Yes. Absolutely.
There are many writers who aspire to become an author someday, what is the one thing that you would like to share with them?
- Read a lot. Write a lot. Read a million times more than you read.
What’s next in store for your readers?
- Well, I’m still writing. Hopefully, this will result in something worth publishing, but then one never knows whether something is really worth it until one is done with it. Till then, everything is uncertain and tormenting, and hopeless. And perhaps even after one is done with it and it is out in print. I hope my readers are kind and stay with me.
Any special message for the readers of my blog?
- A. Never give up on your dreams. I published my first book when I was forty. It’s never too late to do what you really want to.
Kiran Manral’s Books:
- The Reluctant Detective (Westland 2011)
- Once Upon A Crush (Leadstart 2014)
- All Aboard (Penguin 2015),
- Karmic Kids-The Story of Parenting Nobody Told You (Hay House 2015)
- The Face at the Window (Amaryllis 2016)
- A Boy’s Guide to Growing Up (Juggernaut 2016)
- Saving Maya (Readify 2017)
- Her short stories include Switcheroo (Juggernaut 2016) and True Love Stories (Juggernaut 2017)
You can get them on Amazon at discounted rates: Author Kiran Manral Books
