Today we’d like to introduce you to Aarav Bhatt.
Aarav, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have been an avid reader since a very young age. I don’t remember exactly, but my mom says that I started reading at the age of three and a half. Whenever there is available time during the day, I just grab a book. On weekends I usually start my day with reading. I constantly look for new books to read, and my favorite place to get books is the Irving Public Library. I also have a small library of my own at home that I now share with my little sister. Since I already mentioned about her, I would like to share that my little sister actually happens to be the inspiration of my book “Sibling Stories… from a Brother”. I got the idea of writing my first book in summer 2020 when most of us were home due to the Pandemic. Library visits were on hold, schools were closed and I had exhausted my collection of books to a point that I had touched each and every book many times. My long-time cherished thought of writing my own book came to my mind again and that is how it all began.
It was summertime and having the whole family home, we used to browse through our old family pictures and recall the moments a lot. My sister used to have tons of questions… what, where was I there and what did I do? Those conversations, memories and funny moments shared between us inspired me to write short stories on this special sibling bond. My book ‘Sibling Stories… from a brother got published in November 2020 and is now available on amazon.com. The book celebrates the unique sibling connection allowing the kids to relate their own adventures they have shared or will be sharing along their journey of life. Not to Miss: This book is dedicated for children and all the proceeds from this book will go towards Pandemic COVID-19 Relief for now and in foreseeable future for children welfare around the world-In Food, Health and Education.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No success is without any challenges. Being a first-time author, every step of this process was new to me but having a mentor by my side helped me a lot. Writing an essay or a story is very different from book writing. Writing a book requires a lot more dedication, motivation and patience than I thought. One of the challenges that I faced was getting the content ready, how much is enough to say I am making progress. Setting a word count goal per day played a huge part in making the writing process effective. One other challenge was keeping myself motivated to finish the book. We overcame it by setting small goals instead of one big goal and did a small celebration or got a treat once the small goals were met. In early conversations with my family about this book, my parents had told me that once I publish my book, we will be donating part of the proceeds towards the Pandemic Relief and later towards Children Welfare. So, whenever I felt distracted, I used to constantly remind myself that this wasn’t just about becoming an author and famous, it was to help towards a noble cause.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a 4th-grade student at La Villita Elementary School, Irving, TX. Apart from writing books, I enjoy playing piano, chess and soccer. I feel proud that I was able to publish a book and so far, I have got good responses from my readers. Currently, I am working on my 2nd book and planning to publish it by the end of 2021.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I feel I have learnt a lot by being a first-time author. The most important thing is to ‘Never give up.’ There are times when one feels this isn’t working as I had expected and tend to give up, which is the easiest thing to do. When you don’t give up and finally hit the finish line, the joy that you get is immense. Another thing I learnt is ‘Inspiration can be found anywhere’. When I started writing and was looking for the main idea, I never thought I would find the inspiration for my book with my own little sister. So, being open is very important.
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