Writer, book lover, civil engineer, YouTuber, aspiring talk show host — not always all of them. Not always in order.
Hi there!
I’m Ana. I’m 28 years old and was born in a small town called Jorhat in Assam — a hilly Indian state nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. English is my fourth language, but somehow the love for the language is rooted deep in my heart.
When I was young, my friends had dreams of becoming astronauts, movie stars, or pilots. I always wanted to be a writer.
There wasn’t even a single doubt in my head. It was my one true love.
I wrote my first poem when I was only four-years-old. When I was ten…
Habits for Smart Writers
This is how I got on a writing streak of 2,000+ words daily for seven straight months (but the word count is not the point).
Since March, I’ve been on a writing streak. I spent the first two months of self-isolation working on my novel and finished the first draft (87,000+ words). I was also writing a few articles here and there, but then, once my novel was complete, I started writing one article daily.
Aside from the blog posts, I was also writing regular newsletters and working on my upcoming collection of short stories.
People from the Northeast are as much Indians as the people from the rest of the country
I was born in Assam — a state in the northeastern part of India. Aside from Assam, there are six other states in this region — Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura — that are collectively known as “the Seven Sisters.”
Ethnically, the people from the northeastern part of the country have different features from the people in the mainland. We have fairer skin, straight hair, more slender build, and epicanthic folds in our eyes. As the book North-East India: Land, People and Economy makes clear:
“While the original settlers were the Mongoloids, the Indo-Aryan and other groups…
And why you should read them.
Books make for lovely presents, no matter what the occasion is.
But if you’re not an avid reader, it’s hard to pick a book that you’re sure the other person will love.
There are some “usual suspects” that most people often gift (Sapiens, Ikigai, etc. among the most commonly gifted books).
When you pick a widely recommended book, you can be safe because at least the book is good. But you always run the risk of the other person having already read it.
And that’s where this article comes in, dear friend. I’ve compiled a list of the three books…
How ‘Own it babe’ Rini Frey changed my perspective towards my body.
When I looked into the mirror this morning, the first thing that came to my mind was —
I look too flabby in this outfit. I need to tuck in my tummy while posing for pictures.
Just then, I got a text from my friend Anjali.
I’d asked her to upload the pictures of us from last night’s party. But she refused to share them. When I insisted, she said her tummy might be too visible in them and she was feeling insecure.
This made me think — Why are we doing this to ourselves?
Who gets to define what…
Sharing the behind-the-scenes of my first viral post on LinkedIn.
If you still think about LinkedIn as that strange old platform where random people from work endorse you for Microsoft Word skills, you’re missing out on a world of amazing opportunities.
LinkedIn has 740 million members and almost half of its users earn upwards of $75,000 a year. This translates to double the buying power of a typical web audience, making LinkedIn filled with huge potential, especially for writers and online entrepreneurs.
I’ve only started being active on LinkedIn since January 2021 after watching the brilliant talk by Tara Fitness ⭐️at Momentum 2021. But in the nine months since, I’ve…
People may consider introversion as a weakness, but what if you leveraged the power of being an introvert?
I’ve always been an introvert.
I never liked attending parties or college fests. Even if I did, you’d find me sitting in a corner, away from the crowd, either observing everything that’s going on, or deep in conversation with a few close friends.
Big crowds get me so exhausted, it takes me at least a week to recharge myself.
My friends sometimes try to get me to join the “fun”. But to be honest, I never understood the appeal of mindlessly dancing to loud music, or making small talk in big crowds.
If you’re an introvert, you might relate to…
These books taught me self-love and helped me understand my own worth.
Social media portrays self-love as face masks, bubble baths, and taking holidays in exotic locations.
But in truth, self-love is much more than that. It is acknowledging uncomfortable truths about yourself and loving yourself just the same.
It is knowing you’re not perfect but giving yourself the space to make mistakes.
It is drawing boundaries to take care of your mental health, even if it means hurting the people you love.
Self-love is a nuanced mistress, and if you treat her well, she’ll light up your life.
But that’s the thing about self-love. It’s not always easy.
And that’s where…
5 days of life-changing sessions broken down in 5 minutes for you.
Life as a full-time writer is hard.
There are times when I lie awake until 2 AM, wondering if I’m doing justice to my life. The fact that there are people decades younger than me earning 10x more than I do make me wonder if I made a mistake by quitting my full-time job.
The incessant posts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter celebrating success don’t help. Sometimes, I get sucked deep into the abyss of comparing my achievements with people who are ahead of me. Before I know it, I start questioning my potential and second-guessing my life choices.
And a quick premise of each book in 3-4 lines.
I read my first full-length novel when I was ten (one of Enid Blyton’s Five Find-Outers and the Dog).
After that, I was bitten by the book-lover bug and haven’t looked back since. I’ve read more than 800 books in my life, but when I look back, some stand out more than others. Of the ones that stand out, some do because of the outstanding plot, others for the beautiful language, and yet others for how they made me feel or what they taught me.
In this article, I’ve listed my 15 favorite fiction books of all time. …
