Gauri Shukla, a dynamic third-year literature student, often describes herself as a wandering cloud that romances with the sky, lost yet free. Diving into her debut book, “Lost in my Labyrinth”, feels like falling into a deep sea with nothing but an anchor (in this case, the author) for your support. It is a book full of emotions and passion of the writer. Her writings stir up your heart and make you look for warmth and at the same time, it calms the ongoing chaos of the mind. I had the opportunity to interview her and know more about her as an individual as well as a budding writer.
After speaking to her, I got to know a lot more things regarding her book, the process and the world she resides in. She told me that she has been enthusiastic about reading ever since she was a kid. She loves and envies the writers who just “submerge you in them”. She wishes to be a writer who moves people's hearts, who makes them ponder on the situations, the gap between the circumstances and luxury, and the different dimensions of the rat race world. She views the world with a vast lens where everyone is spilling words as they walk by, red threads just connecting and getting severed, trees fluttering, how a single drop of rain melts away the exhaustion of the heart and how the shadow always lurks in the brightest places.
"and what is death but the distance between two breaths."
Gauri reveals how the book came to existence after she attended a creative writing internship. In the internship, her mentor asked us to write four pieces. She wrote a satire, a Japanese horror story, a poem and an essay. This was the first step that she took, albeit unknowingly. After a week, she gets a call from her mentor asking her to publish her work and having been given an opportunity, she took it and now we have her debut book with four of her stunning pieces.
Of course, when we step onto burning coal for a reward, we go through various pains and writing a book is no less. It makes you go through the pressure of deadlines, the anxiety of public opinion and most importantly stepping into a room full of eyes. The book contains two poems, one letter and one short story. These pieces made me feel various emotions, from sadness to relief to happiness but every good piece comes with its struggle and most commonly known in the world of writers, the writer's block. Like every writer, Gauri also felt writer’s block but her method to come out of it made me feel motivated as well. Whenever she faces the block she remembers a quote by Ernest Hemingway that goes, “But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there.”
The book was received with a lot of love and positive reviews from the reader. The use of words, the imagery and the way it connects with the readers were incredible and admiringly appreciated. I feel elated to be able to interview a wandering cloud paving a road towards an exciting future. If you would like to read the full transcribed interview, tap here. And, if you haven't had the chance to read the book yet, tap here to place an order.
Ekta Singh
Editorial Board
Redstockings Literary Society
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