The first time it happened, my insides turned cold, my heart beat rapidly and I felt as if nothing good could ever happen to me again.
My first rejection, I remember it well. I was in a restaurant, having an elaborate lunch and I noticed a mail from the editor. After several months of nearly positive feedback, the editors had decided to dismiss my work. I had struggled to keep my expression unchanged while my insides cried.
Friends and well-wishers encouraged me. Keep trying. Do not dwell on the rejections. Remember publishers rejected best-sellers several times.
Every stage I thought the opportunity stopped with a rejection, new doors would open.
I continued to pursue with multiple genres of manuscripts. I worked on several ideas for children’s books and in parallel worked on romance novels, short stories and my journey of raising my twin boys.
During that phase when I was generating manuscript after manuscript, my senses would be on high alert and I would look for ideas in every situation. I remember feeling stressed some nights just working on my ideas in my head.
One day, a children’s publisher answered. They were willing to publish my work. At first, I could not believe them. I made them cross their heart several times and hounded them until they sent my contract. My books Mathematics, Fun, Facts and Fiction and Folk Tales from Around the World were published and finally, after several years of dreaming about this, I became an author.
I relaxed and decided to not stress myself knocking the proverbial doors of publishers but in a few months, the writing mojo reared its persistent head and I began to dream about being published as a mainstream writer.
I got published in three anthologies and my confidence rose. Editors would praise my ideas and the language and style of writing and my heart swelled with pride. However, I had a long wait until my anthology Wicked Temptations was published.
It is said that when it rains, it pours. Around the same time, my manuscript on parenting twins was accepted and my life was full. I went through embarrassing rewrites until the editor felt it was good enough to be published and thus, Double Trouble Double Fun! A Supermom’s Guide to Raising Twins was born. I, however, had learnt a few lessons in humility. I realized that no matter what an author believes, there is always a perspective that a reader or editor can lend. I began to see fresh interpretations of my narrative after every edit cycle which helped sharpen the story. I learnt to steer clear of my favourite words that I tend to repeat. Relentlessly, I rooted for the right word that expressed the concept and trimmed the spares.
My experience with the several genres and editors enriched my writing style. While it is easy to fall into the trap of taking the hyperbole in fiction, it is hard to lay bare the private moments in a memoir. At every stage I would take a step back and remind myself of the audience I am writing for and would compose my thoughts accordingly. I learnt to differentiate between showing and telling and to draw the fine line between over-explaining and under-communicating.
The book Double Trouble Double Fun! A Supermom’s Guide to Raising Twins is a collection of parenting insights in raising twins however the parenting theories are not restricted to them. I would urge all Supermoms and Superdads to read because at the end of the day, we are the same tribe. I have tried to make the book fun and easy to read, not one that puts one to sleep. I have given a perspective of a working mom in child-rearing and tried to keep my sense of humour evident in the writing.
The book therefore, is a true story with a generous element of masala fiction because normal is indeed boring. Below you can read the blurb of the book.
Blurb
Welcome to the world of thinking-on-the-feet parenting. A world where questions are answered and answers are questioned, where one day segues into another without a warning sign and where intense exhaustion co-exists with blissful happiness- the true signs of parenting.
Double Trouble Double Fun is Riti Prasad’s hilarious, realistic and tell-all chronicle of raising twins during their early childhood. She delivers an irreverent insider’s account of parenting through a decade that has seen the best and the worst of parenting theories, the boom of internet moms, the battle between working and stay-at-home moms as well as other parenting after-shocks.
In her thought-provoking memoir, she questions accepted parenting norms and expectations, struggles to come to terms with the ever-expanding scope of motherhood and races against time to fulfil them.
Sifting through memories of her parenting tactics and theories, Riti delivers a power-packed punch of a book that negotiates through challenges of pregnancy and parenting, pearls of wisdom, nuggets of humour, screams of frustration, sighs of exasperation and tears of joy and disappointment in equal measures.
Written through the lens of a career-invested, borderline-workaholic and delegation-savvy mom, this book shares a parenting journey navigating through poopy diapers, potty training, balanced diets, tiring holidays, PTA meetings, workplace triumphs and disappointments.
Buy Double Trouble Double Fun! A Supermom’s Guide to Raising Twins here http://amzn.to/2t19y4L
Author Bio
Riti Prasad has grown upon a steady diet of romance novels and they continue to be her escape, her comfort read and her happy place.
She works as Creation Head in a fragrance and flavor company. When she is not writing, she is busy being a grammar Nazi polishing the language of her emails before releasing them, editing WhatsApp forwards and jokes before circulating them, and the worst- correcting spoken English thereby making several enemies.
She is one among the top Mommy Bloggers in India and reviews books as well.
She is the author of Mathematics, Fun, Facts and Fiction, Folk Tales from Around the World, Wicked Temptations and Double Trouble Double Fun! A Supermom’s Guide to Raising Twins. Her stories have been part of the anthologies Mango Chutney, Rudraksha and When they Spoke.
She lives in Chennai with her entrepreneur husband and twin sons.
https://www.facebook.com/Ritiprasadkaunteya?ref=hl
www.itchingtoread.blogspot.com
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13575735.Riti_Prasad
Twitter – @Ritiprasad
Buy her books here
