I am still learning how to write and be a better writer.
Yes, I’ve improved over the years, and that is an achievement. Yes, I’ve written and published books- a milestone in a writer’s journey. But if there’s one thing writing teaches you, it’s humility, because every new page you write or a story you read reminds you how much more there is to learn.
My relationship with stories began long before I ever tried writing one. As a child in a middle-income household in a small town called Jabalpur, I wasn’t just reading authors; I was living inside the worlds they created. Acharya Chatursen’s intensity, Dharamvir Bharati’s emotion, Premchand’s humanity, Manto’s sharp truths, Tagore’s depth, Shivani’s grace, Khushwant Singh’s candour, Agatha Christie’s puzzles, James Hadley Chase’s pace, Arthur Hailey’s detail, Stephen King’s atmosphere, John Grisham’s tension didn’t just entertain me, they expanded and trained my imagination.
Magazines and comics filled whatever gaps there were. Dharmyug, The Illustrated Weekly, Kadambini, Reader’s Digest, Archie’s, Panchatantra, Sherlock Holmes, Famous Five. Looking back, it may have seemed like chaos. But it was actually a method forming quietly.
By the time I graduated from engineering college, I had developed a strange habit: I would pick an author and read everything they had written until I finished their works… or hit a book I didn’t like.
That system worked beautifully for many years, until something snapped in 1997.
I was at Lintas Delhi and deep into a John Grisham phase. Then I hit A Painted House. I tried reading it. Restarted it. Tried again. It still didn’t feel like the Grisham I expected or the way I wanted it to be. Frustrated and overly confident in my judgment, I threw the book into the dustbin.
My boss, Samir Verma, saw this. He picked it up, put it back on my table, and calmly said:
“Write a story first. Then call someone else’s work bad.”
That sentence changed my life.
I took leave from the office without announcing it to my family. For fifteen days, I came to the office like any other day. However, all I did was write. There, I shut myself in my cubicle and struggled with words for 15 days. Drafting the same idea and the story again and again, whenever I thought I had something decent, I would take it to Samir. He would read a paragraph or two… tear the pages… and drop them into the dustbin.
My ego got edited before my writing did.
Around day twelve or thirteen, he finally stopped tearing the pages and accepted that I had made a great effort and had made some progress; the story was just about acceptable to him.
That was my real beginning.
Since then, I have never casually abandoned a book midway. I understand the love, effort, and courage it takes to write one and put it out into the world. That early lesson stayed with me long enough for that first fragile story idea to eventually grow. It took me nearly two decades to publish it as my first novel, Chimaera of Lansdowne.
That experience taught me something I wish every aspiring writer knew early:
When writing fails to hold readers, it’s rarely a talent problem. It’s usually a simple problemof not adhering to the basics.
We all have to take that first step. Break inertia, push past hesitation, and allow ourselves to learn. Self-doubt is a part of a writer’s journey. It will always rise and try to win. The trick is not letting it win.
Years later, when I began blogging, Sumit Roy sent me my published piece covered in corrections. It hurt. I was devastated. And grateful. That became another turning point. I began studying writing more consciously. Today, that blog has run uninterrupted for 645+ weeks. A result of not letting failure kill the desire to learn and getting into the discipline of writing. Quietly doing what motivation alone cannot.
Over time, I kept experimenting with formats, genres, and forms. I’ve now written14 books, including novels, anthologies, poetry, life lessons, and collaborative projects. I’ve curated anthologies, mentored writers, conducted workshops, and run a story-writing contest, ‘Pahaadi’, now in its 7th season. which has already published 6 books featuring 81 stories by 49 writers.
Not because I mastered writing.
But because I stayed committed to understanding it.
Because I was willing to learn and pursue my goal.
Because I had understood the process of learning it.
Having gone through confusion, frustration, false starts, edits, rejections, and breakthroughs, I understand the barriers writers face, the doubts, the blocks, and, more importantly, what can help overcome them and be a better writer.
That is exactly what shapes the Short Story Writing Webinar I’m hosting on 28th February 2026.
It does not promise to make you a bestselling author.
But it does promise to help you become a better writer by understanding the structure, engagement, and how readers actually experience a story.
If you like writing, want to write, or are already writing and are open to learning and be a better writer, this is for you.
👉 Register here: https://www.townscript.com/e/story-writing-webinar-324142
And when you do, tell me
What is the one writing challenge you most want solved?
BLOG/013/2026/646/1176 To connect, send an email . Twitter S_kotnala
