In Search of a Title 📖 - Ft. Tête-à-Tête with Aashna Lidder
In Search of a Title is a poetry compilation of a teenager's journey of trials, tribulations, musings and learnings. It depicts that transient period from being a baby followed by a child into an adult who has a mind of her own and can judge the society and identify its fetters and flaws, all the while admiring its culture and bonding too. The book takes you through a kaleidoscopic view of the many facets of growing up
You. Let us now begin with the first question. It is said that one must know the author before they read her publication. So let us first get into that. Please give us a glimpse of your academic and creative journey up till now. How does the book and its enigmatic title encapsulate you as a person?
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 2:57
And I don't know, somehow I took an inclination towards writing about very serious things, which I tried to change when I was publishing my book because I wanted it to be a very holistic book with all kinds of emotions. A bit on my academic journey I've always been a very average student. I think I only started studying in twelveTH grade and before that I would just go out, have fun, play a lot of sport and loved making friends in school
Thank you for that lovely introduction of yourself and your book. And its title, of course. Aashna. I'm loving how unfiltered this conversation is going, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I and the listeners are doing now. Poetry is a distinguished and fine art, and your book stands as a testimony to the fact that you've come a long way in mastering it. When did you start writing? Whims which I think you've already mentioned somehow
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 3:19
And when you start writing things down on a regular basis, you start noticing a lot more because at the end of the day, kutchto Likstan you have to write about something so you start observing a lot more. You become a very observant person. You become someone who's focusing on nitty gritties of things. So, yeah, I think writing that way, start by writing about what makes you feel very strongly
Thank you for such a moving description. Aashna. It is sort of magical how you've described poetry as something you learn along the way and something that inspires you continuously. And even when the inspiration is, say, sort of less, or when you're short on inspiration, ideas do come because you have that mindset. So thank you for telling our listeners about. Now, the next question is also sort of related to this. An author's experiences undoubtedly shape their writing
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 1:36
So I think that is what the job of a creative writer is, is to make things you write relatable to people and also making things you write true to yourself. You don't have to change your thoughts for them to be relatable. But at the same time, if your ideas and expressions are understood by a bunch of people, then I think you have won. What creative writing has taught me is how to compose my ideas in a way that they are not haphazard
Now, coming to your college life, Abate, you have managed to publish a bestselling book during your school years, and you're doing extremely well in college, too, despite any and all odds. What has been one learning or motto throughout this whole journey that has kept you going? And it'll be beneficial if you could also tell us where you got that learning from
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 2:44
Thank you. That's a very relevant question because it's also something which is the most current in my life right now. That is college. And that was also school. It's the very recent past. A learning which I think I go by is one which I got from my father. And he would just say that don't make mediocrity a habit. Instead, try to excel in a lot of what you do
Thank you so much for that wonderful advice. Ashna, I think what you just said about standing out but also staying true to yourself somehow encapsulates a quote that I very much love, and it is, why blend in when you were born to stand out? So, yeah, thank you again for that very honest and genuine advice. It will surely benefit a lot of the listeners here
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 3:18
So initially, you only have like 100, 200 copies. Then you see how it's selling. And once it starts selling, you print more copies. You keep some with yourself and also the deals you have with Amazon. So I had a deal with Amazon in Spain and the US. And Canada. So that is something the publishing house does for you. But it's a very long process
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Thank you for such a detailed answer. Aashna. The way you explained such a cumbersome process in very simple terminologies will be helpful for a lot of people who are just starting out and looking to publish a book. Because this is again, for someone who's unknown to this world, it's a very daunting process indeed. I think we'll have to end this conversation soon because we're moving towards the last question. Let us talk about how has your life been after writing and publishing the book?
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 2:31
So throughout the journey of writing the book, I think I've made the most intimate memories with my family, developing the idea of the book, with my parents, developing the concept with my mom and dad, with the publishing house editors, everyone. The entire process was so insightful and learning. For someone who's just 1516 years of age, you never think you'll get such an experience
And if you liked this conversation, be sure to follow me here on Swell because I post such content regularly. Thank you and have a great evening ahead
Hi Ashna. Very welcome to you on Swell. I am Kadambari Gupta and I am also a poet. So I am very happy to connect with a fellow poet on Swell. And congratulations for your book. I am so happy to know the title in search of a title. You know, this is so interesting and so promising and I really look forward to read this book. My question to you is, Aashna, that how you developed your interest in poetry and what writing poetry means to you
Aashna Lidder
@AashnaLidder · 0:31
Hello, ma'am. Thank you so much for your wishes. They mean a lot to me. So actually, it's very funny, because for someone who writes, I don't read a lot, so I find it very monotonous reading a full book or reading a couple of chapters a day. I can barely manage to do that nowadays. So I just always found poetry to be very easy to read because it's quick. You're just done with it in a minute or two