Someone rightly said, Art is the truest expression of ourselves.
As a kid, Shivalika never really was fond of reading and writing. But right now, not only is she pursuing a degree in English Hons but is also a published author. Interacting and learning from Captain Shashwat during the MyCaptain Novel Writing Workshop, has been a life changing experience for Shivalika.
Read her story to know how she did it all.
Shivalika Singh
Growing up I would have never imagined myself pursuing a career in writing, let alone be a published writer and have an Instagram page where I share my thoughts.
My Introduction to Writing
I have always been an introvert and never really liked to talk about my emotions with anyone. But I had reached a point in my life, where I was feeling drained with everything that I was feeling and going through.
One random day I just decided to try and use writing as an outlet for it. I started scribbling down random quotes and whatever I was feeling at the moment. The whole point of that activity for me was to let go of those heavy emotions. After a point of time I realised that every time I wrote down what I was feeling, I felt better.
Gradually I realised that words are very powerful and once that realisation hit me, I decided to get serious about it.
Writing for Myself and Others
A couple of my quotes and poetry had already been published in anthologies and that is when people started reaching out to me, to tell me that they relate to my writings a lot. I knew that I was doing the right thing, because I had reached a stage, wherein I wasn’t just using writing as an outlet for my feelings but it was helping the people who were reading it as well.
The core essence of my writings has always been the same : to express my truest emotions.
That is the same ideology I even follow with my instagram page. It is my personal belief that pain is the cost of living and it is what I have accepted and realised. It is what ensures that I write to express myself and not to impress others.
My Introduction to MyCaptain
I have known about MyCaptain for a couple of years now and a lot of my friends have also interned with them. It wasn’t until April 2019, when a very persuasive friend of mine convinced me to join the Novel Writing Workshop. And I have to say it has been the most wonderful experience.
Captain Shashwat has to be one of the most humble and helpful people I have come across. Even till this date if I reach out to him with any query, he is always there to help out.
The MyCaptain Experience
We had live video discussions during our workshop and Captain Shashwat always ensured that he responded to each and every query for every mentee, no matter what their question was. He provided personal attention to everyone and ensured that everyone was on the same page.
One of the best aspects of the MyCaptain Workshop was that Captain Shashwat was approachable for all sorts of questions and that is something which usually doesn’t happen if you take up workshops elsewhere. Captain Shashwat even constantly encouraged us to share our works with him so he could review it for us.
The workshop content was quite engaging and we did very interesting assignments during our workshop, which helped us grow as writers. I have been a part of multiple writing internship programs, but I learnt more in this 30 day workshop than all of those internships combined.
Getting my book published
After the workshop had ended, I was full of energy and inspiration. I wanted to convert my instagram page into something more and make it accessible to more and more people.
Once I had everything ready, I reached out to Captain Shashwat again to ask him, if he would be interested in writing the foreword for my book and he immediately got on board with the idea. Within an hour he had written the foreword and sent it to me.
I got in touch with Novel Nuggets, a publishing house and luckily for me they were offering free publishing for new authors at that time and I got a chance to publish my book for free.
There are no words to describe how amazing I felt when I held the first copy of my novel, Expressiontostir in my hands. It surpasses everything else there is and made me realise that you can always achieve your dreams.
To anyone who is reading this, I would like to say that, if you want to create any form of art, be it in written format or digital format or anything that you can think of, then use it as a source to express yourself rather than as a source to impress others. If you stay true to your work, it will do wonders for you in the long run.
Inspired by Shivalika’s Story and want to explore the world of writing for yourself?
Then sign up for the MyCaptain Novel Writing Workshop.
