Preeti Shenoy's blog.

    Hello dear dear reader! How are you? Hope all is well (and it is something to be grateful for  these days if the honest answer is yes, all is well) It's been really long since I posted here. I did post for 30 consecutive days during the first lockdown. Then I extended it, as the lock-down got extended.  But the last post here was in September. The reason for not posting were many. I faced some deep personal losses (I am still recovering). I moved homes. I had a million things to take care of on the personal front. And amidst all of this, I also wrote a book on positivity! I signed a two book deal with Harper Collins. (Click on the link to know more). It became increasingly difficult to do unpaid work (like writing in this blog. To write here, I have to take out extra time, after completing the work that I get paid for.)  Many of you wrote to me saying you miss my blog, and that you have been loyal readers for over 14 years! (yes, I started this blog in 2006 and have kept it

 When I was in school,  I had an excellent English teacher.  One of the things she made us do  over summer vacations was to write reviews of the books we read. These were graded assignments.  The most important thing she told us was to not write a mini-summary of the book.  'This is a book review; Not a chronicled account of everything that happened, ' she used to keep reminding us. Her tips and suggestions enabled all of us, to write good reviews--whether we like the book or not. Of late, I have been reading a LOT of reviews about my new book When Love Came Calling.   While many of the reviews have positive things to say, I am always aghast when the reviewer gives away an important plot point or a main event in the story, or the worst--reveals what happens in the end. These are all mistakes which can be avoided. Some reviewers give negative reviews because the protagonist did not make the choices, they expected him/her to. They get very involved with the story (which is a gr

  1. It is Young Adult fiction!   2. If you are not a Young adult, it will make you feel young :) 3. You will feel good after reading it! . 4. If you are a teen you will understand your parents better!   5.If you are parent you will understand your teens better.   6. It will take you to different places like UK and Kerala 7.You will fall in love with the characters. 8. It's a great love story (even if you hate love stories)  9. There's action, adventure and drama  10. It will take you back to your college days!  Read it yet? Get the book:     Click this:  Preeti.io/love    

 Hi there,   How are you? The last time I wrote here was when I did the blog-marathon for 30 days, spreading positivity.  It had started as #21days of positivity, but continued long after. The situation around us is grim. As I type this, the dreaded covid-19 has taken more than 730K lives all over the world. India now has the third largest number of cases in the world.  I was in Mumbai for the cover launch of my new book when concerns about the pandemic began being raised. I made it back safe home, to Bengaluru. My publisher had to hold on to the books for MONTHS, we we went into lockdown. Like every other industry, publishing industry too is badly hit and so many bookstores at airports have shut down, unable to bear the high rents. Many have lost their jobs. Hence the release of a new book, always bring hope;  For any author it is a big moment when they first hold their book which they have been solitarily working at for years! It always tears me up to see the physical copy. But thi

Hello dear dear person! Happy world book day! Today I went LIVE on Instagram, and you can see the SEVERAL books that I recommended which even adults can read! The entire live session is available on my profile till tomorrow around 12.00 noon, after which it will disappear. So if you want to have  some good children's book recommendations, please go and check it out on my Instagram. (please look up how to view instagram stories and live if you are new to Insta)' Also, today completes 30 days of my blogging for every single day. I started on 24th March, when the lockdown was announced. Today is the last post in this series. Now, I know many of you wait for my posts----but this wasn't easy for me at all. While I have immensely enjoyed it, it also leaves me drained because no matter what I had to come here and blog.  All of you who left me comments--your comments were what kept me going, as it felt like a conversation. So thank you! I will try to blog every n

At Edinburgh, Scotland. You can see the Edinburgh castle behind me Hi there, How are you today? I think my yesterday's pos t    sent everyone who was calling me M'am, in a tizzy. If you want to call me M'am, please do 😃. I realised after reading all the comments, how uncomfortable I made many  of you.  I think everyone is still stuck on 'age'. (If you have't read yesterday's post, I have linked it; Highlighted word is a link) Most people in India have been taught to respect age. So if someone is older, it feels very disrespectful to call them by their name. I get it. I had lived in India for over 30 years, post which I moved to UK. It was in UK, that I was immersed in a completely alien world.  I was so used to my  children's friends calling me aunty. I still like it when my children's friends call me aunty. In UK, they would address me by name. There were kids who were anywhere  between 5 and 18 ! It was amusing  to be addressed by na

Hi there! How are you doing? Hope your day was good and peaceful today. Sometime back I had read a brilliant article  P lease don't call me Aunty by Shobha  Tharoor Srinivasan which I share from time to time on my social media. Do read it. (highlighted is the link) I quote her opening lines W hen you meet an adult woman, who is perhaps your mother’s age, what do you call her? Mrs.? Ms.? If she is between 10 and 20 years older than you, do you address her by her first name or last name? Or, do you pause to ask how  she  would like to be addressed? If you’re an Indian American, you’ll probably just call her “aunty.” “Aunty” and “Uncle” have become easy fallbacks when addressing people including distant associates, neighbors, acquaintances, and even total strangers who are older than oneself. I’ve watched the attractive shopkeeper in our neighborhood Indian store cringe and straighten her kurti when a jean-clad matron has the gall to address her as “aunty.” And I