Celebrating 10 Years, Readers!!

Posted On September 2, 2024

In September 2014, I created an account on Blogger and posted a poem called Popular and Plain. It was nothing special, quite plain. But, the very essence of the poem was about wanting to be seen. Even a plain person can be popular with their words, I thought. No one would read my blog, so it will be like an online diary, I convinced myself. I posted whatever the hell I wanted. I wrote travelogues calling them travel journals. I wrote over 100 short stories. I wrote what was going on in my life subtly masking it in the form of those stories. I wrote articles about the most random things, like nostalgia, life in Mumbai, being an Introvert, growing up and so on. I wrote about my mother on Mother’s Day and once about my best friend on her birthday. It was only after writing everything what I wanted, I stumbled across the niche which became my blog – books. It was much later that this became a book blog.

As I was going through old posts, I started to wonder how the unfiltered amateur changed into an ace book reviewer. Aside from a small section about my life lately at the end of each month, I rarely talk about myself. I wondered if it’s because I have become more private or because there is nothing exciting happening in my life? It was neither of these reasons.

I realized that Mindscape in Words is no longer an online diary that no one reads. It has over 500k viewership till now with people across 181 countries reading what I write, perhaps once or multiple times. It is no longer just for me, but for everyone who comes across it. So, forgive me, if I rarely share a heart-to-heart post. But, I also feel that I do just that in the form of sharing the love for books which truly touched me.

I may have become busier at work and private online, but that does not mean you don’t know me. If you have read a book I recommended for the reasons I recommended it, then you probably know me well enough. If I recommend unpredictable mysteries, it’s probably because my own life is quite predictable. If I recommend epic historical fiction novels, it’s probably because all the epic I see is in the form of email escalations. If I recommend a novel with poetic and lyrical writing, it’s because it makes me happy. If I recommend a book with short chapters, it’s because I want you to feel the thrill of reading at a fast pace. If I recommend anything, it’s because I feel it all. And, by recommending those books, I want you to feel it all too.

I wanted to understand if my writing had matured in these past ten years. So, of course, I went back and read a few posts from each year. I do see a difference, but I will allow you to be the judge of that.

There’s always pondering and then there’s excitement. So, here I am celebrating my longest accomplishment! Here’s to TEN amazing, fun, wonderful years! And, here’s to MANY MORE! Happy 10, Mindscape in Words! I love you with everything that I have! ❤️❤️❤️

Until next time, and always,