After Anuja Chauhan and Rajashree, here comes yet another author who has managed to get all the right ingredients to get readers glued to her book. Meet Aditi Talwar Sodhi, whose new book Of Dreams is an addition to the list of entertaining chic-flicks dealing with love issues and teenage problems. Born in Mumbai and now based in Dubai, Aditi Talwar is an MBA graduate who went on to have a 10 -year career in advertising and marketing. She paused her fast-track career at the birth of her child, which was when she started penning down her debut novel Of Dreams. Currently, she is working as a freelance copywriter for advertising agencies in Dubai. Talking about her inspiration behind writing the novel, Aditi says, “As a marketing professional, I have always loved interacting with people. I did learn a lot from those experiences and then I started penning down my thoughts.” She adds, “I always believe in women empowerment. Though we our country has been advancing, there are still places in India, where a female girl child is not even allowed to be born.” And like there are more than one ways to convey a message, Aditi opts for a more entertaining way, rather than being preachy. “It’s the story of three girls, Amrita, Aarti and Payal. Amrita has lost her first love, Aarti has lost her only chance to get higher education while Payal has lost her dignity. Of Dreams is the story of these three girls who stand disadvantaged at the threshold of adulthood. The book explores who and what people become as they get swept by their life choices.”Commenting on the characters in her book, she says, “All the characters in my book have been more or less drawn from my personal experiences. It so happens that with the changing society, women get adapted to it.” She further adds, “My book dared to be different and this is an issue I believe in and I wanted it to be entertaining. As a woman I could relate to most of the experiences people told me about. It reflects my thoughts and feelings, but all of that has been liberally interspersed with pure fiction to make it engaging.”Aditi Talwar Sodhi is mother to 19-month-old Samara. “She is my first critique, “says Aditi. “When I started writing this book, I would narrate the story to her and uncanny as it was, she would invariably laugh and grunt at the right places. It was like she was agreeing with me.”Mentioning about her experience from the acceptance of the manuscript to finding a publisher, Aditi says it has been quite an interesting journey. “I would say it is definitely tough and I sort off got used to rejection letters. But its not impossible to find a publisher these days. The Indian publishing industry is opening up as more and more new readers are coming into the fold and even the publishers are on a hunt for new and fresh ideas.” She then adds, “It is very important for the meeting of the minds in such cases.” Talking about e-books, she says, “There is a completely different charm in holding a book physically and reading it, but I guess e-books are definitely convenient. In just a click people have access to so many books online and the advantage is that it cuts the cost of publication and distribution.” To deal with a writer’s block, she says, “I go for a walk and inspiration flows from different direction into my way. I come back home and start afresh.”Aditi Talwar’s book has been on the Infibeam’s Top 10 Bestsellers list for 2 months and also on Stack your Rack and NDTV books Bestseller lists. It has also been featured in Infibeam’s Bestsellers@Best Prices list. The first print run was exhausted within 8 weeks of the book’s release. The script of “Of Dreams” has been picked up for making it into a movie by the Kaliedoscope Productions, which gave Bollywood hits like Saathiya, Maqbool and Mangal Pandey.
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