Today we talk about Teenage Chronicles: My Journey of Self Discovery, a book by Saania Saxena published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Saania Saxena to get to know her better, to discover the origins of her love for writing and if there was a particular moment in her life that led her to the writing of her first book Teenage Chronicles: My Journey of Self Discovery.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Why did you decide to start writing?
To be honest, a part of me has always been a writer! When I was 12 years old, I started my very own blog titled Fun With Philosophy, which is about a series of posts about my thoughts through teenager hood. Over time, my blog readers suggested that this idea could have a more holistic appeal if written in the form of a book. I have also always been interested in writing during my journey at school, whether it’s writing for the school magazines or taking part in creative writing competitions. Writing a book as a whole allows you to connect with yourself in a way in which you unravel an entire rainbow of things about the kind of person you are. Hence, to do justice to my love for writing, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to write a book at 16! And I am beyond pleased to say that it has been a great experience.
- What particularly significant experiences in your life find expression in your book?
Not one but many significant experiences find expression in my book as I express many different kinds of emotions from the anxieties to the exhilarations to the euphorias of being a teenager. An example would be the chapter titled “Insecurities”. I expressed some things that I haven’t even told some of my closest friends. The constant fears I would get in my life of not being good enough, or just enough, is something I have felt throughout my teenage life significantly. The thoughts of not being able to measure up to the ones around me and feelings of incompetence were quite difficult to write about, but it also made me understand where exactly they come from. Then in the chapter titled “Love”, I also talk about feelings I had for someone and how that story was left unfinished, the goodbye was left unsaid, and how the bundle of despair came rolling after! However, even though these processes were emotional ones, it made me better understand and accept them when I attempted to pen them down.
- Was the idea for this book born at a particular moment?
Definitely! I read and was highly charmed by the book titled Tuesdays with Morrie by the author Mitch Albom which is about a series of visits Albom made to his former university professor, Morrie Schwartz. The book describes the conversations between them as Morrie, who is sick and slowly dying, tries to teach Mitch some of life’s most important wonderful lessons. While I felt like the book and the lessons were an absolute treat, I also thought to myself, why do lessons only have to be learnt from older people? Why can’t we compliment it by learning from our own experiences? And that is exactly what my blog is all about, and hence my book which is an honest, more detailed and transparent reflection of my teenage journey where I have been introspective with some baffling, intense emotions like insecurities, jealousy, and love, to name a few, and really tried to come to terms with them.
- What would you like to hear from your reader?
As much as this book has helped me find better connections with myself, I also do hope that it resonates with my readers. It would be an absolute honour if it can also resonate with young guys and girls who are also going through the same chapter of their life as I am. Teenage years are a time of blossoming with our own individuality and independence. However, it can also be an overwhelming period, with too many thoughts that could lead to anxiety. And so my aim in deeply explaining my thoughts is to make my readers realize that they are not alone, that nobody is alone when they feel and go through such emotions like anger, insecurities, jealousy, etc. It is, perhaps, the universality of every teenager. So in the process of reading this book, I hope for my readers to feel a sense of déjà vu, and by reading about my personal battle with these emotions, I wish to help them deal with their own. For my thoughts to be felt by others, what more would an author want 🙂
- Are you already working on a new project?
Not as of now, but I definitely plan on writing another book at a later stage of my life, perhaps centering around my travels around the world since that is something I am immensely passionate about, having travelled to over thirty countries so far, that have each been enriching in their own unique ways!
Europe Books thanks the author Saania Saxena once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We really wish her the best of luck with her book Teenage Chronicles: My Journey of Self Discovery and for her future as a writer.
To you, my dear reader, I wish you to enjoy your reading and let yourself be captivated by the emotions the author described in her book. Hopefully some of them can resonate with your personal life and give you food for your thoughts!
Your Editor!