“All Good Writers Face Criticism And So Will You”: Sonal Kothari, Author Of The Month, July 2017

Sonal Kothari began writing poetry and went on to writing powerful commentaries on current issues as well as her thoughts on the daily small and big pinpricks women in our society face. 

Every month, we identify and recognise three very promising authors from our community, whom we believe you should read more of. Sonal Kothari is one of the three featured authors of the month, this July 2017. You can read here work here at Women’s Web.

Authors are often asked this question, but everyone has their own reasons, very personal to them. So, why do you write?

Writing is extremely pacifying when I find so many things wrong with our society. There are times when I’m fighting battles in my mind and I might not be able to express vividly when I speak, but I definitely convey my thoughts powerfully through my writing and it’s really overwhelming until I pen them down. While my voice might not reach many and even if it does, the message might get distorted; my writings definitely would reach those who need to hear it and provoke the ire that is needed to fight the evil around us. I intend to change the world word by word.

When and how did you first begin writing?

As far as I can remember my writing began when I wrote a short poem, ‘Flying High’ at 15. My sister needed something for her poetry recital competition and to my surprise this poem got her a prize. A few years later I moved from poems to personal thoughts to travelogues. It was then that I realized my latent aggression towards all appearances of misogynist norms in society. My articles soon turned women centric; I must say my family has always been supportive of my writing. I began blogging 6 years back, and here I am now!

Do you have a muse?

Not really. Our world is made of conflicting personalities, and that’s my muse. It isn’t surprising as there are days when I’m inspired by so many things. I mostly write about women’s issues, sometimes on relationships and on critical media news.

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Where do you get your ideas from? 

The world is not sans ideas. Wherever I go, I find something intriguing, the people around me, the news that I come across, experiences of close friends and myself, the books that I read. There’s no limitation to words and ideas when you look from a writer’s perspective.

When it comes to writing on/for/about women, what questions and issues drive you the most?

Incidents that I witnessed closely and a few personal experiences have added fuel to my thoughts. The mere stereotyping of women has created enough discrimination between equally deserving genders. I want to alter the niche that we have settled with for women. It’s like fire that burns me from within until I put it on paper.

Anything you’d like to tell others who would want to write?

All good writers face criticism and so will you if your writings threaten the norm. Those who have endured distress and adversity first hand are capable of expressing thoughts vehemently because they’ve been to hell and back, yet they write without the fear of judgment.

Be it your stories, your articles, poems or just one liners, your voice should bleed ink regardless of the language that you use. Don’t write for appreciation or payback, but with your heart, because writing is a boon that you’ll be granting yourself and the other readers.

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