The Woman My Grandmother Loved.

Author's Note.

When I first started publishing this book, I genuinely thought I'd made a mistake. There seemed so little enthusiasm and I wondered if I'd disappointed my readers. Until one fine day, the first comment popped up and I sighed in relief. This book is not everybody's cup of tea and neither is it a relatable teen novel. And maybe, this book will never gain much attraction or garner a large readership.

But that being said, I am so much prouder of this book. I love this book so much, I wrote it at a time when I was going through one very difficult phase of my life. There was just so much chaos and to make sense of it I sat down to write this book. To escape from all that was happening; that hadn't been ending and had been following me for over three years. It had started so differently, it had once started with the lines "My grandmother's funeral was short, brief and concise; much like the way she was with her words." Then I edited a whole lot of it, rewrote most of it and I'm glad I did so.

Through Becky and Anita's journey, I feel as though I've matured as well. In the weirdest way, I feel as though this story has a life of its own and I'm a mere spectator, watching them unfold. They say the main rule of writing is to write what you know and I'll be honest. There is nothing about Anita and Becky's life that is like mine; except the fact that their love was birthed from one of the saddest experiences of my life. And now it makes sense to me, when seasoned writers say 'tap into the pain' or when John Green wrote a touching funeral scene after he was sad because of a fight with his roommate. My reasons may be so far removed from the realm of love, but nevertheless, it helped me.

The series of letters that Anita and Becky wrote each other were in particular, my own introspection on the theories that govern life, love, and truth.

Also, I feel that it is imperative to mention it to my readers not to take the idea of an all-consuming love very seriously. Most of my teenage years were spent reading on Wattpad and I'll admit; it gave me a very unhealthy expectation from love. I am, of course, aware that my readers are far more intelligent than I was at that age but still I want you to remember this. It is important for you to be happy and confident about your sense of self before you seek somebody else. It is absolutely integral for you to realize that you are complete in every sense of the word without a fiery, passionate love. And in the event that you do find love, I hope it cherishes and honors you.

The idea of love that this book deals with doesn't quite fit into today's world. We are not a generation of undying lovers and thus such stories are better left in books.

I won't go too much into the details, keeping in mind that this is an Author's note, not a therapy session. But I hope that there are some readers who enjoyed this book just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope you felt some parts of it just the way I felt when I was writing it. As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thank you so much for reading this book.

Everywhere you go, I hope you are reminded that life is full of possibilities.

Please don't be shy to drop in your feedback on the book! Your comments mean the absolute world to me.

Until the next novel,
shortgirlbigbook ❤️

PS: This reminded me of Anita.