#MyJourney | From Writing on Wattpad to Screen Adaptation.

#MyJourney

Being a bookworm since childhood and until now, missing out on latest books or free stories wasn't a chance. That's how I came across Wattpad that changed my life forever.

Here's my journey from writing on Wattpad, battling cancer, to publishing bestseller books and getting them signed, sealed, delivered for screen adaptation by a major production company.

In 2012, I discovered Wattpad App through google play store while searching for 'free stories', not only did I find free stories but Horror genre stories of my liking which weren't easily available to me in the bookstores or libraries as of Vampires, Werewolves, Gothic and Gory stories that led me to binge reading on Wattpad. I learnt how to find complete stories, also, how users publish them with chapters updates, cool book covers, witty titles, thinking if I could ever write a story someday.

After a few months of reading over hundreds of stories, I had the itch to write on Wattpad. So when I came across something called Watty Awards, I decided to give my writing a try- finally. I wrote a vampire story for the first time on Wattpad using my small sized phone, Samsung galaxy Y. I wrote the story in chat language, but the readers found it gripping, it maintained top rankings in the Horror genre list. Users started asking me for updates and it got exciting for me.

Although I didn't win the awards, I won many hearts. I wrote my second book there, Lydia- The Pet Communicator for the Watty Awards again in 2013. The story stood out in rankings, in Fantasy and Science fiction. The story made it as a finalist! I was over the moon. I realized I could somehow write. The users loved my writing and I started to gain a fan following through Wattpad. They encouraged me to get published too. 

That's when I started writing my third book on Wattpad for publishing it further as paperback, but life suddenly took a U turn, my health was slowly draining, I didn't know what was happening to me because with all the health issues I couldn't focus on my writing anymore. I noticed a lump on my neck and then two, they started spreading out rapidly, when I showed it to the doctor, they said I needed immediate check up. I went to Apollo Hospital, Ahmedabad from Udaipur (my city) to get diagnosed with Cancer, Hodgkins Lymphoma 3B (stage).

I was shook, everything around me started to buzz in my head and I took a deep breath of courage. Giving up or losing confidence was not in my name. If life decided to punch me on my face once, I decided to punch back twice. Every 12 rounds of chemotherapy was a boxing ring for me where I had to come out as a winner. By the end of my doses,although I had drained out completely, even losing weight, hair also my ability to hear talk or walk, I came out as a stronger person.

After my recovery, I decided to write again. I completed my third book which was on Genies. I rewrote it even better than I would normally write, a help from the heavens, I strongly believe. I sent it out to my publishers randomly, waiting for a rejection because it was just as a first attempt for myself to take the first step but surprisingly, my manuscript got accepted. And after all the process of publishing, baking it and selling, Once Upon A Genie hit the bestsellers list! My story as a person who fought cancer and got published got attention on media and it became an inspiration for many fighting cancer and debut writers.

Then I wrote the sequel to it, Neverfound Land, and in a few months of it's release, my publishers called me up to congratulate me, that both of my books are selected to be pitched up for screen adaptation by a major production company as they were looking for stories on Genies. Coincidence or say luck? I got the deal signed and now we are waiting for the release.

I'm still writing on Wattpad, also serving the community as an ambassador. 

Wattpad gave me a chance to discover myself, and has been one of the best writing schools for me!