The Blogchatter Book of Love
Entertainment, Fiction, Short Stories

From reading romantic stories to penning for The Blogchatter Book of Love

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Dear Reader,

Dreams can never have an expiry date. You just need to place your trust in the universe’s dream machine and let it roll.

After reading Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, I progressed to Mills & Boon. My teens were defined by books on romance, even graphic novels related to love. My reading life was deeply embedded in the characters of Victoria Holt, Barbara Cartland, Daphne Du Maurier, Emily Bronte. Love’s many layers and beauty fascinated me.

Come 20s, and classics were added to my narrow list of genres. Over the decades, mystery, fantasy, memoirs, thrillers, crime fiction have turned my dormant brain into an active hotspot of creativity.

As the years progressed, my reading horizons expanded and so did my writing preferences. After all, writing is an outcome of a deep desire to pen your own story, fuelled by reading. As a non-fiction writer of 25 years, fiction is a dream come true.

Novelists are dream weavers and I always had a tingling desire to weave my own dream. The dream of love, an everlasting, unconditional love that transcends time and space, a story that people can read at any stage, wrapped in sweet hope amid fairytale endings.

While I haven’t yielded to the desire of writing a full-fledged novel for I sometimes feel I am running out of time, I put aside my lazy thoughts and participated in the call for an anthology of love by Blogchatter, India’s largest blogging community. I didn’t have any expectations, as an open call attracts a large number of entries.

Selected for the Blogchatter Book of Love
SOULMATES: WHISPERS OF DESTINY BY AMBICA GULATI, THE BLOGCHATTER BOOK OF LOVE (CHAPTER 15, PAGE 171)
All the 18 authors in one frame, The Blogchatter Book of Love

After the selection, I came to know that over 90 stories had been submitted, and 18 were selected for the book. Luckily, my story, Soulmates: Whispers of Destiny, made it to the list. Love gives us wings to fly through the turbulence and mysteries of lifetimes, as you will see with Alicia and Zeev.

Now, I can say that dreams woven with love, and left in the universe’s cradle, come to life at the right time. When I imagine the story passing through hands, being read at book clubs, leaving men and women with a starry feel, I time travel to my teens and the soft embrace of dreamy, unconditional love.

Each medium has a different approach. Newspapers and magazines are different from books. And giving the community members a chance to understand the art of writing short stories and publishing them, Blogchatter invited experts for masterclasses. Renowned crime thriller author, Anita Nair, clarified the process of writing a short story. Indrani Ganguly, managing editor at Readomania, the publishing house, gave insights on the editing process, cross-checking facts, and refining the plot and language. Richa Singh, founder of Blogchatter, shared tips on branding your book across digital platforms.

Stories and books are about learning the art of patience, for this labour of love takes months. In this case, the process started in January 2024, and the book was launched at the end of September 2024 at an offline retreat in Kolkata. This annual retreat pulled people out of sleep mode!

Last year, Blogchatter published an anthology of thrillers. For that, they had organised a programme called ‘Ready to Publish’, educating the community on various aspects of book making, from sending proposals to understanding traditional and self-publishing, hiring a seasoned editor, designing covers and building your audience over time.  

The beauty of this practice lies in the fact that Blogchatter, now 8 years old, is giving wings to first-time writers and fuelling the creator space with quality stories. It has hosted e-book carnivals as well, encourages community members with reading and writing challenges the year through, even awarding them with stickers and reward points. Not to forget, it invites authors for talks with community members as moderators, across genres throughout the year. I hosted a live chat on Blogchatter’s Facebook page with author Richa S. Mukherjee on the rise of comedy thrillers.

So, dear reader, as I prepare for my next writing adventure, perhaps you would like to indulge in the 18 shades of love captured in The Blogchatter Book of Love.

You can read it on Amazon Kindle or take the paperback route through Amazon Books and Readomania. If you spread the word about the book of love, it will boost my morale.

Before I end this letter, I would like to say, if you want your writing dream to come to life, then do keep an eye out for Blogchatter’s calls on social media, for 2025 is around the corner.

Love always,
Ambica

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla  in collaboration with Dr. Preeti Chauhan.

46 thoughts on “From reading romantic stories to penning for The Blogchatter Book of Love”

  1. I am so happy that my story is in company with yours. Looking forward to reading Soulmates: Whispers of Destiny. I am sure it will be fabulous!
    And here’s to many more stories from your pen.

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  3. I felt so excited seeing my name on the list of authors for The Blogchatter Book of Love too. It’s such a rewarding experience, isn’t it? I love how you mentioned your story leaving readers with a “starry feel.” I hope my story also gives readers that sense of magic and hope.

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  4. I loved how you began and ended this letter. Dreams most definitely should not have an expiration date for that’s the only way they can come true. Novelists are dream weavers — this was another favourite line. Congratulations Ambica and I hope you pen many more fiction stories ❤

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  5. This is an interesting post. Glad to know there are workshops that give tips about writing. I thought writing is a process that flows from inside. But these days, when authors publish almost in industrial scale, such a tip may come in handy. I am more interested to know how to approach the publishers, what is their criteria of accepting a manuscript for reading, is there any contact number etc. 

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    1. So, I haven’t approached anyone with a manuscript, but there are literary agents nowadays. You can check on Google. They get you a better deal than trying to approach the publishers yourself as a new author.

      Also, Harshita, another author had taken services of an agency to read her manuscript. They are called Purple Lens on Instagram.

      Rest, as you explore creative writing courses on udemy and ululu, domestika, coursera, they can be of help too.

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  7. Congratulations Ambica for being a part of this anthology and I also completed reading this book and loved your story which was literally different from other and excellent. But few stories were like …. pehla bhi aisa stories parha ha and few gave me a WOW wala feeling. Overall a good collection of Love Themed stories.

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  9. What a beautiful journey, Ambica!

    Reading this, I could feel the passion in every word—the evolution from romance novels to writing your own love story, and then seeing it take shape in such a cherished anthology. “Soulmates: Whispers of Destiny” sounds magical, and I’m sure it captures that timeless essence of love you so deeply appreciate.

    Blogchatter is indeed a fantastic platform for dreamers like us. Congratulations on making it into The Book of Love—here’s to many more stories that will leave readers starry-eyed!

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  10. Many many congratulations on getting your story selected out of a whopping 90 entries, and now having it published in a book. From a romance reader to writer, your journey is inspiring indeed. I hope and look forward to you having a book of your won someday soon; maybe a short story collection? Because as you said, a novel seems difficult to manage time for currently. But I do hope you can write a novel too someday 🙂

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  12. Congratulations, again Ambica. Every year I plan to submit my writing for the Anthology but somehow my fear gets the better of me and I ultimately give up. Perhaps, 2025 should be year when I go for it.

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  15. Wow, this is such an inspiring journey! From childhood love stories to finally penning your own, your passion for writing and love shines through in every word. Congratulations on being part of The Blogchatter Book of Love! It’s amazing how Blogchatter has nurtured so many writers, including you. Wishing you all the best for your next writing adventure.

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  17. First of all congratulations with loads of love. Now I proudly call my friend an author of romantic genre. Can’t wait to read the bunch of love stories and proudly flaunt about my friends to the world. Many more to come and yesss dreams come true for sure.

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  18. Congratulations for the story! I am glad that I was able to witness the publication of this one in our Kolkata retreat.

    I am yet to read the stories. Haven’t picked it up. but i am sure it will be a great expericen based on the experiences a few authors shared during the publication.

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  20. first of all congratulations to all the writers. I am so glad and happy to see my fellow writers get published. Blogchatter has given a good platform to all the book lovers, writers or readers

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  21. Congratulations, Ambica, on being a part of this anthology, I’m definitely planning to buy it when I visit India in December. I’m a huge fan of fiction, so I’m really looking forward to reading your story

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