Author & Life Coach Abha Sharma- Helping You Rediscover Yourself
Journey of a Multi-Talented Storyteller- Abha Sharma on Writing, Coaching & Training
Our team spoke to well-known author and life coach Abha Sharma recently. She wears many hats — author, speaker, life coach, and soft skills trainer as well. Here are the excerpts from the interview:-
- Journey and Inspiration
Can you share a bit about your journey as an author and what inspired you to begin writing? Were there any particular experiences that shaped your decision to become a novelist and an author?
I have always been writing, from lots of fiction as a kid, to the school magazine, to a stint with freelance journalism while in college, and now to writing fiction and non-fiction books. Instead of particular experiences, I think everything in my life was taking me in the direction of writing. The primary driving factor, however, was an environment of literary study and discussion at home, my dad being a well-known journalist and a rare litterateur. Books were the most valued things at home.
So, as I read voraciously, the impetus to create my own stories kept increasing. I could have published my first books while still in college, but a rather strange thing happened. I let a small publisher acquire an anthology of my science-based stories, but the publisher soon became untraceable. That was a setback, but most importantly, a learning early on for a very young person.
I took a long break when I did not take up any writing projects for around 15 years, to focus primarily on my role as a mother of two kids, along with the other professional commitments. Yet, whatever time I could find, I kept writing in bits and pieces. Staying in practice helped, because I was discovered by my editor, rather accidentally, and was commissioned to write my first non-fiction book in 2019, by one of the biggest publishing houses in the country. It has been four non-fiction books and a novel since then, all received very well.
Writing for me personally, has always been a medium to make sense of life and the situations it throws at us. The seed of my novel The Night of Fear was there in my mind for around ten years, when I kept wondering at how different people would respond at times of crisis when they are at the threshold between fear and courage. My latest book Vediquant, a spiritual self-help book, looks at the mysteries of the Universe through parallel approaches of Vedantic philosophy and quantum science. The three books on world-famous entrepreneurs are attempts to understand the key personality traits that differentiate successful people from others.
2. Balancing Multiple Roles
You wear many hats — author, speaker, life coach, and soft skills trainer. How do you balance these different roles, and how do they complement each other in your professional and personal life?
All of my work is driven by the same motive: to understand the deeper meaning of life and to share what I learn along the way. There is also a common thread that runs through these roles: my love for language. Therefore, balancing these roles is not difficult.
As an author, my passion is to explore the mysteries of life. The intensive research and observations required for writing my books enrich my understanding of the myriad aspects of life and of the world, which in turn has helped me make a difference in other people’s lives through life coaching. Both writing and life coaching require that keen sensitivity that makes you perceive things that are not apparent, to find solutions in the most challenging circumstances.
Being a soft-skills trainer happened rather accidentally, but I am glad about this accidental happening because it turned out to be the perfect medium to guide young minds to realize their hidden potential in their personal paradigm as well as in their dealings with the world, and that is why life coaching seamlessly merged into my soft-skills training as well.
Since I am passionate about the different aspects of my work, being a speaker comes naturally to me. For me, it is not about myself. It is about what I can help others discover about themselves. And that is why, every time it is an even more fulfilling experience.
3. Writing Process and Challenges
What does your writing process look like? Do you have any specific routines or habits that help you stay productive and creative?
I have one rule for myself: commit to a task, and give your two hundred percent to it. Anything that comes along the way has to be absorbed into this commitment, including emergencies. I have faced serious hindrances during the writing of each of my books, including personal loss, a major surgery of my child, and serious health concerns. I could have, but I never pushed deadlines. It is hard to maintain a work-life balance in such circumstances, but since I was determined enough, it came through.
That automatically brings discipline into my writing process. The word sounds intimidating, but it is all about redefining what the word ‘discipline’ means for you. For me, it means meeting micro goals while keeping the larger picture in mind.
This is the reason why I choose my projects very carefully, and the reason why I have said ‘no’ to several projects that did not align with my inclination. Because once I commit, the task becomes a part of me.
Routine, as you mentioned, is essential to stay productive, but not in the rigid sense. Sometimes when my other obligations don’t give me time to write in a structured way, I write wherever or whenever I get the chance, even if it is texting to myself, or even on a restaurant napkin! The important thing is to convert your thoughts into written word, regularly.
Creativity is a product of observation. If you can find a story in the ant moving on the ground, you will never run out of creative ideas. It is important to keep observing, and considering the different possibilities with an open mind.
4. Life Coaching and Writing
Could you share your experiences as a life coach? How do you integrate your expertise in this area with your writing?
I began life coaching when I observed that too many young people, many of them college students, struggle with emotional and personal issues that severely hamper their growth — factors like stress, anxiety, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, lack of vision, fear of the future, fear of exams, and many more related challenges. What started as randomly helping those young people, transformed into a mission for me. As a life coach, my purpose is to help the person find answers within themselves because those answers are the most powerful, and much more effective than any outside guidance that a person might get.
There have been heartwarming success stories that I am grateful for. An undergraduate student who couldn’t focus on his studies because of the constant, extreme pressure to do well, that came from his family, transformed into a calm, focused individual who learnt how to handle stress.
Another undergraduate engineering student who had severe self-esteem issues and was considered a pushover, learnt assertiveness and prioritizing, and is now a professional doing very well. A young professional facing stress in a new work environment learned mind management to handle uncomfortable situations at the new workplace. A totally unmotivated young man who did not even want to think of the future, learned to define micro goals and to make efforts towards those goals.
There have been young people with habits such as self-blame, negative thinking patterns, and misplaced priorities, who I have been able to help evolve into more focused, confident individuals.
My main focus is on helping people rediscover their inner strength, and since each individual is different, I help them according to what they need. Every call and every message of gratitude from those people makes me feel grateful that I could contribute my two bits in making people’s lives happier.
5. Advice for Aspiring Writers
What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are just starting their journey? Are there any common pitfalls they should avoid, and what key strategies should they adopt to increase their chances of getting published?
Everyone has their unique preferences, but I would suggest three things.
First, before you decide to enter the world of writing, ask yourself if you have a passion for it. Is this what you really want to do, or you just found the idea attractive? This differentiation is important because writing demands a lot of discipline, perseverance, hard work, and faith, and unless you have a passion for it, you will soon face disappointment and burnout.
Second, once you have committed to it, you need to have an ocean of patience. Success comes hard here and might take a lot of time. Instead of feeling discouraged with rejections, treat them as trophies. Remember, you got a rejection because you made a submission. Not many people persevere enough to complete a writing project.
Third, don’t go for shortcuts or quick solutions. Your writing is for posterity. Quality is all that matters. So, don’t get baited into the easier path, into giving up on pursuing the more difficult traditional channels of getting published. The more difficult things you are striving for, the better writer you are becoming.
The most common pitfall, I think, for aspiring writers is complacence. Just because you are satisfied with your language skills does not mean you don’t have to upgrade. Or, if you think you have a good story, you still need to work hard on the craft, continuously. Writing is an uphill task through the scenic route, so complacence is the biggest mistake you can make.
There is only one master strategy to increase your chances of getting published — write. Wherever, whatever, whenever — just write. Transcribe your thoughts into words. This habit is the key, the foundation, but here are a few related things, also important: Read widely — you have probably heard this a million times, but it gets truer every time it is mentioned. Observe what is being published and what factors are shaping those books.
Study the authors whose work you liked. Pay attention to their technique. Practice without fail. And lastly, don’t aim for perfection. Just aim for doing justice to the piece you are working on. Keep going and you will be there soon.
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Brief Profile
Abha Sharma is the author of Vediquant — Vedantic Truth in Quantum Science; The Night of Fear; The Making of the Greatest series. @ Rupa Publications India. She is also a renowned Speaker and Life Coach.
