I should start with why I began writing.

It was October 2009. My dad was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. Over the next four months he went through three surgeries and spent most of that time in a hospital.

Throughout the next year, he went through chemotherapy cycles. Our entire family stood together during what was the most painful time for all of us. I am grateful to my mom and my wife for the support during this time.

Personally, I was under a lot of stress and figured that if I couldn't divert my mind to other things, I would be consumed by the pressure. I looked for a way out and found writing. I started a blog in December and wrote my first short story titled “Gary”. Writing helped me find a purpose during bleak times.

I then told myself that I will complete a hundred short stories by end of December 2010. I fell short of that goal, but completed 40 stories. Along the way, the blog garnered a loyal base of readers from across the world. By this time, my father had recovered fully.

In June 2011, I decided to self-publish my collections of short stories through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. I have some personal experience creating ebooks in the digital EPUB format and put that to use. The 40 stories were made available as four collections—Two volumes of 20 stories each, a combined volume and a collection of science fiction stories. I also designed the covers for the ebooks. It was a great sense of satisfaction to see them listed on Amazon for the Kindle.

My blog will continue to be available and these stories readable on the web for free. I will post some new stories on the blog when I can. I intend to reach my goal of completing a 100 stories (and more).

I invite all Goodreads members to visit blog and take a look at the ebooks on Amazon.com

 

Happy reading!

Giri Vijayakumar