On the first time I got published
It’ll be a year since I last published here. 12 months. What a ride my life has been since then.
That’s not to say I haven’t written or haven’t wanted to write (which is its own identity crisis journey I’ll talk about another day). I’ve had so many thoughts in my head. I’ve been writing on the internet since we first got a dial-up connection at home.
I used the internet for three reasons: playing online games, chatting with friends, and finding writers and writing forums online. This led to two things: writing 3 poems for an independently-published collection called “Poetic Voices: Healing Our World”. And, getting published at the age of 12, in a weekly Gulf-based magazine called Young Times.
I remember telling my parents, in a bit of disbelief about actually having gotten published. It was a pretty surreal moment. How the hell did I end up in a magazine I absolutely loved? Young Times was published by Khaleej Times, in Dubai. I was living in Dammam, in Saudi Arabia, at the time. While these two may seem quite close, to someone who’d never been, it felt like an impossible reality. The strange irony of that moment is, exactly a decade later, I would end up moving to Dubai and running a media company there. At the time of my story getting published, I’d found out because I was randomly browsing the Young Times website. I never got a note from the editor or from the magazine about officially being published. I guess in some ways you never quite fully understand the impact of your work, and your work decisions. When you work in media though, even the smallest of nods to an action can represent and become something entirely different. To the editor, Roopa Kurian, I may have been just another young writer. To me, it was the best thing to ever happen in my life, till that point. I can’t quite describe how it felt to be 12, and to feel on top of the world. But, I can describe how it felt to share the news with both my mom and dad. They were surprised, confused, delighted, and proud at the same time. Not too different than how I was feeling, I suppose.
My dad and I went to a store near the petrol station close to home. We got 3 print copies of the magazine. My dad proudly showed the cashier the magazine, and flipped it to the page my name was on. “You see my daughter here, she wrote this!” he proudly showed it to the man at the counter. The guy politely nodded, my dad and I walked out. I still remember his big grin and the look of joy on his face. I felt so lucky, to have such supportive parents. And luckier still, to have access to the internet, to be able to write, and to have written a short story set in the year 2050, where Harry Potter was a classic. It was a story about nostalgia, reminiscing, friendship, and forever fandoms.
It’ll be close to two decades since that time, but I’m still nowhere as close to writing and publishing as much as I would like to. I guess part of it comes from wanting to write with purpose, the other part comes from wanting to write more intentional, deep-thinking pieces. But, glancing through George R. R. Martin’s blog over the last few days, I felt inspired to write and share. The man uses his blog as a way to share updates that seem both random and yet easy. There’s all types of formats and personal updates. It had me going from post to post. But, most of all, I loved how frequently he publishes. So, feeling inspired, I’ve decided to unburden myself with the expectations to write well. And, give myself the permission to just write. I experience so much, and live a lot, and I’d like to be able to share it all with the world. And, to have as recollections of mine. My blogspot and Tumblr from ages ago were replaced by my social media platforms, my media writings, and my Substack. The next phase of my writing and sharing takes the place of frequent blogposts. Some may seem random, some may be much shorter, and others may well be longer. I know my favorite part of publishing are always the emails and messages I get back. They always make my day, and I cherish them so much. So, while I’ve decided to write more— here’s to writing, experiencing life, and finding connection and comfort in the spaces we nurture online.
Love and good energy always,
Mashal <3