![IMG_20201011_230858.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmXYDzHxzYmKTGBujLJ5qMJeSy3QB8K1vWD48mYmDW9ty9/IMG_20201011_230858.jpg)

For the longest time, I have always wanted to be a writer and publish a book. When I was I was in my late teens, I wrote a 14-chapter story that I wanted to publish, but I deleted it a few weeks later because I thought it was too childish. Maybe someday, I might revisit the story and try to get it published- fingers crossed.

## You Never Forget Your First

My first written piece was a poem called "[Afro Clown](https://hive.blog/art/@andreanoronha/afro-clown-a-poem-i-wrote-when-i-was-fourteen-2017811t23460576z)" (something I wrote based on a picture I had drawn) when I was 14 years old. Since then, I have not been able to write another good poem, but I got pretty good at short story writing.

I have been writing short stories since my early teens and, in my opinion, got pretty good at it with each new piece. I am especially proud of a horror story I wrote for a competition when I was in college called "My Toy Store". It won first place.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to write as many short stories as I would like considering that I had writer's block for a while, and then I got a job. I still write stories for my work, but they are mainly news-based or human interest stories. Don't get me wrong, I like writing human interest stories, but I would also like to write something purely based on my imagination.

## My First Book... Sort Of

While I was in college, some of my stories (and my one poem) were included in the respective institutions' magazines but I never considered my work to be "published", although I was immensely proud. Even at work, my articles have been published in our monthly magazine but they still, somehow, don't feel like my own.

Recently, however, a friend contacted me and asked if I could write something in short for a book she was compiling. She explained that the book would be called "Quarantime" and would contain stories, poems, essays etc. by 100 different writers on the theme of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown/quarantine.

She approached me pretty last minute and told me that I would have three to four days to submit a piece, the biggest catch was that I had to write something that wouldn't exceed 450 words. I was apprehensive at first but decided to get over myself and chance. I told her that I would write a short story, although I was really worried about the word limit as I tend to write long pieces.

## Anyhoo...

I did it! I wrote the short story and it got published. The book came out on Amazon recently and if you are interested, you can purchase the same [here](https://www.amazon.in/dp/8194688337).

![IMG_20201011_230931.jpg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmUgmc6BQbv9b4MNwJtbsTFt4Q142ZsbL91vZyAUcp93Kn/IMG_20201011_230931.jpg)

"Quarantime" has content in English and Hindi so as to appeal to a large audience.

###### If you do buy the book, drop a comment and let me know what you think :)