Why 21 Days’ Writing Challenge By BookLeaf Publishing Became A Sensation

Research says it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. And this maxim is what BookLeaf Publishing banks upon to initiate one to a new habit — writing. With its 21-Day Writing Challenge, BookLeaf Publishing hopes to spur the authors into writing their hearts out and to continue doing so even post this three week period, a habit that's meant to stay.

Once a participant registers for the challenge, they are supposed to submit a write-up — poems, diary entries, haiku, quotes, etc. — every day for 21 days. The team then compiles these write-ups into a draft and helps the author out with formatting, editing and illustrations, if the author so chooses, before proceeding with the book's publishing. A consultant gets assigned to the author right at the beginning to make the entire process seamless and one-stop.

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The idea for the challenge was born of a short survey the company conducted amongst its team members and the authors who'd worked with it earlier. "We realized that although close to 80% of the respondents wrote in some form or the other, only about 15% of them wrote regularly as a habit. We wanted to change that," says Musavir Khurshid, CEO of BookLeaf Publishing.

But the challenge is about much more than developing a new habit, claims BookLeaf Publishing's co-founder Shivangi Verma. "People have used the platform in innumerable ways to express themselves. To talk about their broken hearts, to commemorate their failures and successes, to thank the beauty around them, to address the social wrongs around, to write notes to self meant to be read some years down the line, to publish a person's scribblings and gift them on their birthday, to record blessings and lessons for their infants. Writing does that to you, making you talk to a paper about things you normally won't to living and breathing people around you," she says.

Covid and the lockdowns have taken a huge toll on mental health. People have been and still are going through unfathomable agony, trying to come to terms with the loss of loved ones, the feeling of helplessness and the sense of emptiness. Letting it out allows a semblance of closure. "The challenge is also an attempt to encourage the authors to pen these thoughts down on paper in an effort to make sense of what one has been through and as a reminder that bad times will eventually pass," says Shivangi.

While writing down a book in itself is a task, getting it published seems to be more so. Especially for first-time authors who are just beginning to venture into the business of getting their books out there, the entire process can be quite tortuous. Besides, many of these authors at times are not even sure of their decision to take such a momentous step. At BookLeaf Publishing, we aim to make authors feel at home with the publishing process, says Musavir. "The challenge inspires confidence within the author who remains in control of each element of their book throughout. It's more about an experience worth remembering and an outcome worth cherishing."