Paperian Kavita is on a mission to connect with millions of people through her writing
The Folded Paper believes and practises that the more ideas we come up with and the more we let our creativity flourish, the better our writing will be. Kavita Chowdry, a journalism student, also comes up with many new ideas; thinking and writing creatively are essential to share news in interesting, consumable formats. Hence, there was a match between Kavita and The Folded Paper Writing Community.
Kavita is a final year student of BA Journalism and Mass Communication from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences. She is also a freelance content writer and a co-author in 10+ anthologies.
The Folded Paper (TFP): 10+ anthologies! That is huge! How did it begin and what do you aspire to do with writing?
Kavita Chowdry (KC): I had a very long hiatus from writing. My writing journey restarted in the pandemic. One day I got a chance to publish my writeup in an anthology and I took it up. When the book, Mental Health Strategies and Psychosocial Challenges in the Post COVID-19 Pandemic was published, I got my strength back to write again. I aspire to reach millions of people and relate with them through my writing.
TFP: That is great! How did The Folded Paper come into your writing journey?
KC: I joined TFP in December 2020. I was scrolling through Instagram and found the page. Then I joined my first Writing and Creativity Jam meeting. Since then, TFP has taught me a lot about writing and is also a stressbuster with its always diverse, creative prompts and writing challenges.
I learned to accept my first thoughts here. First thoughts is the concept where you don’t reject your ideas and explore them to see where they take your writing. I also realized how true TFP’s philosophy of ‘anybody can write’ is. We all do write daily, we might not do it deliberately. When we start doing it deliberately, we become better at it. Now I advocate accepting the concepts and philosophy of first thoughts and anybody can write.
TFP: What are the top three things that you have learned as a writer and any advice to fellow writers?
KC: In Paperians Swipe File, the feedback session in the meeting, I learnt that you should never stop yourself from writing, even if it is just a paragraph, just go ahead and write. It need not be a complete book or blog always.
Second, people have different perspectives to the same thing and we should accept them. My first activity of the “Picture Challenge” nailed this really well for me.
Third, the TFP’s writing sessions are well thought of and they can teach you something new every time. The 1.07 pm challenge is my most favorite takeaway from the meeting. It involves taking up a small challenge at 1.07 pm everyday — like writing four lines everyday at 1.07 pm — irrespective of what we are doing then. We just stop everything and do this challenge.
My personal advice would be that we shouldn’t try to write something extravagant or something that pleases everybody. Writing something short with a real message and a conflict that resonates with ourselves is important. Also, maintain a streak of writing as we do on Snapchat.
TFP: Writing is an individual activity. How is it when you do it with a writing community like The Folded Paper?
KC: There is a difference of course. When you write with yourself you can’t figure out your shortcomings and you don’t get a direction. When writing with a community, I got to better know the writer in me. It is tough when we begin, we compare and feel a bit low. But we can and must work on it. The tradeoff is huge — we learn about so many different people, their inspiration, and their writing styles.
I think it’s important to join a writing community to clear our minds off the doubts we have. And for those who want to do it, I will recommend TFP, not just because it’s the first community I joined but also because I felt so much love and gratitude in the meetings. I loved the interactive sessions and the unique prompts that make my Saturdays awesome.
