2020 will go down in history as the year the Covid virus locked the world indoors. It was, however, also the year that changed my life.
Trained to be a lawyer, I had three years of work experience with senior advocate Sanjay Jain at the Delhi High Court under my belt, when I took a break from the legal field in 2016 after my son was born. Launching a blog in 2017 seemed a logical and easy to pursue next step, as it suited my stay-at-home mom life and allowed me to explore my love of writing. Yet, after three years of blogging, the lack of recognition and earnings had begun to irk me.
In May 2024, a friend whose husband ran a media conglomerate, asked if I would like to be a columnist for a new digital news platform they were launching – The Daily Guardian. She thoroughly enjoyed my blogs and gave me the freedom to write on any subject of my choice. There was no money in it, but I jumped at the opportunity to get an actual byline!
Till that point, I had naively believed that only those with journalism degrees could write for newspapers and magazines. This fact had deterred me from ever approaching my favourite publications. Yet, once I built a database of columns in The Daily Guardian and its Sunday supplement, The Sunday Guardian, I felt confident about approaching other publications too.
In November 2020, I reached out to the New Indian Express Sunday Magazine, asking if they would like freelance contributions. They readily accepted both my “pitches” or story ideas and the first article I was paid by a media outlet to write came out on January 3, 2021. It focused on a new music single released by an indie band.
Since then, I have gone on to write for 37 different publications in India, the US and the UK, with my blog being the 38th and have published over 1000 articles. In 2023, I wrote and published a whopping 365 articles – one for every day of the year. In 2024, I was invited to be a fortnightly columnist for Hindustan Times Brunch, alongside hallowed journalistic names like Vir Sanghvi! The cherry on the cake has been my inclusion in Exchange4Media’s list of top 40 under 40 English language journalists in India.
All my skills have been acquired on the job, and while working remotely, by myself. These include identifying what makes a good story, learning the art of pitching, dealing with edits (and a variety of editors!), researching the subject from different angles, sticking to deadlines and word limits, and tweaking the voice of the article as per the publication, among others. The journey has required a tremendous amount of hard work, discipline, research skills and a commitment to networking. Yet, it has also been incredibly rewarding and tons of fun! I’ve found my calling and managed to make it my vocation too.
It’s safe to say that no one will forget the year 2020, but my memories of it will always remain extra sweet.
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This post was originally published on my LinkedIn profile in response to the prompts given by team Blogchatter for their #whatsyourstory campaign to kick off 2025.
I’m planning to be a lot more regular on LinkedIn with interesting content. Come connect with me there to stay updated!
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This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla
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*This is not a sponsored post.
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