There’s a quiet joy in pressing “submit” after months of living inside a story.

Today, I began sending my new novella, From the Window: The City of What-Ifs, to literary publishers and contests.

Set in late-1990s Kathmandu, the story follows a young woman who spends her nights watching the workers in the shoe factory across her alley. When a fire changes everything, she must confront what it means to witness suffering — and the cost of silence.

I wrote this book with the sounds and smells of...

A Memory from a Kathmandu Factory

Today, while going through an old album, I found a photograph that stopped me in my tracks. It was taken on the day I left the shoe factory in Kathmandu. My brothers in labor stood close, their arms around my shoulders, their faces carrying exhaustion, pride, and a silent promise of solidarity.

Author’s Note (2025): I first wrote this piece soon after publishing my debut memoir, but the lessons remain just as relevant today. Even now, my inbox fills with waves of promotional emails and lofty promises. The reflections here continue to guide me—and I hope they might help other writers, too.

--------------------------------------

When I first set out to write A Fight for a Cup of Chai, I thought the hardest part would be telling the story—reliving the pain, shaping the truth, and...