In Conversation With Chinmayee Gayatree Sahu

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

I can’t paint or draw. At least not in a manner, that would be decipherable or appreciated honestly. If I were held at gunpoint and someone asked me to do either, I’m sure I’d die. This is probably why, as Leanardo, the great, points out in the above quote, I incline towards poetry. Poetry for me, is my first love, both as a reader and as a writer. I befriended Chinmayee Gayatree Sahu, my today’s guest on the #AuthorCollaborative, after reading her debut book 5 Petals. I loved this book so much that it found its place in my Best Reads of 2021.

Ever since I read the book, I have followed Chinmayee’s writing religiously through her blog posts and her social media. So, when I came to know she was bringing out her second book, that too a poetry book, I knew I had to read it. It was no surprise that I ended up loving Heartfelt Symphonies.

Read my detailed review of this book here

We’ve been planning to do an episode of the #AuthorCollaborative for over 3 months now. But something or the other kept popping up which delayed our plans. Today, finally, after a long wait and many follow-ups, we managed to find a common time.

Though we’ve read more than one book of each other’s, we wanted to focus on our latest ones. So Chinmayee chose, Under the Mistletoe & Other Stories, and here’s what she had to say about it.

Read Chinmayee’s detailed review of this book here

I’ve been in awe of how Chinmayee manages to blog and write books alongside doing a full-time job. So my questions to her were focused on how to manage time with such multiple roles.

Check out Chinmayee’s answers to the above questions here

Chinmayee too wanted to know how I manage it all and what I would like to tell the new and aspiring writers out there.

Check out my answers to the above questions by Chinmayee here

Those questions and their answers from each of us took up over an hour. It was a knowledge-sharing and gaining conversation and quite an intense one at that. Therefore, before concluding, I wanted to end on a lighter note. That’s where the rapid-fire round came in.