Himaly asked Alka Joshi:

Hello Ms. Joshi. Your books have meant so much to me as a South Asian woman and aspiring writer myself. I have fallen in love with your writing and really admire the work that you do. I am looking forward to finally reading your third novel. My background is in Public Relations/Communications, but I would love to publish a novel one day. Would you recommend further education in order to achieve this goal? Any advice?

Alka Joshi Thank you for writing to me and for loving the books, Himaly. I benefitted from evening classes in creative writing with a small cohort of aspiring authors. With the help of our instructor, who was a published author, we critiqued each other's work and were encouraged to produce written pages every week. I loved that experience. When I was able to write full-time, I enrolled in an MFA program where I could read, write and have my work critiqued intensely for two years. Both experiences added to my education, and I would encourage you to start with evening classes while you're working in the PR field.

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