Shukran, Gracias, Thank you!!!

Hola, Bonjour, Merhaba, Salam and Namaste,

I hope you all are doing great in your lives!

2020 was when I was going to a very dark phase and I was desperately trying to survive those difficult times. Reading, binge watching Netflix, online shopping, you name it and I tried everything in the Introverts dictionary to live each day, praying to get over it but nothing worked out. One thing led to another, and I ended up writing a scene that had been haunting me for years. That's how "Let me hate you" came into existence. I published the chapter and was not quite expecting anything, but then one after another I started getting comments and that motivated me to write further. To be honest, it was an escapism, and like most of you, it brought me the necessary halt that I needed very much in my life at that time. 

but, like all good things, have an expiry, writing to escape the reality also had an expiration date. I started to realize in the quest to find a temporary pause in my struggling life, I was letting my escapism consume me and pull me away from reality. The downside of investing too much into something that is fiction is that you forget who you are in reality, and that was when I started feeling empty again. I started having an anxiety attacks and couldn't distinguish between reality and fiction. I had to take a decision for my mental peace and hence I started taking breaks in between. 

Oct 2021 was when I wrote my last book on Booknet, promising myself that I would create a healthy balance between my personal life and my life as a writer. To give a healthy break to my mind to understand when to shift to reality and when to become one of the characters in order to write. I never left Booknet but yes went on a sabbatical and during that time I started editing my books since it needed a lot of improvisation. By the time, I bounced back, I learned about Booknet's English version shutting down. It was a sad moment, but I strongly believe everything happens for a reason, a reason we might not understand but eventually, it will for the greater good. 

I won't bore you with the emotional talks, but what I intend to say is, you guys moved me, encouraged me, and made me realize we all are somewhere struggling with our lives, and it's okay to be not okay. It's okay to be down for a moment, and it's okay to fall. Your love made me stronger, a better version of what I was in 2020, and I hope somewhere I was able to motivate you through my stories. I'm forever grateful to each one of you for the love and support you have shown when I myself forgot how to love and respect myself. 

I can't put it across words as to how much I love you guys, words don't seem to justify the emotion.  but still, I would say this, THANK YOU!  A big Thank you to all the people who brought positivity in my life and also my stories.

The second most important person that I would want to thank is Andrew, my editor from booknet. If not for him, I would never have thought I have the skill to commercialize my stories. His patience and guidance was the stepping stone that led me to believe I could be a commercial writer. it was him that made me stick to booknet and write exclusively here. I really wish to work with him for a few more years. I hope he is still with booknet, and if he is reading this, Thank you so much, Andrew, from the bottom of my heart. 

Bookent will forever hold a great place in my heart. I met so many people and made some great friends who stood with me in every up and down. If not for booknet, I wouldn't have met Aliza Jabri( a sister from another mother)

There are never goodbyes, there are always new beginnings. I have many more stories to write, many more characters to make you cry, hate and fall in love again and again. Before anyone of you questions me, yes, Ayaan and Raina are very much in the pipeline. I have Sharon and Daniel's story to be told, school romance, falling in love with kidnapper, serial killer, and many more. Whoever invented social media, God bless him. My writing updates will be posted on Instagram(in case you want to follow me.)

I'm taking this moment to thank each one of you, knowing not all of us are on social media, and if you are one among them then this is my farewell gratitude. May be this would be the last time we would interact, or maybe we might soon connect on my Instagram/Facebook (Anjaani Sadek).

Till then, as Matt Damon said, "See you, when I see you."

Peace and love,

Anjaani.