Sahil Mehta

What was your favorite book as a child?

I was a voracious and indiscriminate reader as a child. I loved Nancy Drew and Famous Five mysteries, Enid Blyton, and read things that I probably shouldn’t have at that age, such as Bram Stroker’s Dracula. Growing up in a small city with limited library resources, I didn’t have the luxury of pursuing only one genre or author. I do remember my favorite non-fiction being Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owens.

What was the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

As I child I had two when-I-grow-up dreams: learn a foreign language and publish something. The pandemic is what allowed me to pursue the latter. I went from working 70 hours a week to 28, and I told myself I had no excuse to not do all the things I claimed I wanted to do but avoided due to time constraints. I gave myself a goal of writing for an hour each day. It didn’t matter if I wrote 5 words or 5 hundred, a grocery list or a story. I started writing and the piece grew into a novel which is slated to come out next year!

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

Leaving India at age 17, unaccompanied, to come to the US for school is probably the most adventurous thing I’ve done but I was young enough to be fearless then. Seeing my name in print is probably the most thrilling thing for me. My first story was published in Foglifter Journal last year.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I don’t have a preference one way or the other because I’m usually in a zone when I am writing. I don’t put on music when I am writing at home but I often write in cafes and bars where music is playing in the background. I might even be humming along but I’m really not paying attention to anything other than my writing or reading.