There are very few times when I’m not motivated to write, but returning from a vacation is one of them. Usually, I have no problems delving into writing– setting up/editing WHEN DO YOU WRITE guest posts, blog posts, doing MFA application stuff, or coming up with summer writing prompts.

But I do sometimes have trouble WRITING — getting to the meaty part of my work in progress. Right now, for me, it’s not so much writing as it is research. While at Hambidge, I ordered several books on bone marrow transplants– I’ve really got to start reading them.

I think part of my difficulty also stems from the fact that writing this novel is going to be a completely different experience than writing my last novel. Not only do I need to do a heap of research before I draft a single word, but I also need to do a separate outline for each protagonist, then write the stories as if they were two separate novels. Only when I’m several drafts in will I even attempt to weave the two stories together.

The lovely Julie tagged me in a Writing Meme a little while back called the “Work in Progress Challenge.” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m terrible at memes, but this one ties in so well with this post, so here goes!

1. What is the title of your book/WIP?

Finding Om

2. Where did the idea for the WIP come from?

I got the idea for the novel last June, while watching the sunset over the Yamuna River, from the terrace of the Taj Mahal.

3. What genre would your WIP fall under?

Literary/Women’s Fiction.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

This is a tough one. I’ll have to think on it more after I’ve actually started writing the book.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your WIP?

Two teenagers in love during the 1947 partition of India teach a modern-day yogi the true meaning of family and the importance of finding peace.

6. Is your WIP published or represented?

Neither. I’m still in the research/outline phase!

7. How long did it take you to write?

I can’t say since I’m still in the pre-writing phase. But I’d like to be finished with the first draft six months after I start writing it. (And I hope to begin writing in October/November.)

8. What other WIPs within your genre would you compare it to?

I’m borrowing the structure of Finding Om from Sarah’s Key, a book that I absolutely loved. But Finding Om isn’t really going to be anything like Sarah’s Key.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this WIP?

I think every author I’ve ever read has influenced me in some way to write this book.

10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in this project.

My multicultural background has always been a big influence in my writing– I’m half Indian, one quarter Puerto Rican, and one quarter Austrian. In addition, I am slightly obsessed with reading literature on the partition of India in 1947 (the year the British vacated India and Pakistan was created). Finding Om has two protagonists– Shan Johnson, a half-Indian yoga teacher who has no connection with her Indian heritage, and Deepa Patel, a teenager who loses everything in the violence following partition. Though their stories take place over sixty years apart, both stories involve themes about fractured identities and what makes a family.

Since I’m terrible at doing memes I get tagged in, I’m not going to officially tag anyone else. But please let me know if you do the meme, too, and I’ll link to it here!