ANJU DHAWAN talks about her latest book “IT’S UP TO YOU” | AUTHOR INTERVIEW

ANJU DHAWAN talks about her latest book “IT’S UP TO YOU” | AUTHOR INTERVIEW
on Aug 19, 2019

Anju Dhawan is a woman of many achievements. In addition to being the founder-director of SMS Consultants, which is a Delhi based consultant firm, she is also a passionate social worker, an educator, a qualified teacher, a motivator, an NLP practitioner, a learner, and an author. Having started her career as a teacher at the ICL School in Rohtak, Anju moved on to work for the US-based multinational firm, 3M. She worked there for 5 years and later ventured to establish her own company. Over the years, her company has provided professional consulting services for over 800 schools in India and abroad. Anju personally looks after crucial performance segments such as manpower planning and top management recruitment while also handling motivational workshops for students. Adding another feather to her cap is the fact that she is also the president of Sashakt, a Delhi based NGO that works towards the education and empowerment of underprivileged and specially-abled children. In addition to education, Sashakt also focuses on key improvement areas like spoken English, personality development and skill development. It’s Up to You is Anju Dhawan’s debut book which will be of immense help to teenagers who are in a very important phase of their lives and who need to understand how to focus their energies in the right direction. Written in an easy language, with a style that is flowy, the book is quite structured and organized in its content. We at bookGeeks got a lucky chance to interview this multi-talented author. Here’s what she has to say about her work, her writing and about reading and writing in general.

bookGeeks: What made you want to write this book?

Anju: I have been working closely with children and teenagers. I mentor them, conduct motivational workshops for them and counsel them. Many children and teenagers come and share their problems with me. I have been writing my experiences and case studies in a journal for the past many years. I wanted to share my learnings with a lot of individuals, therefore I decided to write a book. I have written this book to help teenagers and youngsters learn the biggest lesson of their lives - ‘It’s up to you to make or break your life’. My purpose of life is to reach out and help others and this book is another step in this direction.

bookGeeks: What are the influences that drove you to pen down this work?

Anju: I am an avid reader and good books have influenced me to write something which could touch and transform many lives. Positive people around me have always motivated me to follow my heart.

bookGeeks: How often do you write?

Anju: I have written many articles in some leading educational magazines. I also write in my diary on a daily basis. This is my first book.

bookGeeks: Why did you choose to write this book in the self-help genre?

Anju: Youngsters now days are confident yet confused. They are distracted and pulled in several different directions. Increasing competition in this digital world has put them under stress. They have the information but they don’t have the right guidance on how to use that information for their benefit. Also, I noticed that there is no self-help/personal development book dedicated to teenagers and their problems. The few self-help books available in the market just say what to do, therefore I decided to write a self-help book with a main focus on ‘HOW’ to do the things.

bookGeeks: Who are the writers that inspire you the most?

Anju: Tony Robbins, Robin Sharma, Sudha Murthy, Paulo Coelho

bookGeeks: What are your upcoming projects?

Anju: To reach the masses I am now working on getting my book translated and published in Hindi. The Hindi version of the book will be out by May and is titled ‘Tum per he‘. It’s Up To You has made its way to libraries of public schools and with ‘Tum Per he’ I want to reach government schools and NGOs.

bookGeeks: Do you have any suggestions for debut authors planning to write their first book?

Anju: Don’t wait. If you want to write ‘Just go for it’.

bookGeeks: Any message for our readers of fiction books who do not read much of non-fiction?

Anju: I have always been a huge fan of non-fiction especially motivational books and biographies of great personalities. I love reading biographies as one can draw a lot of inspiration from them. Book reading should have the right combination of entertainment and learning and that’s exactly what some of the non-fiction books offer.