Harish Rijhwani-From Fact to Fiction: A Writer's Journey

Harish is a multifacted individual with 21 years of experience in IT and 11 years in Teaching. He has created an ability to take difficult Healthcare IT concepts and turn them into fiction. By doing so, it allows the audience to understand difficult concepts through the art of storytelling.  His writings began as nonfiction until he recognized the value in sharing the information through a story in lieu of the sometimes dryness of explaining something that is difficult for people with no background knowledge in the subject matter.
Find him at:
Harish C. Rijhwani - (harishrijhwani.com)
9 to 5 Cubicle Tales: Explore The Journey Of A Young IT Professional - Kindle edition by Rijhwani, Harish C., Kothari, Yasha. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to another How to Write a Book from A to Z episode. I am the writing newbie, still trying to learn, Lisa Groynard here. If you're one of those people that have the story rattling around the brain, but just still not sure of how to get it from the brain to the paper, like me, thanks for joining us. Today we have, straight from India, Harish Rishwani who is an author, speaker, mentor, and a health IT professional. He has had a journey in healthcare for almost 18 years and has decided to take this opportunity to use his knowledge to make it a little easier for those of us who don't understand the world. So, off we go to the wonderful world of Zoom. Once again, thanks for tuning in. How are you today? How are you doing? I'm great. Let's just kind of get started. I would love to hear about your. entire writing journey, like how you started and kind of where you've come from there. So let's start at the very beginning. How did you start writing? I started writing for my engineering days. I got an opportunity to co author a book. It was called Electromagnetic Fields and Waves. But that book never got published for whatever reason, it never got published. So I stopped over there in a certain way. And during my MBA, when I was pursuing my MBA, one of our marketing professors, he gave us an assignment to write about whatever is happening in the class, whatever's happening in the lectures. So I wrote it as a journal. And that was more like it was still written like a story itself, though. We were talking about the marketing concept. It was written in a language that if you read it, you'll definitely understand what it was. And from there, probably I got a gist of, okay, I have a knack of writing, but I still did not start writing completely. I started teaching. And from there, in the end, I somehow ended up writing a book on healthcare IT. That's where I started writing fiction. And then I wrote three fiction books. And recently I have written two novels. Okay. Great. So let's tell me about The storytelling piece, because I did see that on your website and I like the concept. So you basically, if I understand, decided to take probably a more complicated concept and in lieu of writing it for those of us that know nothing about what you're talking about it, you did it through storytelling. Yes. Okay. How did that come about? So let me give you an idea, right? So when I started teaching, I was teaching healthcare IT and I was teaching more from the perspective of US healthcare, because I've worked in the US healthcare space for more than 22 years. And anybody who's working in healthcare IT in India is not really aware of what's happening in the US healthcare market, but there are a lot of people who need to understand that. And when I was teaching my students, they were not really aware of that. And the way I was teaching, it didn't really make sense to them. And then. In one of the lectures, one of the students got up and told me, whatever you're telling me, it doesn't make any sense to me. So after that I got a realization, okay, whatever I'm trying to say, it's in my mind, even though I understand it, somebody else is not understanding. So there are two things which kind of helped me. There's a book called made to stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, and they explain how to simplify a concept. So that's where I got an idea. How do you really communicate to anyone? If you really have to explain a concept to anyone. You have to put together an analogy in their language that makes it much more simpler for them to understand it. It's so fascinating because really it kind of makes sense to, it's a kind of a simple concept, but it's not, it doesn't happen very often when we're talking about the types of books that you were writing, correct? Yes. If you want, I can give you a simple example. Sure. If I, if I look at. You might've heard of data science, everybody's talking about data science in the world now. And there is a concept of neural networks. What I did was I explained it using an example of cooking food. If you are baking a cake in your mind, you know how the cake is going to look like. But when you bake it for the first time, the very first time, you're not sure of a lot of things. You're just trying a lot of things, right? You'll put the ingredients, you'll mix it, you put it in the oven, you'll bake it, you'll get an output. When you bake it for the first time, it might be it's too soggy or it's too sweet. What you'll do, you'll go back and change the ingredient, the quantity of the ingredients. It's a very simple thought, but practically that is what is a neural network. You're just making the computer do the same thing. And you go back and change these quantities. That's what the computer does in terms of the neural network. Because yes, I understood exactly what you were just telling me. But I know nothing about data science. I appreciate that you knew that that was the way that you needed to write your, write your books. Tell us the names of the nonfiction books. The first book is called Healthcare IT Decoded. The second is Technology to Business, The Invisible Gap. That's based on the journal that I wrote in my marketing classes. And the third is Master the Mystic Arts, Begin Your Data Science Journal. So did you want to write before the books came along? Or was it the concept of, wow, people aren't understanding this. So I need to write. Does that make sense? So I. I probably wrote because I was teaching, right? I was teaching my students. I'd been teaching when I wrote my first book, I'd already been teaching for seven years. I teach on weekends. I don't teach on weekdays. And I had already got that experience in terms of whatever I'm teaching, whatever I'm explaining. I knew how to explain that after seven years. So I just thought, why don't I just, you know, put it down in a book and share that. So that's where I probably thought of putting it together. And then I thought, what else should I do? And that's where I wrote another two nonfiction books. So second book, I wrote technology to business. So that when I started off, right, I had the journal with me, but that was all handwritten. Oh, wow. I wasn't going to kind of, you know, type it all together. So what I did, I gave it to a local guy. He typed it for me in a word document and gave it to me. So I had to start instead of me spending like, you know, a 20 days, 30 days, just typing that out. It took one week and he gave that to me in a Word document. From there, then I added a lot more concepts. I love solving Rubik's cubes. So I have this seven by seven Rubik's cube. I'm not sure it's clearly visible. This I'll try to explain all those analogies. How do you really market it, right? That is where I started using more and more concepts. And even in the case of data science. That's much more easier to explain. It's like, if you've seen the movie, Karate Kid, and I'm sure you've seen Karate Kid, how Mr. Miyagi is teaching Daniel LaRusso, he's teaching him karate, but he's not sure that he's learning karate because he's just telling him, move your hand like this, move your hand like that. In the end, this is what you're doing, right? That's how the data science book, I kind of marketed that. Okay. What I'm trying to explain, you might not get it to the end because I'm trying to explain an analogy. And in the end, I'm going to tell you, this is what it is. Wow. Wow. That's fantastic. So how long has each book taken you to write? First book, because I was already working. I was already teaching. I had a lot of content. They didn't take me more than three months. You know, I just thought I'll just write it. I wrote that I published it. I just self published it. I didn't go to a publisher. The second book also, it took me another two, three months and data science book took a little longer. So I wanted to reach out to a larger market because when you're writing fiction and especially you're writing something very niche, right. Even if it's healthcare, it's not a bigger market. Not everybody wants to talk about healthcare. I wanted to reach out to a larger group of people who might relate to whatever I'm talking about, which is where I thought, let me write about something related to the office work. And I haven't seen a lot of books around corporate work. There are a lot of, there are certain series which are there, but I haven't seen really something capturing the IT landscape all together. So that is where I thought of writing a fiction novel. But the reality was when I started writing, I was still writing it in nonfiction, even though it was, I was telling a story, there were no dialogues, I was just writing it. It didn't make any sense. That is where I thought of doing a course from British Council library. And that too, I had like spent two months, I was writing something which I wanted to write. And when I was traveling somewhere, I just opened my mobile phone and I searched for creative writing courses. And the first thing that came up was. British Council Library. So I did that course over the weekend. I did two courses. What was the name of the course? Creative Writing from British Council Library. Okay. So, that's where I did a couple of courses, and I realized what I was writing lacked a lot of depth, even though I was trying to explain the concept. Especially if I want to write it as a real story, it has to have a script, it has to have a plot, it has to have a subplot, a theme. It has to have all those elements, which are important, which I did not have at that point of time. So that must have been kind of eye opening. Yes, very much. It was a lot of fun. Actually the sessions I attended on the weekend were during the COVID time. Oh, that's great. Good use of your time. Okay. So did you then build, characters for your cubicles? And was it a lot more fun? Cause you could kind of like create more. Yes, it was. So what I had done, I had a notepad and I had written pointers that these are the things I want to cover in this particular chapter. These are the things I want to cover in this particular chapter. Who's going to be there? The challenges were, how do I really depict a particular character? Because once you've been in it for 20 years, you know, the kind of people you're going to meet. And I've been to us as well. I've stayed in Nashville for like seven months. So I know the kind of people you will meet. So how do you really showcase that, right? That was the challenge. And also to remember how someone is. Or how someone is not, right? What are the characteristics of that person? What are the nuances they do? You know, somebody likes to hop and skip all those kinds of elements. You have to put together that character altogether, right? That's the fun part and more challenging also. Sure. I had a, another author that was talking about how fun it was just to watch people and kind of get some of your characteristics for your. Characters out of the people that you're watching. I was like, that does sound fun. Yes. We were given an assignment when I was studying, I was learning creative writing. The teacher told us you go out of the house, wear a mask, go to the house, go out, close your eyes, and just stand there and listen to what is happening around you. And then you come back and write about that. The other thing they tell you, go and observe one person. On the road, what are they doing? What are the, what are the color of shirt they're wearing? Observe that. And then you write about it. That's where you get to understand, you know, because as a writer, you have to be much more observant as a normal person. You know, what are you wearing on your t shirt? What's the logo that you're wearing? That also is something you can kind of show. In your writing, you can describe it. Like if I see in the background in your screen itself, right? There are so many things hanging in the background. What do they really mean? Yeah. How do I explain that? Also in the writing aspect? Do you enjoy that piece of it? Yeah. That is what actually helped me a lot. And even though I've been in us, that was like 15 years ago. Mm-Hmm But how do I really go back that point of time, right? If I want to talk about a certain experience, which happened. Of me or one of my friends, how do I really go back? That is where I use technology. Right. So what I did, let's say if I, in one of the chapters, you're talking about a road trip to Smoky Mountain in Atlanta. I, I only have like three photographs of Smoky Mountain. I do not know what to do. So what I normally do is I go to YouTube. I'll search for Smoky Mountain because. There are a lot of videos of people who have posted of their experiences on Smoky Mountains. So I went through that. The other thing which I also did was, I used Google Maps. So I navigated from one place till Smoky Mountain on the Google Maps. I used Street View. I navigated from one place to the other place. I tried and there is an option also for the date. You can change the date that you can go back to 2007. You can go back to 2014, whatever date you choose. Yes, you can do that sitting here. I was able to kind of navigate that road itself. And say that, okay, this is how I describe there's a Wendy's coming up on the left hand side. That is how you make it realistic that, okay, you are really going through that road. And did you learn this in this course? Because I have not heard that. And that is a fabulous idea. For some reason, it's like when we think of, or I think of research, I'm thinking more, let me go back and read some articles about it. Silly me for not thinking, why don't I go to YouTube and actually see? The area. I love that concept. Yes. No, that wasn't in the course. I, that, that just, I just thought of it. Yeah. Because I like to make it more realistic as possible. Something close to what people will relate to. That's where I try to make it as eligible as possible. So your cubicle tales, do you like, I just out of curiosity. So you have like all the different little personalities and all the little cubicles I'm guessing. And is it the dynamics of the fun that we've all had in dealing in areas like this? Yes, absolutely. Everybody worked in an office space. There is one chapter in which I've spoken about a person who will give you the silliest excuses to not come to office. You definitely would have come across somebody like that. He said, okay, the dog chew up the key. Yeah. I cannot travel for whatever reason. That's how you depict, how do you really put that? Because that's just one sentence, but how do you really put that in an entire story? Because it has to be around something else also. So how do you put that small element that you might've come across? That's the fun part of it. For you, for you, that sounds hard to me, but yeah, that's fantastic. So what, do you have something coming up that you're working on right now? So now I'm recording my Udemy course. I have three Udemy courses also. I'm recording something on data science, but beyond that. The cubicle tale series, right? when I started off, I thought I'll write one book, but when I started writing and I wrote that across a span of like seven to eight months, I was writing 500 words every day, every night I used to write 500 words. And when I started completing it till the end, I said, no, I still wanted to write, but I said, no, I cannot go beyond this for that particular amount of six months. And I stopped it at that point of time. And I ended up writing around 100, 000 words. There are so many things which are there in the span of cubicle tales, right? As of now, the protagonist is just a simple programmer. But if you want to look at the journey of an IT professional, right, you can grow from a software engineer to whatever level you want to. So that's the journey I want to kind of depict. And it might not, it might be beyond this in terms of just two parts, right? There'll be so many different parts which can come into picture. There's so many experiences that you can talk about working with different kinds of people as you grow, the challenges increase. The kind of people you meet are different. I love it. I love it. So you're taking somebody from the very beginning that knows nothing about the profession and creating a journey for him as he moves up in the moves up or sideways or down, or I guess whichever way he goes. You could go for a very long time with it. Like Harry Potter only had seven parts, but yeah, that's great. Okay. Before we keep going, I want to make sure that you tell everybody where they can reach you if they have any any questions. Let's get that out. So I'm on LinkedIn. I'm there on Instagram. I'm on Facebook. I have my website, harishrijwani. com. So anywhere works even I can share my email ID with you also if you want. Yes, definitely send that across to you. Okay, that would be fabulous. Okay, so on your journey, it sounds like it's been a very, interesting journey. What has been the hardest part of it? The hardest is how do you sell the book? I find writing a lot easier. It's a lot more structured at this point of time for me. What's the challenging part? Because I'm a self published author. The challenging part is how do I really sell the book, I did a course from, Brian Cohen. So he works on ad schools. There's a group on Facebook. I'm part of that group. I've learned how to do Amazon advertising, but it's not, That simple so, and again, who's going to be the right audience for my book, because not everybody might be that interested in eating what cubicle did, right? Everybody might not be that keen on it. How do you really market that, sell that, that is a bigger challenge. I could understand that. It is even though, like you said, it probably encompasses anyone who has worked in cubicles and they would probably enjoy it, it is getting to your audience. And I know I've heard that from other people. The writing is hard enough, but when you decide to like continue and try to market it on your own, it really becomes very difficult. Well, hopefully. You being here will help because it sounds like they'll be very interesting. And I'm in Austin, Texas. We have a few engineers and lots of it around our area. Absolutely. So what else would you like our readers to know about you and your journey? So in, in terms of writing, it's more in terms of the concept, right? What do you want to write about? First of all, you have to be clear about that. And I made a conscious effort that every chapter that I write should not be more than 2000 words. Because if I make the chapter 5000 words or whatever it might be, it might become really too big and too boring, especially if I'm going to drag it that much. So I try to keep it to around 2000 words. Every chapter has to have some kind of a problem if you want to showcase that, right? It's like a small series. Even if you look at in young Sheldon or any other series that you might've seen, right? There is a problem in that particular series or in that particular chapter for that matter, that what is the problem you're trying to solve that has to be clear in your mind. And how does that problem get solved? Does it get solved over there in that chapter itself, or will it get solved later in the end? So you have that in, you should have that in your mind. For me, when I started writing the book. I know there is a bigger problem, bigger challenge the protagonist wants to solve and I know how it can possibly end or how it cannot end. I know the ending of that, but there is a longer journey in between that, right? So that I haven't really thought of. It's difficult to think of all those elements because when I sit to talk about cubicles, There are a lot of other people who came back and told me, okay, you can put this also, you can put this also. My boss himself, he told me that, okay, this is good, but there are so many other things you can write about. You call me, I'll tell you a lot of other things. Nice. So you're able to use a lot of the people you're working with and they're good with hearing your stories. Yes, because anybody who's worked in IT will relate to it. They've been through that journey. Because everybody starts with getting themselves, wherever you might have worked, they're going to put you in a training group in the beginning. And then they'll put you on a project, and then you'll start working on it. So, that's how it normally works. Nice. Well, tell us what can we do? What can we do to get the word out for you about your books? Start reading this. I think that's the best idea ever. Well, I will, I will definitely be okay If I were to pick one, what book would you think I would enjoy? The second book. The second book? 95 Cubical Days, A Race Against Time. Okay. How about I read it and in a month or two, you come back and we'll discuss that. Sure. Does that sound good? Yep. Absolutely. Okay. Great. Great. Anything else? Maybe tell us, why should people even write? It's, so the way I think about it, right even if I'm not there in the world later on, I've still shared some experience of mine. So you're kind of leaving a mark in the world that, okay, you were there at some point in time, right? It might be very deep in that sense, but definitely that's one of the reasons why I wrote. And also it's a way of sharing your experiences, sharing your learning, right? Especially when you're looking at, even though I'm writing fiction, the underlying meaning or underlying challenge that you're showcasing is you have to be persevering in everything that you do. Even if you're trying to solve a problem, you have to be at it again and again, you might fail once you have to try it again. So that's what the writing also depicts, right? So at some point, somebody might, Pick up the book and say, okay, I already loved it. So what happened once, just to give an example, I had given my book to one of my doctors. He works in the ICU and my book is related to healthcare in some way or the other. And he gave the book to one person, one of the patients who was in the ICU. He said that I cannot sleep because I like to read. And my doctor, he gave him my book. You said, okay, you read this. And when this patient got discharged from the hospital and suddenly getting some calls at 1130 in the night, I'm not sure who this guy is, who this person is. I didn't pick up the phone because it's 1130. Why would I pick up the phone? And then he then messaged me that, okay, this doctor gave me a number. Then I picked up the phone and he said, he told me that I love reading, but I've been trying to read a lot of stuff. I'm not from an English background. I'm from a non English background. And because of which, but when I picked up your book, I found it very easy to read. It's very simple to understand. And I want to buy that book from you. So that is the experience that wants to make you write more about that. And when he, this person called me, what I also did that entire experience, I kind of wrote it as a short fiction and wrote it as a blog on my websites as an article. Am going to be buying the book then and if you don't mind, let's try this. Let's come back. We'll figure out when we can get back together and we'll we'll chat about the book. No, definitely. Thank you so much. It's interesting to hear the way that you have turned difficult concepts and two ways that us normal, not normal, you know what I mean? Because I'm not normal as regular folk that don't understand all of that, where we can actually read it. And I'm sure enjoy it. So, thank you so much. And thank you to our audience. It has been a few days I have my official copy of Nine to Five Cubicle Tales by Harish Rishwani, A Race Against Time, So I shall be reading this and my suggestion is that our audience also pick up a copy. If anyone has ever worked in a cubicle, which I had an opportunity to do for a very short time, I have no doubt that this will be interesting and, Relatable because it's just about working in a cubicle and, It's about personality. So how fun must it be to put together characters that we've probably all experienced throughout our career days and just have fun with it and build a book. So, once again, get out that Big Chief tablet.