I walked into Waterstones - in 2008, and what immediately caught my eye was my book, Breeze from the River Manjeera, on the ‘We Recommend’ display shelf. I was so thrilled.

At an early age, I would watch my mother burning the midnight oil while she wrote her book. I mean it literally. Atmakur, the small village in India where I was born, did not have electricity until 1973. After finishing her housework, and with her five children securely in bed, my mother used to sit by a kerosene lamp to write. Unfortunately, her book was never published, but her zeal for writing rubbed off on me. I used to scribble down fragments of stories all the time. At school, I managed to win a few prizes for essay writing and poetry. My first story, White Rose, which I wrote at fourteen, was published in my school magazine.

I was married almost immediately after I finished high school. I spoke very little English when I arrived in the UK, on a cold December day to join my husband who was a junior doctor at the time.

A few days after my arrival, while my husband was in the bath, the phone rang. I was hesitant at first but answered it anyway.

‘Is the doctor there please?’ the person on the other end asked.

‘Yes,’ I replied.

‘Could I speak to him, please?’

‘No.’

‘But it is important.’

‘Fine.’

‘The patient is very ill.’

‘Thank you.’

And so, the conversation continued. I had no idea what the woman was saying. I was repeatedly saying, ‘Yes, No, Fine, Thank you,’ in response to all her questions and requests. It was very difficult for me to understand what she was saying, let alone her accent. I could tell she was fed up with me from her tone and the way she ended the conversation abruptly.

When my husband came out of the bathroom, I told him about the phone call. He immediately rang the hospital. The nurse recited our entire conversation to him. I will never forget the look of embarrassment on his face. He didn’t say anything at that time but hurried out.

That evening, when he returned home, he brought me two presents - a woman’s magazine and a dictionary.

‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘You are going to learn English.’

I read the magazine, sitting up all through the night, from cover to cover without skipping a word. I couldn’t make sense of a single sentence, despite the aid of the dictionary. However, I was not going to give up.

The next morning, I went to the library. Wandering down the aisles and reading the book titles increased my determination to learn English. Looking through the children’s section gave me an idea. Why not learn the language from scratch, like a child would?

I went home with an assortment of basic children’s books and I began reading them. It worked. Gradually I started to understand more and more. Later I advanced on to teenage fiction, and then finally promoted myself on to novels. Since then, the library has become my second home and reading has been what I love the most.

In the early days, I used to write short stories about my experiences in this country and submit them to magazines in India. Around twenty-five of them were published in various Telugu magazines.

The inspiration for my first book, Breeze from the River Manjeera, sparked from a conversation with my friend about a beleaguered young woman she knew, whom I subsequently met.

I decided to write the book in English as I knew it would appeal to a wider readership. However, I knew very little English grammar. So, this novel was the most difficult challenge I had set myself. With the continued encouragement from my friends and family, I summoned up the courage and I began to write.

At first, writing in a second language was quite difficult, but I persevered with my poor grammar. After writing about sixty pages, I sought advice on whether I should continue, and so I joined my local writing group. There I received the support and feedback, I so desperately needed, from my fellow writers. But the most influential in my novel writing was the constructive criticism and guidance from our group leader, John Farley. He suggested I get everything down on paper first and worry about the grammar later.

When I had finished the novel, John insisted I send it to Richard & Judy’s ‘How To Get Published’ writing competition and so, once again following his advice, I did. A year later, to my great surprise I received a letter out of the blue informing me that my book was one of the 26 short-listed novels… out of 44,000 entries. This gave me the much-needed boost to continue, and so I began sending the manuscript to the publishers. Linen Press liked it, and the rest is history. Now I have published three books with Linen Press: Breeze from the River Manjeera, Blue Eyes and Letters in the Sand; all three have also been bought by the Paris-based publishers, Mercure De France and translated into French. Working with Lynn Michell, my editor at Linen Press, has been a wonderful experience.

The publication of Breeze from the River Manjeera has paved the way for my talks and book signings in book-festivals across the UK, the USA, France and Spain; BBC TV and radio interviews, and TV interviews in India; and featured articles about my writing in national newspapers in the UK and India. I received the 2008 Literary Association’s Reading Hero award at 10 Downing Street and won a prize in the Big Red Read competition.

I am currently working on my fourth novel. My writing journey, and my love for writing continues.