"Who Will Read My Book?"

Becoming A Writer

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-8:28

"Who Will Read My Book?"

Episode 38 of Becoming A Writer podcast.

May 30, 2025

Transcript

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Show Notes -

Episode Summary:
In this deeply personal and inspiring episode, I return after a healing hiatus to reflect on the transformative power of reading and the doubt that often haunts writers — Who will read my books? Through my own journey of dealing with PCOS, healing through books, and reconnecting with my love for reading, I remind you that if books have changed our lives, our own books have the potential to change others’ lives too.

Key Points Discussed:

Health Update & Healing Journey: Rubina shares her recent challenges with PCOS and how a new doctor and Ayurvedic medicines are beginning to help.
Books As Lifesavers: Reading books on healing, trauma, feminine energy, and more has been an intense, emotional journey and a vital part of her recovery.
Power of Books Across Time: From Agatha Christie to Gabor Maté, she reflects on how books have shaped her life and creative identity.
Reading = Transformation: Books have saved her in many stages of life and are helping her make sense of her current challenges.
The Writer’s Doubt: She confronts the recurring question — Who will read my book? — and dismantles it with compassion and logic.
Imagine If They Gave Up: What if the writers we love had given in to self-doubt? Rubina poses this powerful what-if to challenge our limiting beliefs.
Writers' Responsibility & Gift: Our stories have the power to comfort, uplift, and transform lives, even if we may never fully see their impact.

Takeaways:

Books are healing tools, not just entertainment. They meet you where you are and move you forward.
The reading life fuels the writing life. If books helped you, your words will help others too.
Doubt is part of the process, but don’t let it stop your book from reaching someone who needs it.
Keep writing your book — someone’s waiting for it, even if they don’t know it yet.

Transcript -

Podcast Intro -

Welcome to Becoming A Writer podcast, where writing inspiration is served fresh in 20 minutes or less, every 2nd and 4th Saturday.

I am Rubina Gauri Gomes, and together we'll learn how to explore, experiment with, and express our writer selves.

If this speaks to your writing journey, give the podcast a listen! If you enjoy it, I'd love for you to leave a review so others can find it, too. Don’t forget to share your suggestions or questions through the form in the show notes, and let’s grow this community together!

You can find more conversations like this and download your free Writer's Mental Toolbox PDF at rubinagomes.substack.com.

Now, grab a cup of your favourite drink, and let's have a quick chat.

Episode -

Hello, my writer friends! Rubina here.

It's been two months, just shy of 10 days since we last spoke. And while I missed you dearly, I wasn't well enough for the type of conversation I would have preferred. So begrudgingly, I had to step away.

But I didn't want to miss out on not having a conversation this whole month, so I'm trying my best to squeeze in one, our thirty-eighth conversation.

If you remember, in our previous conversation, we had to deviate from our planned conversation and talk about Living And Writing With Chronic Illness.

Dealing with a chronic illness simply takes over your life. And the recovery phase, if you are lucky enough to find some answers, is not as fast as you would like.

For my PCOS problem, I had a change of doctor and medicines. This new doctor is much more empathetic, and her Ayurvedic medicines, though bitter beyond imagination, are working on healing me.

Another activity that's helping me understand and heal myself is, not so surprisingly, reading books.

The amount of books I have bought and the amount of books I am reading in trying to look for answers will look insane to normal people. But since when were readers normal anyway?

I am reading books about PCOS healing, women's health, healthy diet, stress and its impact on our body, resting, nervous system regulation, inner child healing, reconnecting with feminine energy, learning how to build healthy boundaries, and chakras and the spiritual aspect of healing.

And mind you, these are not easy, breezy reads - they are dense, raw, unsettling and confronting. It's taking me days to finish one book, which is why I am reading 2-3 books at the same time. When the truth I read becomes too real to handle, I take a break from that book and pick up the other.

These books are in real time, busting my skull wide open, with everything spewing out. And my heart, well, it is standing at the door, arms crossed, saying, "See? I told you."

This got me thinking about books and reading, and how it has always been helping me.

The Adventure of Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie turned me into a reader.

Christie's And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express blew my mind with their creative genius.

Years later, it was Christie's Curtain that ignited the writer spark in me.

Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer, Afterlife by Marcus Sakey, and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles made me cry like a baby for days - and it felt good!

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson taught me exactly what the title said.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho helped me keep faith in my dreams.

Reading The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale felt as if my grandfather was sharing his life-long-earned wisdom with me.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande showed me that I don't need to, as the writing society prescribes, hustle with my writing; being it is good enough.

And recently, reading When The Body Says No by Gabor Mate made me realise, with proof, that not only are our present traumas hurting us, but generational trauma is also affecting our lives in subtle ways we don't even know about. Like how my mother's unhappy married life unconsciously made me forgo the child in me and become the mature person, the old soul, in the family. And how that's taking a toll on my mind, body and soul.

Through the 18 years of my reading life, reading books written by fellow humans who came before me gave me a break from and understanding of the real world, which made it easier for me to live my life with its ups and downs.

Reading these books is saving my life. And transforming my life at a speed and quality that just living it couldn't have pulled it off.

George R.R. Martin was right in saying, "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."

And yet, when it comes to writing my books, one question that will inevitably haunt me is - "Who will read my books?"

This is seriously a funny and stupid question to ask.

Here I am reading books, some of which are A CENTURY old, while also worrying who is going to read my books.

Imagine Agatha Christie in 1938-39 going mad with anxiety over her And Then There Were None novel, and giving up.

Imagine Dorothea Brande in 1934 doubting herself and her idea of writing about what it means to be a writer, and giving up.

Imagine Mary Shelley in 1818 thinking her novel Frankenstein is too out of the box for people to understand, and giving up.

Imagine Henry David Thoreau in 1854 doubting if anyone would read his ramblings about simple life in Walden, and giving up.

Imagine your favourite writer and your favourite book of theirs, and imagine them giving up on writing that book because they had convinced themselves that no one would read it. And yet here you are, being one of the readers to cheer their work whenever you get the chance.

We must give up on this illusion, this limiting belief. It is stopping us from sharing what others need.

If there are books out there that change our lives for the better when we read them, then our books can do the same for others. No matter how doubtful you are in the moment, never underestimate your book's impact on people and their lives. And while you'll never know exactly how you've impacted your readers, know for sure that you will definitely have an impact.

Your book might give someone a break from their daily, lifeless life.

Your book might give someone a friend to combat their loneliness.

Your book might give someone the necessary kick in the butt to make their dreams come true.

Your book might give someone hope and a reason to live.

Your book might be the book people need right now.

Let me say it again - if someone's book had an impact on you, your book will also have an impact on others.

So don't give up on writing your book. Someone out there doesn't know it yet, but will need and read your book, and have their life changed forever.

I will leave with you that thought.

Until then, keep writing, my friend.

Podcast Outro -

Thank you for catching up with me today.

I hope you found some inspiration to help you grow a deeper relationship with your writer self.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to follow the podcast and drop a review! You can also share any suggestions or questions with me through the form in the show notes.

You can find more conversations like this and download your free Writer's Mental Toolbox PDF at rubinagomes.substack.com.

That’s a wrap for now! See you later!