Write for Children in 12 Languages

You may see child labour is not a serious issue or you may choose to presume that child labour happens only in movies. Because it is not happening anywhere in your circle. If you think like that then it is time now to wake up.

The very product you use, the food you eat or the brand you feel proud of using may have some children’s tears behind. There are millions of child labours and hundreds of them are being saved by eminent social workers like Kailash Satyarthi and organisations like child helpline in India.

Worldwide this is a serious issue which demands our attention. You may ask “what can I do to make a difference?”

Believe me, concerning about them is the first step of any possible big changes. There are many organisations who are working passionately to eradicate child labour, you can join them, donate for them and help them to continue what they are doing. You can be a Volunteer if you wish to get involved directly.

Doing something is always better than doing nothing. Closing your eyes doesn’t mean that nothing happens around you. Watch the documentary to understand what happens actually, which is just a sample of what is happening.

Be concerned. Do something what you can than doing nothing.

---

Write for Children:

Voice of Little Hearts – is our project to bring out the feelings of children in India. We will be publishing this book in 12 languages and provide this book free of cost to all children in India. We are trying to address ten key issues

1. Sexual Abuse / Harassment
2. Education System / Career Pressure
3. Child Labour / Child Trafficking / Rights Violation
4. Parental Care / Family Violence / Neglect
5. Poverty
6. Healthcare / Nutrition
7. Sex Education, Moral Values
8. Rural / Urban Issues
9. Psychological Needs
10. Social Pressure / Discrimination

Why are we doing this? 

To increase the awareness in the society about the importance of Children. We should treat them as our gifts, our future and ensure we care for them.

To help the children in need. Specifically the children who live normal lives but facing serious issues.

To create a community of people who are caring for children at root level in your locality so that this process will keep on going.

What can you do?

Write for the children: If you know any kid who has been victimised by any of the above 10 issues, please write on behalf of the kid. You can find more instructions here 

If you are an expert / activist you can join our Leader Panel to help the kids by guiding the children / parents / society.

Coming Soon… “Blank Space : Filled with Inspiration”

It was just a dream… “A book of 100 inspirational stories penned by 100 people.” Many thought just another start but doubted the possibility for making it real. But now it is REAL. 🙂

We had nothing but silence as an answer. Now the journey of Propel Steps begins with the first step of the big journey ahead aiming to bring realistic social changes by enabling the youth via education irrespective of their economic and rural/urban differences.

A concrete and powerful kickstart, this would not have happened without you all 100 Incredible People who support us with patience and perseverance always. Especially some very special people who gave way for a few others, with so much understanding and smiles.

It has become a reality specially because of Pankaj Haramwar, Preethi Venugopal, Barun Bajracharya, Karthikeyan Chandra Srinivasan , Balaji Rajagopalan, Karthikeyan Selvam, and Nijam Deen.

The list is so long if we mention all by name, we are concerned not to miss someone, hence we kept the list short. We have stories to share about everyone who helped us to make the book better. We will share those beautiful moments when we introduce the Authors.

Soon we will come up with 3 projects simultaneously following the release of Blank Space. (tentatively in the first two weeks of Jan 2015)

We need you support for making this project successful. Pre-orders beginning soon… 🙂

- Din

Blank Space welcomes… Namita Sunder

“Blogging is not just to express ourselves or to share some information, it also brings in some wonderful humans into our life. Namita Ma’am is such a wise person, whom I got to know via blogging. On a good day, we were introduced via a comment, gradually she become a well-wisher, whom I regard as a mentor.

She was one of the early supporters of Blank Space initiative. All she considered was “why we aim to publish such a book!” She believed in the purpose behind Blank Space to instill positivity in the minds of youth, which can make our society a better place.

For Alice like us, in the wonderland of publishing, it is the trust from a few people like her, which helps us to keep going.”

– Din

Her Story:

“Morning Puppies” is like a ray of hope of kindness in this fast moving world. The sunlight can’t be stopped by the hindering clouds, so as the little kids, we can’t stop them from being kind. This misty dawn story will surely touch your heart as soft as a puppy’s fur.”

Her Profile:
Namita Sunder had worked with a nationalized bank for more than 20 years. After taking VRS from the bank, she keeps herself engaged in writing, reading and giving free tuition to needy kids. She writes both in Hindi and English.

She blogs here http://namitasachan.blogspot.com and http://namitasunder.wordpress.com/

Blank Space Welcomes… Barun Bajracharya

Hailing from Nepal, the coolest part of the Himalayas, Barun Bajracharya carries the same cool character, right from our first interaction. We had no idea of working together for Blank Space, except the fact that he is one of the hundred wonderful contributing writers of our anthology; he contributed a beautiful story for our book. Now Barun is the Editor for Blank Space and has become an integral part of the team.

As we mentioned earlier, it is an uphill task for Blank Space and Propel Steps right from the beginning. With no publishing expertise, we dared to enter it, just with sheer inspiration and a vision. At times a few people showed us the dark sides of demons and devils in the world of publishing. Thanks to them, we found a good human being like Barun, who not just joined us as an Editor, but as a good companion who understands the aim behind our initiative and supports us. He has lifted the zeal of the team higher, with his passion and continuing the same. We are thankful to him for sharing his expertise with a budding organization like Propel Steps.

His Profile : He is an Author, a Poet and an Editor. He works as a Communication Officer for a USAID Project and an Editor at PEN Point (literary journal). He is also the youngest member of PEN International Nepal Chapter and Traditional Poetry Writers Association of the World. In October 2013, he traveled to South Korea to represent Nepal in the general conference of Traditional Poetry Writers Association Of The World, attended by 9 countries, where he earned appreciation for his poems.

His Works : Author of Sins of Love and contributing author of six short story anthologies: Love and Passion, The Truth Beneath The Rose, The Zest of Inklings, You, Me and Zindagi 2, Once Upon A Time, and Samyako Sapana. His several poems, short stories, travelogues, haiku, sijo and articles have been published in national dailies and international journals such as The Himalayan Times, The Katmandu Post, PEN Point, Of Nepalese Clay, Wave Magazine, Thematic Literary Magazine, and so on.

---

 

Update : Blank Space : 30 more Stories to go…

We take this special moment to thank everyone who has contributed their stories for Blank Space – Filled with Inspiration, an anthology of 100 short stories by 100 people around the globe. We are so thankful to you from deep within our soul. We owe our sincere gratitude, especially for your patience and revamping support that have given, to fine tune the stories. 

We have reached 70% of the selection and we never thought it would be possible for a debutant publisher like us. All we can say is that our passion behind this initiative and your support are the only reason, which made this possible. Just 30 more stories to go to complete the selections. So we are extending the final date of submission to 15th of August 2014, also, many writers asked us for some time. Even we need time to spend our quality time with each writer, communicating the feedback and make Blank Space as best as we can. 

Note : A few of you may be awaiting for our selection feedback. We apologize for the delay in the feedback if happened. For sure every entrant will get the feedback personally from me.

Those who has mailed your story on or before 28th July, will get the feedback on or before 23:59hrs IST (today) and those who send their entries from 29th July onwards to 8th August shall get the feedback on or before 10th August.

All entries after 10th August shall get the feedback only on August 16th.

You can get more details by mailing here Publish@propelsteps.com , where you can also send your entries. 

All you need to do is write a short story which will give some inspiration to the reader. You can choose any theme as you wish like love, life, education, humanity, environment, etc. literally anything which will leave a positive vibe. Also you can choose your genre freely as you wish like fiction, real story, etc. (Previously published stories on your blog can also be send as entries)

Word limits: Max 1000 words, but if needed it can be flexible with more words. There is no minimum words limit, however we suggest keeping it as a short story, unlike a few lined flash fiction.

Jargon free and simple read: 

 

You try your best to keep the words less complex for the readers to understand, because many people are scared away from books because of this. Of course, we wish you show your writing skills, in terms of expression and feelings. Meanwhile, we together need to commit simplicity to the reader. No need to stress much about this if you can’t help with this, our editor will do it. 

 

Format : Send as Word Document. (.doc or .docx)

 

Mandatory Info Needed : (within the word document itself) 

 

• Full Name : 
• Publish as (Pen name) : Mention only if you prefer any other pen name.
• A short bio about you : Max 60 words.
• Email Id (will be printed) : 
• Blog or website Address (will be printed)

- Din