Happy New Year! May 2025 bring all of us joy and abundance. The holiday season can be challenging in many ways, so I’m offering by ebook, Soul, for free on all Amazon markets from 3-5 January 2025. Start the new year on a soulful note!
Soul is the fourth book in the series of my poems written as a young girl, Memories from another Lifetime. It was published on 12 August 2023, and it is dedicated to all old souls – may you find your Truth in this lifetime.
Vanita the Poet
When I first started planning and setting up this poetry blog back in August 2021, I did not imagine that, just 3 years down the road, I would have published five volumes of my poems and reached an audience around the globe.
But first, a bit about me for those visiting my blog for the first time or who are not familiar with my story. I am not a professional writer, in fact, I have a long career in the corporate world. Poetry is my passion, and I now believe, my true calling in life.
I started writing poems in 1981 at the young age of 13, following a deep personal trauma. I needed an outlet for my raw and powerful emotions, to find relief, release, and ultimately, redemption.
The topics I wrote about were very personal, private, and at times, dark – unrequited love, desire, pain, betrayal, and my budding sexuality. Many of my poems also had a spiritual undertone. The maturity and depth of my poems written as a young girl belied my age, and I now believe they might have been memories from a previous life.
After a hiatus of almost 4 decades I started writing again, and I launched this poetry blog in November 2021. Memories from another Lifetime is a series of my poems written as a young girl. My mission is to make the voice of my younger self heard.
Looking back on 2024
I published my first three poetry books, Pain, Love, and Desire, in the short span of only five months from November 2022 – March 2023. Soul followed in August 2023. All four books were released in Kindle format, as I wanted my poetry to be easily accessible for everybody.
All the work had been done during evenings and on weekends, on top of a demanding corporate job. I was exhausted and realised I needed a break from releasing new volumes.
Instead, I set myself a personal goal for 2024 of making the first four volumes available in paperback. This was no mean feat for me. Pain came out in paperback in April 2024, and all four books were available as paperbacks by July 2024. I was proud to be able to fulfil my goal and make it to the finishing line!
Having met my goal, I also found the energy and motivation to release my fifth volume of poems, Friends, in September 2024.
What do readers have to say about Soul?
Publishing poems as an unknown author is not an easy task, and poetry is known to be a difficult genre to market.
I am therefore very happy and grateful for the warm reviews I have received by genuine admirers of my poetry. This has kept my belief in my mission even in the face of discouragement, and I hope the reviews will enable my poetry to reach and move more people. Here are a couple of reviews of Soul.
“Wow” – Mary Schmidt, Amazon
Wow. This book of poetry WILL touch your heart and inner soul. From love to the depths of sorrow, each stanza is a story on its own and a tome of feelings when brought together. I’ve read poetry often, and I’ve written poetry, but mine doesn’t come close to what is written in this book. The sorrow, the love, and the loneliness are written in a way that the reader can actually reach inside their own heart and perceive and feel the emotions. Five shiny gold stars and ten of them, if only I could give such.
“Soul Is Wonderful” – Armando Rodriguez, Amazon
The words that flowed through the pages of Soul were powerful and moving! It’s hard to imagine that the author was just a teenager when she jotted down her thought-provoking words.
“Talented and insightful narrative” – John, Goodreads
Indeed likely memories and messages from another lifetime, I heartily recommend this. Witness the journey – relate, recover, be inspired. Vanita’s talented, insightful narrative again illuminates corners of our own spiritual journey, complementing and building on the themes of pain, love and desire explored in her previous works.
“Stunning Poetry” – Christina Goebel, Amazon
After reading that Vanita Shukla Hork wrote the poems in Soul as a teen, like other reviewers such as @marylschmidt, I was stunned. The first poem, Hour of Nativity was perfect.
As an award-winning former poetry editor, I expect to see a weakness in a poet’s use of punctuation or wordplay, to see a lost opportunity to add figurative language or a more appropriate term. But no, it was perfect.
“The sands of time
Are in my hand
And yet –
Some escape, fall silently.”
The choice to use a comma after “some escape” instead of using the word “and” is one example of masterful poetry crafting. The variation of line lengths is another. This is confidence in a poet who knows what she’s doing.
A stanza from “Reality and Perception” is pure poetic joy:
“I pay the price
Of Destiny
And you wonder
At my extravagance.”
The thrill I felt at the choice of the word extravagance!
What a stunning collection!
Thank you!
Writing Soul was a spiritual journey for me. I learned to trust my inner voice and to let it guide me through my poems. I also dedicated this book to all old souls who are on their own spiritual journey.
My mission is to make the voice of my younger self heard. I wish to touch the lives of as many people as possible with my poems. Please help me by sharing this post and Soul with friends and family, so they can avail of the free offer which ends on 5 January 2025.
If you enjoy my books, please do leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads – this is more important for authors than most readers realise. Your review will help other readers find good books to read. My books can also be found on BookBub.
Please also leave a comment here in my blog, it will make me very happy to hear from you.
I believe we are all on a spiritual journey in this lifetime. I wish you great success on yours.
Happy New Year – may 2025 bring you much joy and abundance!
Vanita Shukla Hork, January 2025