Viraj Mahajan

In the end, It all Comes down To this: I thought I had More time To love you. #quote

I wrote my first novel at 22. It was terrible. Like, embarrassingly terrible. I wrote my second at 25. It was a little better, but still… I then took a risk in 2018 and started writing this science fiction! It took me close to six years, not because I was writing slowly, because I was learning what it means to actually have something worth saying. This one got picked up by @BloomsburyIndia Launch: mid-June 2026 🤟🏼

I mean, they are not wrong in naming their restaurant this but….

@Flora_josh05 @Mary_ork Traditional 😬

@iwriteforliving @Mary_ork That's .. are you self publishing or traditional publishing

Are you a writer, an author, or simply someone who adores books? 📚 I’d love to connect, come say hello!!

Please recommend me a horror movie or a novel in the lines of Midsommar!!

@Mary_ork Excited*

@Mary_ork I am a writer who is getting published next month!!! So exci

@shunalishroff @KiranManral I have been there! I pitched my manuscript to a well-known agent in India who asked me to pay them a humongous sum (₹450/- per page: 12 font + double spaced page). I quietly walked out from that deal and found an agent who pitched my work and are now working on commission!

Before I published my first book, I paid a well-known agent an astronomical sum for “editing” as a precondition to representation. The manuscript was never pitched. Agents earn on commission. If someone asks you for money upfront, please walk away.

@Xray1101 Yes, I did. I usually write romantic dramas but this time, I wrote a sci-fi! Result? Getting published next month by a top traditional publisher in India!

@brockpierson Say proper goodbyes

You meet your 16 year old self and are allowed 3 words. What do you say?

@Ravenismeee I have been getting close to 1 likes here and there, but.. I am here for the ride!

Would y'all keep tweeting with 0 likes???

I faced a very similar issue. One of the leading agents in India told me that I had to pay them to get my book edited, which they couldn’t guarantee will make it to their lists of the title that they will pitch to Top5. Thankfully, I found an agent who championed me and I am now getting published in June and have to pay ZERO!

Heard from an aspiring author that a literary agency told her she has to invest Rs 3 to 5 lakhs to get her book published. People, please don't fall for these scams. Write your best book and then reach out to publishing houses directly, or find an agent who works on a commission.

Let me also blatantly copy-paste this tweet: If you are a writer (who hates AI), an author (who hates AI), or someone who loves books, frel free to say hi! 📚 #author #writer

Why are we on this planet? To listen to The Beatles at 4:30 in the morning!

@SDDonovan Oh! I have found this 100% true! I wrote the book, sent down to the agents/publishers, got a few yeses, and then I read it aloud (the book) and… hahaha I had to rewrite almost 60% of it!

A little writing advice for everyone. (I know, I know!) Read your draft out loud if you haven't already! If it sounds clunky, it’s probably bad on the page, too.

@AuthorGFAllen Night? There were a few books or a few chapters that didn’t let me sleep for days! Frankenstein, Gatsby, Mocking Bird, are just a few such titles.

Have you ever stayed up all night just to finish a book?

@rissa_kimmy One of my best friends could read extra descriptive novels in Hindi and used to talk for hours about it. Recently, he couldn’t sit and read a single paragraph. Reason? He said: “I need fast content.” Sad. Sad. Sad.

Please get back to doing puzzles, sudoku, board games, crosswords, word search. Read long novels and watch long form videos. Seeing my students and even my age-mates uncomfortable being cognitively unentertained is... something. We’re losing patience with thinking deeply.

@UnamPillai I had a pleasure of meeting Rahul during the Delhi Book Fair! What an amazing guy he really is!

What an absolutely beautiful, accomplished novel this is. Easily one of my best reads of 2025.

🤦🏽‍♂️

Progress that discards thousands of livelihoods in a single stroke is not evolution.

@jack @blocks AI should expand human potential, not erase it at scale while the company is healthy. You talk about smaller, flatter teams as the future. What about retraining? Redeploying? Building systems where intelligence works with the people who built the company?

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company. #### today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone. first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay. we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly. i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures. a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers. we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold. to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward. to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow. jack