I had been working at GQ India for just under two years when we received a request from Random House wanting to commission a Sex and the City-style novel set in India — they’d read what they believed was the perfect tone for the job in GQ’s “Ask Mia” sex advice column. The anonymous writer of that column was me. So I ‘fessed up, and wrote a few character sketches and the beginnings of chapter 1.

Suddenly I was writing my first full-length novel before turning 30. 

Although a sexy, desi “chick lit” novel wasn’t what I’d imagined my first book would be, I enjoyed the process — despite having to cut out my social life to finish the book while working full-time. Girl Plus One launched in 2010, I did many interviews and a four-city book tour, and discovered that my family was so committed that even aunts and uncles read it in support (which was only slightly mortifying given that each chapter of the book ended with a column of sex advice!).