Mindful Revision: An Interview with Sunita Alves

Author and engineer Sunita Alves talks about the writing and revision process on her forthcoming memoir about mindfulness and mental health challenges for women working in Big Tech. Coming from a Guyanese Canadian family that instilled her with a powerful and sometimes punishing work ethic, Sunita worked herself to the bone for years before suffering a mental health crisis on the job. Her path to wellness, as explored in her forthcoming memoir, included recovering traumatic memories from her childhood and learning how to prioritize her own mental health in a sector that often pays no more than lip service to the idea of work-life balance.

Sunita wanted to write a book that could help others navigate the same waters, but she had no writing experience. In this video, she talks to Iguana Books editor Lee Parpart about getting to the final draft of her manuscript and about her strategies for incorporating mindfulness into the writing and editing process. Through a combination of formal instruction (at Humber School for Writers in Toronto), coaching, and professional editing, Sunita was able to turn her raw experience into a compelling story that will be of interest to anyone seeking better life-work balance.

This video will be of interest to anyone who wants to write a book but doesn't quite know how to get there. Seasoned memoirists and writers in other genres can also learn from Sunita's calm and systematic approach to the writing and editing process. 

—Lee Parpart