A High School Reading & Writing Champion Will Inspire You “Beyond Words”

Ladies Who Lunch ConversationsDuchess Reads

Dec 6

How much do you love books and reading? My Ladies Who Lunch Conversations recent guest could be the good witch Glenda bestowing the magic of three wishes: reading and writing and books. 🌟📚 Extending that analogy, research says that good witches “use magic for positive, benevolent purposes like healing, protection, working in harmony with nature and ethical principles.” That ability to help others and bring about a community benefit more or less captures the essence of the remarkable Meera Bujhle Mehta.

And I’m not kidding when I say that Meera Mehta will take your breath away! I’m almost at a loss for words 😉 to describe her gobsmacking literary achievements. So far…

A rising senior at Glen Ridge High School in the Garden State, Meera founded Novel Futures to support students most at risk of falling behind in reading.

What began as a freshman-year book drive grew into a larger mission after she saw how many children, especially those from marginalized communities, struggled with reading, a challenge worsened by the pandemic. Since then, she has collected over 63,000 donations, distributing books through partner organizations statewide, most notably with Booksmiles. When I asked about collaborating with the likes of Google, Meta, and Amazon ~ she said would love to work with these book brand behemoths.

(If you know someone who is in a position to network Meera to an influencer at one of these companies, please reach out.)

I read about Meera’s extraordinary efforts and accomplishments in a few legacy media news stories. I was so impressed. Who wouldn’t be? I had to get creative making contact with Meera via an email to a reporter who’d also featured Meera ~ Thank you, Jackie Schatell, Best of Essex. I also reached out via Meera’s LinkedIn. At last, my pursuit was a success.

I was thrilled when Meera agreed to be a special guest for our Ladies Who Lunch Conversations (LWLC)!

We literally broke new ground with this Conversation.

The couple of firsts: Meera is our first Gen Z guest!

In addition, this was our first Conversation not at the table but rather in our home library. I chose this setting as an homage to Meera, our shared milieu, and her extraordinary efforts fostering greater literacy in young people, and her collecting and distributing books ~ more than 63,000 to date ~ that are distributed to those underserved kids who don’t have ready access to books of their own.

And like me, Meera is also an author. Her book, HER-itage Rising is available on her website ~ for Free/Gratis. (We had a moment about this on the Conversation ^:^) Mainly, let’s just say I do hope you will donate to her Novel Futures organization in return for the book.🥰

HER-itage introduces you to profiles of great, inspiring women who, ~ (in Meera’s words) are: “the modern American women who are rewriting the rules and reimagining what's possible.

From breaking news to breaking records, building companies to coding futures, making art and making history, HER-itage Rising features 25 trailblazers who are showing the next generation how to lead with purpose and passion.

Across five empowering chapters—Activism, STEM, Sports, Public Service, and the Arts—young readers will discover extraordinary women shaping the world.

On the final page, “Your Turn! Imagine Your Future,” readers are invited to dream big and write their own next chapter.

Perfect for curious minds ready to explore what it means to lead, to create, and to rise!

I think Meera could have added a memoir chapter and written herself into the book!

Listening and watching Meera, you can’t help but marvel what a a wonder she is. What magic she possesses and exudes. She is poised, knowledgeable, passionate, and ever so inspiring.

Please “tune in” to our Conversation to learn how she launched Novel Futures ~ a growing and successful organization that donates books to families & children in need; while she also launched a companion technology, BookFinder, that showcases diverse voices, perspectives, & inclusivity (be sure to check out the books on her website that are already highlighting Lunar New Year suggestions);

Novel Futures offers writing workshops with her Story Studio & Showcase & Story Explorers Notebook that encourage kids to write their own stories. Meera said that she aims to provide a safe space to create for her writers in the writing classes. “I believe it’s important to introduce them to the literary arts and get them to feel comfortable and confident to write.”

Meera believes that we can all write ~ that we all have stories to tell.

As a storyteller myself, I am in deep simpatico on this.

I asked Meera how she learned to teach writing and she described her experience at the Kelly Writers House Summer Workshop for rising junior and senior high school students held at the University of Pennsylvania.

She respected and appreciated her instructors and gleaned from the pros at Penn ~ and other good teachers she’s had ~ the ability to unlock the creative writing process, and in turn, pass along to her students.

Whew! All this accomplishment makes your head spin all the more when you pinch yourself to remember that she’s in high school. I asked her if anyone has referred to her as an “old soul” when she acknowledged that she recognized her passion at such an early age…

In our Conversation Meera offers sage wisdom that we can all use when she describes how she manages to balance her school work, extracurricular activities, including sports, family, time with friends, (I asked what they would say about her…) along with her efforts to keep Novel Futures running on full steam.

She has a keen sense of creating community ~ she hopes she is building an incredible literacy community and while she’s local now in the Garden State, she aims to take her organization national ~ to provide children the books they want to read. She appreciates that one of her teachers provides a class where students can be free to read. No electronics. Just quiet time and books they choose. Reading is personal, she notes. It’s a luxury to cultivate literacy that will last a lifetime. A glorious, enriching life.. .

I asked about her writing schedule and commitment ~ every writer and author is keen to know how to keep the creative words flowing ~ what routine, successful, creative tricks, and rituals. For example, Haruki Murakami was able to write Norwegian Wood by getting up at four a.m., writing for six hours and then heading out for a 10-kilometre run; Joan Didion wrote “I need an hour alone before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I’ve done that day. I can’t do it late in the afternoon because I’m too close to it. Also, the drink helps. It removes me from the pages. So I spend this hour taking things out and putting other things in.”

And Hemingway’s writing routine was characterized like this: “Irrespective of how late (and alcohol-soaked) the night before had been, he would rise at 5:30 a.m. and begin by reading the previous day’s efforts half an hour later. With the revisions done, he would then get to work writing the first draft of the next batch of words—between 500 to 1000 of them a day.

Lot’s of boozy writing from these literary lions. Not so for our Meera, though.

She allows that she does write four to five times a week. She loves her Library. For reading and research. She also loves writing. Very much. And we learned that she also writes for She Knows. I did at one time too! Nice serendipity.

Thank you, Meera. I appreciate you sharing your achievements and wisdom for making a difference and balancing a well-lived life.

You are so inspiring.

If you haven’t already viewed, I do hope that y’all will enjoy learning first-hand about Meera and her Novel Futures on the Ladies Who Lunch Conversations Facebook videocast or on my YouTube.

I give thanks that we have been given the gift of reading ~ and look to help Meera spread the love of writing and reading. And learning...📖

And I’m hard-pressed to think of a better gift to give someone this holiday, than by making a donation to Novel Futures on behalf of your loved one(s)/recipient(s). You can donate money, of course, and you can also donate Books and/or Host a Book Drive!

How wonderful is that? To learn more: info@novel-futures.org

Cheers to the Art of Reading and Writing.