With its black and red retro-ish design cues, the Robata Grill by Mövenpick Colombo seemed the perfect place to meet Mandy Jayatissa. Shy almost, but confident too, she truly came across as a mixed pot of inspiration, emotions, creativity, and poetry. We’ve all heard about the accolades she has achieved for her book The Other One. But here’s a quick refresher: The Other One was published as an eBook on Amazon in the beginning of May last year; the novel was ranked number one on Amazon under the steampunk genre and third under the science fiction genre. The book was also shortlisted for the Fairway Literary Festival Award, which it won, and has shocked many with its storyline, and its shattering of stereotypes (yes, women can write science fiction).
Just like Robata Grill’s exceptional spicy tuna roll with its mishmash of desirable flavours, Mandy too was a collection of experiences. Having been born in Sri Lanka, she studied and worked in California and London, and currently works as a corporate trainer while heading the communications department at her insurance startup Save Your Monkey. How does one manage so many roles? You just do, she says. Patience is a virtue, and that is what helped her carve out a novel that was well received by all those who read it. A fan of plot twists, Mandy told me how fiction is never actually ever fiction. How can it be when it is your experiences in life that shape and form characters in your mind which emerge in the pages of a book.
Writers are voracious readers and the honest fact is that Mandy is no different. Burdened with the desire to see more people publish their work, she spoke highly of self-publishing and was thankful for services like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon KDP), which makes the whole process of putting your talent out there into the world a possibility. Other local writers like Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, who is the author of The Slow Sad Suicide of Rohan Wijeratne and Numbercaste, have also found great success thanks to such publication services like Amazon KDP. The future does seem rather bright when it comes to showing the world that there are local writers who can indeed compete with the best that the world has to offer.
Yet there is more to a person than just their work. Mandy and I spoke at length while sampling the very best of what Mövenpick’s Robata Grill offered; topics ranged from the increase in the rate of divorce to the millennial generation to her childhood to her marriage. Emboldened with her recent success, she has been doing her part in empowering young minds to follow their dreams – she recently participated in a creative writing workshop at her alma mater, Bishop’s College. Always persistent and desiring sleep, Mandy is already planning her next book. I’ve read The Other One, and it is addictive stuff. It’s no easy task to just sit and bleed your thoughts onto paper (think Hemingway), but writing is a therapeutic adventure that is rewarding in every possible way.
Time is a theme in her debut novel, and the smooth impermanence it offers is an affliction. The need to do more and achieve dreams seems to be something we are all burdened with, and Mandy has not been spared this affliction either. Ambition is part and parcel of being human, and this is something that should be embraced and cherished. Good things happen when you write. Good things such as being credible in front of the world, and thereby having the ability to make changes to the status quo to make it inherently better. This was something that was apparent when talking to Mandy: she wanted to offer the world something productive and valuable, and what she was offering is herself with all her imperfections.
And so we parted. She headed back to her office, and I off to mine. Writers are interesting people, I knew. With the heady aftertaste of wasabi rolling in my mouth, I was thankful to have been invited into Mandy’s world, which was as chaotic as it was structured. Considering the two hours of voice recordings I had tucked away in my iPhone, it was a matter of me bleeding onto paper and trying to understand the complex character that Mandy Jayatissa was and is. I think this article has done her justice. But as any writer would agree, that really is up to the reader to decide.
Website: http://amanda-jay.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaJayWrites/
Written by Rohitha Perera