Shaylin Gandhi: If You Want It, Keep Going
In this interview, author Shaylin Gandhi discusses the rapid writing experience of her new romance novel, Love Letters for Other People.
Shaylin Gandhi is a traveler, scuba diver, and pianist. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, their identical twin daughters, and two rescue dogs. When not finagling words onto paper, Shaylin can be found hiking, biking, scheming up ways to add another stamp to her passport, or ingesting enough coffee to power a small city. Shaylin once spent 46 days riding her bicycle from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. Learn more at ShaylinGandhi.com, and follow her on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
In this interview, Shaylin discusses the rapid writing experience of her new romance novel, Love Letters for Other People, her advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Shaylin Gandhi
Literary agent: Beth Miller (Writers House)
Book title: Love Letters for Other People
Publisher: Canary Street Press (Harper Collins)
Release date: December 9, 2025
Genre/category: Contemporary romance
Previous titles: Contemporary romance: When We Had Forever; romantasy: Once Charmed Twice Cursed; The Nightmare Bride
Elevator pitch: A disgraced mathematician moves back to her rural hometown after 14 years away and promptly falls for a man who sends her beautiful love letters. But what she doesn’t realize is that he’s paying her high-school ex-boyfriend (who’s never gotten over her) to write them…
What prompted you to write this book?
Love Letters for Other People is loosely inspired by the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, which is about an insecure man coaches his handsome friend to woo the woman he loves by telling him what to say. I loved the idea of a woman seemingly falling for one person while, unbeknownst to her, actually falling for someone else. Even better if neither the man OR the woman knows what was happening (and therefore they aren’t lying to each other). Then I topped off my version by throwing in some second-chance goodness.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I actually wrote this book while going on submission with When We Had Forever. By the time WWHF sold, I’d just finished Love Letters for Other People and ended up signing a two-book contract with Harper Collins, so this book was sold *very* shortly after it was written. The contract with Harper happened in February of 2023 and Love Letters was slated for release in December 2025.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
This was my second book published with Harper, so there haven’t really been any surprises this time around. I was a bit of a mess during the lead-up to When We Had Forever, just because I didn’t know what to expect, but this time around, I’ve been much more calm.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
This book is probably one of the easiest I’ve ever written, and has been overhauled the least. I challenged myself to write the bulk of it during NaNoWriMo, so most of it was written during a sort of month-long feverish writing sprint. While drafting, I figured that meant I’d have a lot to fix afterward, but when I went back, I found I actually liked most of the story as it was. Then, when I turned the book into my editor, the edits ended up being fairly light. So, this book kind of just…poured out, though I don’t know how or why. Sadly, I haven’t been able to replicate that experience since!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
To me, this book is about going after your dreams and claiming the life you want for yourself. If readers walk away feeling a little more inspired to do that, then I’ll consider it a success.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
If you want it, keep going. Keep going, keep going, keep going. But, conversely, if it’s making you miserable, it’s OK to take a step back for a little while.
