The best writing advice I ever got.

I never took my writing seriously.

The first story I ever wrote was titled "Butterfly Gossips" and it was the tale of identical twins Sasha and Tasha who fall in love with the same guy and have to work out their differences to see who the guy chooses.

Straight up drama I tell you.

And I was in form three by then. I had lots of homework to do, subjects to choose, and no boyfriends to brag about save for three guys all in form two who thought I had an accent and I danced better than anyone else.

But even then, I just wrote because I could. It was not serious to me because all I wanted was to study Psychology and spend the rest of my life making the world a better place.

When I got to the university, I realized that I could major in Psychology and take up Creative Writing and Literature courses all under the guise of 'Integrated Studies,' and I jumped on it! I wrote short stories, came across Smashwords and Amazon and since then I have written twenty five ebooks, published print copies of my memoir, and there's more to be done.

So, if you are asking yourself, what brought this on?

The Commonwealth Short Story Writers Competition 2015. I was going through their website and for the third time, looking to submit a story. Having read my previous entries I have to admit that they were not as strong and beautiful as they should have been. And it brought back the best advice I ever got from my Literature Professor at USIU, and his words were "bleed, Dora, it's all you have to do on any blank page."

It has been a wonderful year so far as regards my writing, and with the upcoming NanoWrimo, I feel as though I have more to prove and to go beyond the surface to produce good pieces. I don't know if you have ever been inspired by one person in your life at the point where it felt like no one is seeing you sink. If it were not for my Professor's take on my writing, I believe I would never have worked up the guts to consider going into print, but he did love one of my romance stories and said if he were young, it'd be the best book he'd ever read. He went on to say that I would write so many books, and some may be crap to me but solid gold to others- but what mattered was my writing.

If I stopped writing, I was not a Writer.

So, if you are writing and it seems as though it's not as good or you are not getting the attention you dream of, you'd better read these articles:
Ten things I'd like to say to Young Witers
Tips for Young Witers

And here's my advice: keep writing!

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Do not let anyone define you.