Check out some helpful insights, writing peeves, book recommendations and more! Take everything I say with a grain of salt for most of the stuff here are based on personal preferences. I'd be glad if this somehow helped other authors as well. Also...
I know that I have shared this certain aspect about me before, but I'm gonna put in here in case some of my audience haven't seen it yet.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Insecurities, mental health, burnouts, emotional art
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Not gonna lie, I am a very insecure and antisocial person. I remember how my family almost never brought me up in any social settings as a kid. They worry that I might end up in trouble, be too quick to befriend someone and freak others out in case I start talking my brains out.
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I also never experienced inviting a friend over our place because they don't want anyone to think we live in a haunted house. Of course, the other kids would pick up on this as they began thinking I might not be a good friend and avoiding me altogether. Am I really that scary to you? It doesn't help that our society demands having a huge circle of friends and fitting into the status quo to be validated. We are pressured to always put on a smile, improve, and never slip up. If you ever fail to please everybody, then something must be wrong with you. Even the smallest of achievements are often overlooked with the constant "Could you do more than that?"
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I can become passive-aggressive whenever I'm met with doubt, patronizing comments (e.g. "Why not stick to your own level?") and get compared to somebody else. So I went to prove those critics wrong and started aiming to reach a certain number of followers on Wattpad before New Year's. I spent hours working without nearly taking any breaks. I want to show everybody just how much I can do throughout my career. In turn, I try to engage with other writers, see the best in them and even give them special shout-outs. It may seem like the whole world is against you and even the slightest bit of rejection can already hurt. Now I am not sharing this for clout or justify one's ranting personality but to help others understand why a rising author like me can be unsophisticated and insecure at tomes. It is to show how humans are wired to be flawed, emotional, self-conscious and insecure ... But, that's ok! Sometimes, we should normalize speaking one's mind to a certain extent and realize that each of us grow at our own pace.
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It's OK not to be OK all the time!
We shouldn't be afraid to see authors have insecurities and not always be their very best. If I can't fit into everybody's standards and get as many opportunities as my peers, then I'm sorry but at least I've tried. Now before you go asking why people don't just talk about their problems with their families, it's important to know that not everybody is the same. There are others who feel rather safe doing that online with strangers or their relatives are too busy focusing on their own lives. There is also no need to assume the author is some kid who needs to step away from the screen and keep it all to themselves for everyone's safety. How do you suppose people are gonna learn to reach out and express themselves if we're simply going to shut them down?
