“We read to know that we’re not alone”
– William Nicholson
I have always had a passion for books which is why Nicholson’s quote resonates with me. It was through reading that I discovered who I was. Books gave me a way to escape my worries, my stress and anxieties. In books, I was the heroine I longed to be in real life. They also inspired me; I started thinking that I would love to be able to write something that could affect others the way my favourite books affected me.
However, I hit a few bumps in the road. When I was younger, I was bullied and put down by my peers and even some teachers. When I decided to try my hand at writing a few short stories in primary school, I was always proud of the fact that I could write 10 pages where my classmates would only write three. I was filled to the brim with ideas and I couldn’t wait to pour them onto the page creating my own little masterpiece. But a certain teacher tried to squash these habits. I was made to feel bad about writing, because “it caused him to have to stay up late because of how long the stories were”.