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Brishy Dee
My love for writing truly began when I was in the sixth grade. Whenever I felt strong emotions, I was writing them down in notebook or scribbling them on scrap sheets of paper. That time in my life...view moreMy love for writing truly began when I was in the sixth grade. Whenever I felt strong emotions, I was writing them down in notebook or scribbling them on scrap sheets of paper. That time in my life was also when our family owned our first computer, and subsequently, I found out how fast I could type. I would get booted from the computer so that others use it, which is when I would switch to writing poems in lined spiral notebooks.
It was my sixth grade ELA teacher that sparked the idea of becoming a published author. She planted the idea and helped me see that it was a real possibility. On the last day of classes she made bookmarks for all of us and even gave us little nicknames. When I got mine, it said "My Little Author." I nearly cried out of excitement; I knew what I wanted to with my life. I knew I was born to write.
Fast forward through the rest of middle school and high school. I almost always had a writing project tucked away somewhere that I was saving for later. I had written many things, but never knew what to do with them once I was done with them.
Then, the inevitable happed.
I grew up, went to college and even got two degrees in English, the second one a creative writing degree focusing on fiction. I had the fancy pieces of paper that told others I knew what I was doing, I was a Master for goodness sake. Even with all of this, and all the knowledge I accumulated, even with the proof that I knew what I was doing, I fell ill with Imposter Syndrome.
I told myself that my stories weren't good enough and that no one would want to read them. They sat in a box, collecting dust. My debut novel, The Displaced, remained an abstract thought and the thesis for my Masters program. I thought about it and would work on it on and off for over five years, but it still felt like a pipe dream that it would ever see the light of day.
One day I woke up and decided that the best way to make sure that my story made it out there was to publish the book myself. I haven't totally given up on the thought of traditional publishing, but for now my best bet was to just do the thing myself.
It's been one of the most empowering things I have done for myself.view less