My passion for writing started in elementary school. We had to write a story in a special story notebook and you would get a grade for that. I still have some of those stories. And I got good grades for it too.
In high school I started a science-fiction story that I even sent to a publishing house. Of course I was rejected. I still have this story… in several drafts even. Someday I will publish it… someday.
I wanted to improve my writing skills and that's why I started writing a lot of fanfiction (and reading those as well, by the way). I did this in English and posted it on DeviantArt so that I would get feedback.
For example, I have written many Naruto stories, but also for How to Train Your Dragon, Hey Arnold or Jimmy Neutron. I never posted anything online for those last two. But my Naruto stories were quite popular. I just didn't finish a few… because I was done with Naruto… and I finally got myself a job.
In addition to improving my writing techniques, I also learned a lot more English as a result. More than during English class itself (although watching anime helped a lot too). In fact, I once gave my story to the teacher and asked to check it so that I could list my common mistakes. She did and it helped me immensely.
I let others read my fanfiction stories and sometimes influence the story. But I also let many read my own stories, in which the world-building and characters are completely mine. Friends, family, remedial teacher (because of dyslexia) and my mentor at secondary school.
Even a friend of a friend read my story and made her book report about it! When we finally met in real life, we were close friends almost immediately, both of us had a passion for writing.
So I've never had a problem with what others think of my story. Something I sometimes hear from friends who also write. It's not that there's no fear of "what if they hate it", but I'm just really curious.
Even though I have dyslexia, it has never stopped me from writing, or reading, or letting others read my stories. For a long time it has has been my dream to see my own stories in book in the bookstore. I did sent my manuscript once afterall.
And at the beginning of September 2022 I had decided to do that myself.
Although I had made that decision, I immediately had the idea not to start too big. Well, not with a book of thousands of words. So then I quickly ended up with a picture book.
The thing was, I found out that I would need a Chamber of Commerce if I was going to publish my own books. No problem, and two weeks later I had registered myself. Of course I have done a lot of research in the meantime into what I needed and could do.
On this website you can find a lot of information about questions I had when I started this journey. And finally, of course, my books.