For as long as I can remember, I have used writing to make sense of the world around me. Whenever I have too many emotions inside and can’t decipher them, I journal to make things clearer. I’ve always been like a sponge, getting soaked with everybody else’s energy, expectations, and feelings. What resulted from that was this overly empathetic human being and writing helped me through it all.
That’s why it wouldn’t come as a surprise if I told you that my biggest dream was to become a writer. Many people have the goal of writing a book in their lifetime for the sake of it, but for me, it was way more than that. My brain is filled with full-length made-up stories, but before those ever see the sun of the day, I wanted to tell my own story. I think that everyone has a story worth sharing, and I want to be the one to share them. That’s partly why I can’t wait to graduate and become a full-time journalist.
My story is personal and hurtful. The prose follows my memories from studies abroad, college, and mental health from 16 through 23. You can understand how I became who I am today through reading it. It wasn’t an easy journey as it had its ups and downs, including depressive episodes here and there. For that reason, the writing process broke me into a million pieces and then put me back together into someone different.
In 2021, I was still in the process of getting out of depression and working things out. One of the goals I set for myself as a new year’s resolution was to finally write my first book. I even wrote 20 chapters of it, but something was off. Honestly, I didn’t like it all. And then, July brought me an opportunity that I couldn’t say no to. A writing professor who wrote nine books in Brazil had announced her 4th class of “Write Your Book in 30 Days”. But did I say that eight out of her nine books are best-sellers in Brazil? I had to try it out, and I’m so glad I did.
July was all about putting together a good editorial project (outlining the book), reading books about writing, and researching things that could help us write our books. We had four-hour-long mentoring sessions through Zoom every Sunday morning (8 am-1 pm) in which she would teach us, divide us into small groups for exercises, and tell us the dos and don’ts of the writing process. When August began, so did the actual writing of the book. We made one-hour sprints, and I made two every day for 24 days. Yes, I wrote a book in 24 days. The process reminded me that all I can do is write every day as great novelists like Stephen King do to polish my writing skills.
Then came the months of the publication process. Through the writing class, I met two women who were the owners of a publishing house called Editora Unidos Pela Palavra. They gave me a discount, and two months after I finished writing the book, I sent it to them. The editors would reach out to me with suggestions and queries, and after a few exchanges, I had a book cover and a final manuscript.
On December 11th, I had the physical book in my hands, and it felt surreal yet satisfying to be holding my dream. My classmates and I launched our books that night during the publishing house’s first-anniversary celebration. We even sold a few copies, and the next day, we attended a book fair at Paulista Avenue, too. A month after the launch, I had sold over 20 copies, which still doesn’t feel real to me.
The ebook is available on Amazon, but only in Portuguese (for now). I plan to translate it into English and sell it in the US, but that could take years. The only thing I know is that this won’t be the only book I’ll write. I’m already itching to write the second one, and maybe it’ll be a fiction novel this time. Who knows?