Personally, I've found #8 and #1 extremely irritating, but perhaps the one below in the comment I wrote in response tops them all for me. Inspired by others' comments and their occasional personal stories, I was going to slay one dragon and be done with it, but I ended up battling and slaying a thunder of dragons by the end. Okay, interpretation time: Instead of being quick and short, like I originally anticipated it to be, I ended up taking up more time and space, typing up what's enough to be hundreds of comments, instead. Oops!
I once was told by an aunt (my guardian at the time) that I wasn't good at writing. Then she
told me, in a cold tone, that I should "never write ever again". I was 14 and was afraid of the
verbally-abusive woman, but I picked up writing a few months later, unable to take it
anymore. So, being super careful, I wrote only at night under the covers, every night for four
months.
I was half-way done writing an entire book, when something bad happened to me that
made me stop writing altogether for years. After everything was destroyed, the 5-book series
was all in my head then.
Years later, after mentally and emotionally recovering, having left the wicked woman to her
house and her riches, I slowly rewrote little bits and pieces of notes, mere reminders of
scattered details of characters, events, etc.
After redoing high school all over again due to her refusal to give up proof of my home
schooling to the public school system, I managed to cram in four-years-worth of high school
into three, earn credits by volunteering at a library, and graduate with just enough credits
before the age-21-limit (8 days before my birthday). Two days after my birthday, I walked
down the public events center in cap and gown, and the next day picked up my diploma:
something she probably didn't want to happen, nor expect me to do.
Six days after graduating, without the need for worrying about homework, summer school,
college, nor work, I started writing again. A LOT. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote.
One year and one month later, I finished that same book that I was in the middle of writing,
eight years after my silent protest of being told to "never write ever again". Because, when it
comes down to it, this post of "10 Things People Say to Creative Writers (but shouldn't)" is a
warning to never get in the way between a creative writer and her unfinished book, to never
judge a book that doesn't have a cover, and to never underestimate the power of a creative
writer that has the capacity to destroy the universe with a single pen.
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