When there’s a Will, there’s a way!

      Welcome to my blog, ‘Writer’s Refuge!’ I have been totally and completely excited to make this for weeks, and now that I’m here, I’m very happy, to say the least. Never had I guessed that one day I would be creating a blog, yet, here I am. There a lot of reasons why this blog came to being, and I want to address those reasons, as this is a first, introductory blog post. Which also means I should introduce myself. Well, hi! I’m Nia Mahmud, 14  years old (although very nearly 15), and I live in Florida. To say I enjoy writing and reading would be an understatement, ever since I learned to read you couldn’t get a book out from under my nose if you tried your very hardest. Since I started reading, I also had an increasing amount of interest in writing and authors.

      Since I was very young, I had in my head that I would publish a book someday. It was my goal, but it took me a while to realize that ‘someday’ is not a day. For the past few years, I have become increasingly dedicated to my writing, and putting a lot more time into it. All that time, and it wasn’t enough, because my mindset was preventing me from moving any farther. I believed that you had be an adult to publish a book, a ‘grown up,’ and with much, MUCH, more experience than me. Because of that mindset, I made excuses and didn’t write as often as I could have, believing my writing wasn’t good enough. Once my mindset changed, it was like a light bulb going off in my brain, flickering slowly and then shining brightly all at once. I owe that mindset change to a lot of different people.

      When I started writing more, I showed a few of my close friends and family my writing, just for fun. What I didn’t expect was for them to love it so much (at least, that’s what they told me!) that they would encourage me to work on a novel and get it published. Thanks to a multitude of people that helped me believe in my own writing, I realized- why do I have to be ‘too young?’ I enjoy writing, it makes me happy, I’m passionate about it, so why should something as trivial as age have anything to do with it? There is no time as the present, and no better place for my stories then actually written down, not just in my head. I realized that there a lot of young authors out there that have the same goals and are in the same place, and that made me feel like I belonged in this writing community you can find if only you look.

      I’ve made a step forward in my writing, but it’s not something you can tell by reading my stories or looking at me. My stories are still as bad (in my opinion) and I look the same. But, after my mindset changed, I decided I was going to take action towards my goals, this blog being a part of those actions. It might not seem like a lot, but this is a huge personal accomplishment for me. Also, if you were wondering about this post’s title, that’s because of a friend named Will. Poor Will, I’m sure I must have been driving him INSANE in study hall, but he never complained. Will loves reading, and we’ve always talked about different books or authors. One day in study hall, without any homework or studying to do and bored out of my mind, I asked Will for a one sentence writing prompt, which he promptly came up with. After the period was close to done,  he asked to read it, and told me it was amazing and at the same time, provided constructive criticism.

       After that, I came to him to review other parts of the same story and with the idea for my blog. He was excited for my blog idea, and knew I could totally do it, so when I asked him for a blog idea, he came up with, “The Misadventures of a Cool Reader.” I loved it, as I am a ‘Cool Reader,’ but, in the end, decided it was too wordy for what I wanted, and I changed it to “Writer’s Refuge” supplied by Luka (thank you!) which I also love. Will jokingly demanded that I acknowledge him, as he had inspired the original name, and I took his request seriously. It made for, if I do say so, a pretty cool blog title, and I acknowledged one of the people that helped make my mindset change possible, although that is definitely attributed to many different people; their names aren’t Will and I couldn’t make them a pun in the title. Nonetheless, they are just as amazing and I owe so much to them.

      What is this blog going to be all about? Well, it’s just me, a girl on a writing journey, finding her refuge in something that allows her to escape the normal chaos of reality. Writing is my refuge, as it is for many others. I’m just a girl who’s going to make mistakes and mess up along the way, but am determined to get better, every day, at writing. I’ll be discussing writing tips, my experience with writing, and more! Thank you so much for reading, (I hope you read all the way through you silly goose) make sure to stick around!

“You can make anything by writing.”

C.S Lewis

-Nia Mahmud