When childhood dreams come true <3.

Good morning friends, my heart is bursting with joy and I need to share this with you. But let me start with a story… As you know, I love stories :). There have been lots of things during my years on earth that I have wanted and wished for, some of them happened, some of them didn’t, but everything had been OK in the end as often is for many of us. Then, when it comes to dreams, I’ve only ever had one big dream in my life, to become an author.
Now, this is a very old dream. I must have been about 8 years old when I was first introduced to Roald Dahl’s books, and I got started with Matilda, The Great Friendly Giant, and The Witches. I was reading page after page right after school during my lunch -some still bear the stains but I couldn’t help myself to stop-, and I read them in Greek without realizing that I was not reading original editions -translation, what an art!- I just loved everything about them! And now that I think of it, it was quite a coincidence that I fell in love with the words of a Norwegian writer, determining my lifelong wish to work with words, only to fall in love many many years later with Roy, a Norwegian guy, and a love that lead as to so many fulfilling life adventures.
If I correctly remember, it must have been right after I finished reading Matilda that I expressed for the first time ever what I wanted to do as a grown-up. I told my parents I wanted to be an author. Often, kids change their desired professions as the years pass by, but for me, this had always been the one and only. The problem was that this had never been considered a profession in my country, I guess in many, at least not back then. You could not make a living out of writing books, unless you were truly exceptional which if we think of it rationally how many truly are per country, and while they’re still alive -thinking of small countries now, using not widespread languages-, so I had to treat it as a hobby, keep on reading, focus on education, and find something else to do as a job in the future.
The years passed by but nothing else really sparked my interest, I only loved books. But I was good at and I liked foreign languages, I also liked psychology, and I ended up studying to become a foreign language teacher. I got my degree, but it wasn’t for me. I worked in different kinds of stuff, moved abroad, and at one point I realized that whatever I do in life, and if/when I decide to go back to my childhood dream of trying to make it as a writer, I need to learn the tools to be able to market and help with sales. So I applied for a master’s degree in marketing, I got accepted, and surprisingly I excelled. I believe I excelled because I grew to love it and became passionate about it once I realized it’s a very creative profession, and it’s not just about sales, being pushy, and annoying. In simple terms and if used properly, marketing helps someone with a product or service find and introduce it in the most cost-effective way to someone who needs it. It helps pave the way, and find a solution to a problem.
And then motherhood followed, with all the ups and downs. I started a blog. And then an e-shop. This helped hone my skills, but was this what I truly wanted? When our second kid was born, I could no longer ignore the urge and pull to finally follow this dream of mine, the one that I never dared to go after cause it would crash my whole being if it failed. I started researching, and I realized that in this time and era, things are different. The technology is there and helps people who work in creative fields reach their audiences and make a living from their art. I saw other people who were making it, and I got inspired. I decided to dig deep, learn and understand how publishing works, and I finally went after it, trying and experimenting with different stuff.
Thank you to everyone who supported me in the very first book writing attempt with the Kickstarter campaign for “Where am I from?” in the summer of 2018 – this is what catapulted the whole journey and gave me the confidence to continue down this road. In November, 1,055 books were purchased and are finding a forever home in children’s libraries! I’m still sitting here in disbelief while watching the reports on my screen, no longer thinking it might be just a fluke, cause the numbers don’t lie and the progress seems to be stable from one month to another, trending upwards.
If there’s one thing I take out of this, it’s that everything is possible when we go after our dreams and don’t give up, no matter how long it might take us. I was 8, and now I’m 39 years old. Big big thank you for being here and reading this. Today, I’m celebrating a dream coming true <3.
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