Tuesday 13 November 2012

Ana Elahal shares her Journey as a Writer

Hello,

What a challenge to introduce myself as a writer in the land of Shakespeare and J.R. Tolkien, while I am literally sweating, in the hot Center west region of Brazil, in the daily production of yet my first book. But everything has a starting point, and to pave the ground is just as lovely.

I am Ana Elahel, Brazilian, former UN staff member. Until a few years ago, my life was a sequence of breathtaking adventures, a lot of hard work, and idealism. Until I had to quit working. Shattered dreams.  The years of physiotherapy.  Where did everything go?

Wait! The time had come to rebuild my world, choose another dream, and make it come true.  How, when your body hurts so much, and there’s nothing to do but to look at the ceiling? “Ana, you were born to enchant through writing.” This is my best friend’s doing.
And that’s the magic of life: it breaches through any obstacle to make you become who you truly are.

I picked up the notes, short stories and tales that I wrote during those high-adrenaline years, all forgotten in my crammed PC drawer – the archives. Could they be transformed into books? Maybe. But then the main issue was: I had discovered I am a writer.

Then what? Build new networks, participate in writer’s workshops, and resume writing.  One day, I met James McSill, a text surgeon. That’s when I discovered I was writer… in the stage of a seed.

At present, the very, very hard-work part unfolds: write, rewrite. Tutorial sessions. Turn images into words, words into emotions, experiences into fiction literature. Carve universal contents, enthrall with regional spices, open minds. Create worlds and realities.

How fortunate I am to now have the time to write professionally, to allow fantasy fiction to shape itself in my head as I ride my bicycle, the horizon right in front of me.

Today there are no drops of sweat, only the rain drops that hit the window pane as I write this note to the BWA blog.

Ana Elahel / Brasília – DF

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