Who am I to say whether someone can write or not?
I don’t have to be anyone in order to make an evaluation. Suffice to say that once upon a time, in London, two publishing houses did take my word for it. I was an editor, and I edited books for writers. I’ve also been a ghostwriter, a scriptdoctor for film, a copywriter, an SEO writer, a feature writer, and more. I’ve been published for 60 years on three continents, and I earn my living solely from writing. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much of my stuff has been published. There are tear sheets on my portfolio, though – dating from the early 60s. Feel free to google it.
As an author, my average star rating on Goodreads is 4.5, and in 2011, I two of my books reached bestselling status on itunes in the UK and Australia. I’ve won numerous prizes through the years for my writing.
As I was the victim of extreme abuse for 42 years, was born and bred in Africa, have Asperger’s Syndrome, and an auditory processing disorder, many doors were closed to me. I had the social understanding of a 5 year old when I was 42 – despite being published by the time I was 10 years old.
It’s one of those strange facts that autistic kids are often gifted (IQ measured at 165 at that time) so, there is the discrepancy between social skills and ability.
In all of this, I have simply tried to survive. I have had no support from anyone. I have been completely on my own for a lifetime. As a result, I was profoundly ignorant for a long time – I wasn’t taught to eat with a knife and fork or to bath or to brush or hair or to say hello or anything else. All these things have an effect.
It never occurred to me to seek fame and fortune. All I wanted was to be safe. All I do now is write in order to sustain myself financially, and I’m currently fortunate that I can do it. This is thanks entirely to the numerous people who contribute to me through Ko-fi and Patreon because they think I’m a stunning writer and they know something of my life story.
I’m sorry you feel that writers should encourage other writers, but I don’t. I’m going to leave it at that.
http://bestebookstories.blogspot.com/2012/09/flattering-words.html
https://medium.com/humans-being-humane/how-i-overcame-42-years-of-chronic-abuse-84dcd4885ed6
