Problems I Face as an Amateur Writer

 In my opinion, after my experiences, I think being a doctor, engineer, or anything like that is quite easy. To reach that goal you have a set path and once you get there, you're there.

But the path of an entertainer is quite different. Whether it be a singer, an artist, a youtuber - people think it's easy but it actually isn't.  Entertainment is one of the riskiest fields that one can ever choose to make your dreams come true. 

As an amateur writer, and hope-to-be bestseller, I've encountered the difficulties as a typical teenager of my status would face when trying to create a name. So here are the struggles that I regularly face when I'm trying to build my foundation. 

1. Money

As an ordinary middle class Sri Lankan teenager money has become a main problem in spreading my publicity. To try to submit my works to contests is quite difficult as most of the efficient ones require an entry fee. Recently I had to turn down a recording opportunity for a song that I wrote because they requested payment. 

2. Age

Most of the time when I try to write to competitions I have had to give up submitting because I didn't come up to the age limits. Also, even when I do write my best to contests for kids and teenagers I've got the feeling that judges think that my work is too much for a sixteen year old to do, because the selected winners works are much simpler than my own. 

3. Outside support 

In the Sri Lankan society the high class accepted jobs are doctors, engineers, lawyers etc. Singing and dancing gets some support, also does acting, but there's hardly anything to support the literature.  The rich and the old and educated community can afford to have book launches and publicize their books, but the others like us can't do that.

4. Publicity 

Since I don't use social media, it is really difficult for me to publicise my work. I have some friends from the writing websites like poetrysoup and allpoetry, but it is really difficult to get my work into the society, especially when they don't know a thing about me. 

I have already taken my career to the next level by publishing my own book in Amazon, but since I'm Sri Lankan and the world doesn't know me yet, and even the Sri Lankans who do know me don't use online shopping. 

5. School Work

I'm only sixteen and I have three more years before I'd leave school. And of course, writer, billionaire or even president, a teacher's child should get good grades. When keeping a clean name by doing homework and continual studies, I don't really have time that I can fit into doing my poetry and stories before the given deadlines. Of course I can do that if I go with minimal sleep, but I have another story as to why I can't do it, but that I'm not ready to tell.

OMG! Just writing this got me all heated up out of anger and disappointment.  Anyway, go ahead and check out my first  novel that I published in Amazon here.

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