Our March event was all about books, writing and ripple effects that bring us new opportunities! We gathered online once more and started with our amazing host Rafaela who welcomed everyone and shared some of her favorite creative magazines. She then led us through different breakout rooms to talk and share about some ripple effects the pandemic has brought to our lives. It was a really good start, to share and to connect with each other.
Then our speaker took the stage: Lénia Rufino, a reader-turned-writer. She shared with us her journey of dreams and setbacks that led to her first book published some weeks ago!
When Lénia was a child, she started reading young adult literature, such as “Uma Aventura,” a very famous Portuguese collection. Since then, she has been in love with reading! After some years, Lénia started seeing that she could also write stories. She began writing short stories while she was at school. She even wrote a story with weekly chapters that she shared with her colleagues. At a young age, she started having some short stories published in DNJovem, which was a part of a Portuguese journal for younger people to share their talents and where many well-known writers have started publishing.
Then, as it goes, ife got in the way and Lénia went for plan B and got a masters in Marketing, working in that area for a while. However, her love for writing was still there and in 2003 she started a blog. That was the first step to get where she wanted to go, though she mainly focused on short stories.
Years went by until a day in 2012 when a friend of hers shared a photo of some trees near a cemetery and it really inspired her. Quickly, she wrote three paragraphs about it. However, she really felt that a longer story could grow from there. Rather than moving forward, in came the imposter syndrome, the self doubt and self sabotage that most of the creatives feel in some period of their lives. Although Lénia was comfortable and feeling good when writing short stories, she felt that she didn’t know how to write a book, a longer story. That feeling made her pursue a writing course with João Tordo and she learned so much from the experience. Perhaps the most important lesson? She learned there is no set formula for writing a book, you just have to begin! She finished writing her first book in 2017 and then the next phase started, which included reviewing and sending the manuscript to publishers. It was only in 2019 that she received a positive response. At last there was a publisher ready to make her book a reality… With the happiness from being accepted, Lénia started then working on the review with them, preparing to publish the book in May 2020. However, when the pandemic arrived and turned the world upside-down, it also meant that her contract was canceled! This was terrible news for Lénia and she admits it was one of the saddest days of her life. She totally lost hope in accomplishing her dream!
Yet! Here comes the ripple effect that changed everything for her! She posted about her disappointment on Instagram and one of her followers worked for a publisher. This publisher reached out and within a very short time, she got a new contract! She feels the book is all the better for it. As you see, things really turned around and her book is now available, 32 years after the beginning of this dream!
“It is possible, it is achievable!” said Lénia and her story really proves it! So if you have a book idea, a tool, a course, a painting, or a project in your mind that you would like to put out to the world, do it! Work for it! Let life lead the way! Thank you Lénia for your honest sharing and story!
Photos by Irina Konova and Sónia Ramalho
Originally posted here
