submitted by labyyrinth-

Hello everyone! My name is Linda and I'm 17 years old. About 4 years ago, if someone would have asked me if I liked reading or told me that I'd be able to write, I'd laugh at their face and point to the nearest mental hospital. I used to hate reading with all of my heart. I never gave it a chance. We had some really old classics for kids forced on us by the school that I've never heard of and I hated that, it made me hate reading and I never did it until I was forced to study from the school books. 

One summer, I was browsing through the App Store on my phone and I found Wattpad on one of the top free apps list. I was at that crazy teenager stage where I would download everything and check what's cool and what isn't. I just randomly downloaded it and went through it, I managed to add something to a 'library' without knowing what it is and left it there. 

When I came back to school,  my so called 'friend' had gotten her Facebook account hacked by someone or maybe she even did it herself and blamed me for it. She spread a couple of rumors about me and some guy, it was really big at that time, I was still new to all of this and I felt completely humiliated knowing that all of my teachers heard the crap people talked about me. She made sure no one in my grade spoke to me and I was pretty much alone.

My afternoon-infinite phone calls dropped to a zero and no one called me anymore or texted me so I had nothing to do. I remember I was lying in bed on that day and I just randomly tapped on Wattpad and that cute little orange application opened up and there lie the two stories that I put in months ago. They were "My Facebook Crush" and "Mother at Seventeen by BrittanyLeigh8" which is currently known as "A Little Something Unexpected", those were the first books I've ever read. And I loved it!

I found myself connecting to free wifi at the mall or any place that had wifi just to see an update from the writers. I later created an account and learned how to add more stories and I started reading and reading and reading and I just couldn't stop. I was really fascinated by how everything worked out. 

Wattpad gave me my own little space, it created another world for me I thought I could never have. Wattpad is like a small little room that I could just run into and start over again and feel okay no matter how bad my day was, because it takes me to places I know I can't or won't be able to go to.

It gave me more time, and strength to be patient and more understanding somehow, by just reading stories, it made me see things differently and look at different perspectives and think about what the others are thinking and how they go about. It gave me a small break whenever I needed it.

Things in school didn't get better that year, or the year after it. But I started writing on Wattpad. If everyone else here could, why can't I give it a try? And so I did. It was really awful at first, but I kept reading and writing, and I got better. I got small reads and votes that made me happy, little supportive comments here and there that made me continue writing.

By the time I was done with my first book, "Miss Popular and Mr. Right", things got slightly better on their own. I got back to using social media slowly, people communicated with me shortly and eventually everything got better, granted the person who caused all of it had left school, but the rumors never really settled down until way later. 

When I was working on my first book, there was a lot of hate coming from the people older to me at school, demanding I take my book down and stop writing or 'copying people'. And there isn't a moment when I'm working on my writing that I don't think about that and am I just so so glad I didn't stop writing.

I made friends, two very close friends that I adore and can't think of leaving them behind after this last year of high school. There were still people who made fun of me, tried to humiliate me and embarrass me in front of huge crowds. There were teachers that talked too, but keeping the saying 'Ignorance is Bliss' in my mind, I did just that. 

I started working on my second book called "Divorce" and little did I know, that was the book that actually became my hit and top rock, I got known for it everywhere here and it was absolutely fascinating. With only 75.8K reads now, all the readers have given me so much! And I will always, and forever, be grateful for what my readers did for me. Even though they might not know it, but they did a lot. Gone were the days where people at school pointed at me and said "Eh, is she that girl who did that.. did this?". Now they just look at me and say, "that's the girl that wrote the book, right? That's so good." And it feels so good to hear that.

"The Break Up Plan" is one of my current works on Wattpad, my third book over the years and I'm so happy how very slowly it's growing and all the support and feedback that I am receiving. And I appreciate how Wattpad provided the opportunity for people to leave their honest opinions, because that's what really help us as writers grow.

Slowly growing on Wattpad has also given me a huge opportunity to start up ways where I could help others do the same thing. I've started a book club and a Cancer campaign to help people improve in ways and places they think they are weak in and to spread an awareness that is one of the top priorities in this world right now. And I was so happy and proud to see so many cancer patients and survivors on Wattpad coming together and supporting and spreading Cancer awareness along with all the other Wattpaders here.

I've been dreaming of becoming an Ambassador on Wattpad since I was fourteen and I'm so happy that Wattpad made on of my dreams come true.

Wattpad has given me so much, the people here and all the friends that I've made over one common thing that we all love to do; Read and Write. And I'm so grateful that Wattpad has given us this wonderful opportunity, to share our stories and make a safe place for everyone to come to no matter what. And there's one thing I can tell, it was a pretty great coincidence finding Wattpad randomly.

Thank you for reading.

Love,
Linda x