For the past month, I’ve been trying to figure out what I do on Wattpad. I’ve tried explaining it in college essays that I’m beginning to write, and I’m just at a loss of words at where essentially Wattpad—and writing—all fits.

                So let’s start from the beginning. I’m sixteen years old and without a driver’s license (I should really get mine). I wrote as a child, but mostly to get away from reality. And on my fifteenth birthday, I started writing on Wattpad, this site for amateur writers where they can receive feedback on their work.

                In some fit of God-knows-what, I posted the first chapter of Confessions of a Muslim Girl. See, many of you ask me why I started writing about religion specifically. The funny thing is, I really don’t know. I don’t have many Muslim friends, but the issues that were close to my heart just needed to be addressed.

                The twenty-first century is an interesting time period. Through advancements of technology and the mass movement of people from their home country to another country, our generation—my generation, the teenage generation—is facing a shift in thought. And being a first generation American, living in a country other than that of my parents’, and being of a religion that unfortunately a lot of people are prejudiced against, I just had to let out my frustration and my thoughts in some way.

                So I did, on my fifteenth birthday when I introduced Confessions of a Muslim Girl to the world. I’m well aware that Wattpad isn’t accustomed to these kinds of works, something more serious and personal than chick lit about the happenings of high school. During the first year, even, I didn’t even know what I wanted out of it, and because of that, I’ve received some of the biggest gifts of all time.

                Confessions of a Muslim Girl is now approaching nearly half a million reads. I’m humbled by the amount of messages, comments, and feedback that I receive every day. As all of you continue to voice how great the book is, how much it helped you in your journey as a culturally, religiously confused teenager trying to navigate his or her way through the world, I’ve begun to realize that Confessions of a Muslim Girl is so much more than just a book, to you or to me.

                Most Wattpad writers can testify that while readers are awesome and amazing, they don’t have a personal connection with many of them. I didn’t notice this, but I do have a personal connection with each and every one of you who reaches out to me. Miles, language, and culture don’t seem to make much of a difference as we—not I, we—have built an international support system online.

                It humbles me to say that I get messages for you all saying that I’ve changed your lives and made your struggles a little easier. What excites me the most is the future: I do have full intentions of getting my books published (aside from Confessions of a Muslim Girl I have two other books—check out my profile). I’m pleased to see that I’ve inspired others to write, pleased to see that some combination of twenty-six letters can connect girls across four continents and over twenty-five countries.

                As the two year anniversary of my writing approaches, I’m beginning to see the beautiful potential in the written word, one that this society has forgotten. I see teenagers in high school who cynically assume that their voice isn’t important, isn’t worth being heard, and that writing “sucks.” Maybe I would have been one of these people, if I hadn’t had a little bit of confidence to raise my voice to express what I was feeling.

                I’m so excited and humbled to say that that small leap of faith has created a domino effect and has become a movement for Muslim girls—any girl who reads what I write—to stand up for themselves and raise their voices about their struggles. Writing has provided me with my confidence, and some of you have messaged me saying that reading an account of your own struggles has inspired confidence in you and who you are.

                Every time I inspire someone else to write their own book, I smile in excitement at the increased interest that teenagers like me seem to have in writing. As we as a generation revisit the power of the written word, I’m happy I can do my part by inspiring Muslim girls. But I don’t want it to end with me; I just want to be the beginning, the inspiration for girls to write about their own personal struggles, more specific than the struggles I address in what I write. As I see that, I feel optimistic about our generation—as corny as it may sound.

                I hope that through writing, our generation as a whole can find our own creative way to bridge social, cultural, and religious gaps. I hope that writing can prove that the voices of our generation really are important, that one out of seven billion can actually make a difference.

                I’m excited about the future of our generation, and I’m excited about the future of my own works. I really do want to get my books published so that I can inspire through my writing. I didn’t know that Wattpad would give me all of this, but it did and I’m really, really thankful that I do have this opportunity.

                Throughout the journey, I hope that I have your support to make this happen because something like a book or any work in general isn’t the product of one person; it’s the product of a community, a group effort.

                Thank you for reading all this, and thank YOU for all that you’ve done for me. It’s been an amazing year and nine months, and I hope it lasts forever. I just wanted to let you know what you mean to me, what writing has come to mean to me, and my thoughts about our generation.