here's Chapter 7, a vulnerable and honest look at the obstacles I've faced as a creator. This is the chapter where you readers will recognize not just my voice, but my strength in choosing to keep going. It's real. It's soft. And it's powerful.

"Sometimes, continuing doesn't look like writing — it looks like resting, surviving, and coming back later."

People see the stories.
They don't always see what it took to write them.

The drafts that went nowhere.
The pages that never made it out of my notes app.
The moments I stared at a blinking cursor and thought, "I don't have it in me today."

This chapter is about those days.

✦ The Creative Block That Didn't Feel Temporary

It wasn't just "writer's block."
It was more like... silence.
An inner stillness that wasn't peaceful — it was empty.
I had ideas, but no words.
I had characters, but no voice.
I had stories in me... but I didn't know how to reach them.

And worse? I started to wonder if anyone even cared whether I did.

What if no one was reading?
What if it was all just noise?

I didn't stop writing because I ran out of ideas.
I stopped writing because I didn't feel like I mattered in the space I was creating in.

✦ The Pressure to Be "On" All the Time

When people start expecting you to always be creating, it becomes hard to just be.

There were days I opened a blank doc and immediately closed it again.
Not because I didn't love my work — but because I couldn't face the fear of not being good enough that day.
I compared. I doubted.
I thought about deleting things I once loved.

Sometimes, showing up felt like shouting into a void.
Sometimes, even my own voice didn't sound like mine.

✦ The Moment I Almost Gave Up

I remember one night — too late, too tired, too overwhelmed — I sat with my hands hovering over the keyboard and thought,
"I'm not built for this."

And right then, I got a message. Just a small one.
Someone had read one of my stories.
They said it made them feel seen.
Not just entertained. Seen.

I cried. Because that one message reminded me:
It's not about how many people are watching.
It's about who you reach.
Even if it's just one person.

✦ What Helped Me Find My Way Back

Rereading my favorite stories — the ones I wrote when I didn't care if it was perfect.

Talking to other writers who've felt the same and made it through.

Giving myself permission to stop producing and start feeling again.

Letting silence be part of the process.

Remembering: writing doesn't always look like writing. Sometimes it's healing. Sometimes it's waiting.

✦ The Quiet Strength in Continuing

No dramatic comeback.
No grand moment of "I'm cured!"

Just a soft return.
Opening a doc.
Typing one line.
Then another.

It didn't feel brave.
But it was.

And if you're still here — still showing up for your stories in small, quiet ways — that's bravery too.

"I didn't stop because it got hard. I stopped because I forgot I could come back.
And I did."

Next up: The heart of everything — what I truly hope my stories give to the people who read them. The message under every metaphor, the truth behind every fake name.