One day, when I was nine or ten years old, my mother asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I, even without knowing exactly what that meant, replied: “I want to be a writer”. She, surprised, asked me again: “Why do you want to be a writer?” I, also surprised, replied: "I don't know".
Today, if my mother were alive – she passed away in 2018 – and asked me that question again: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, I would answer exactly the same: “I want to be a writer”. I would just explain the reasons:
1 – “I want to be a writer to retell your stories — my mother was an excellent storyteller;
2 – I want to be a writer to tell beautiful stories — as beautiful as yours”;
3 – “I want to be a writer to awaken good feelings in my readers — just as your stories awakened in me”;
4 – “I want to be a writer to be read, debated, commented on, criticized, talked about”.
To be a writer is to be an attentive observer of reality; it is to transform feelings, pains, pleasures, the ills of the world into poetic texts, short stories, chronicles, reports, novels…
I currently identify as a writer. I have already published six books: “The first look: Philosophy in Amazonian tales” (2010); “The second look: Philosophy in Amazonian themes” (2012); “The Third Look: Philosophy in Amazonian Legends” (2014); “The religious man: The human being's journey in search of God” (2016); “Jesus and Ajuricaba in the land of the Amazons: Stories of the Amazonian universe” (2019) and “Children of the Quarantine: The hope of living again” (Editora Viseu, 2021).
Despite having already published all these works, I still don't live exclusively on my literature, because I'm a teacher! I usually say that I am an amateur writer, dreaming of one day being able to live exclusively from the sale of my books. I know this is not an easy task, but what is easy in this life?
Being a writer is not necessarily an activity linked to the world of competition, but to the world of creativity. That's why I think that by working hard, studying, reading and writing, one day I'll get there.
There is within me — and it is not vanity — a strength, a very strong desire to positively mark the lives of my readers, to transform their lives, to make them laugh, to make them think, to reflect, in short, to awaken in them the best feelings of life, noble, altruistic feelings, feelings of freedom, hope, justice, love, forgiveness, respect…
I believe that only being a writer will I be happy. How good it is to be able to think about every word I write. How good it is to know that someone read my text and felt the best feelings in the world. How good it is to be visited by the Goddess Inspiration.
And since this goddess still hasn't visited me, I kept chasing my perfect work, my life's work, that work that will change my status from "amateur writer" to "professional writer".
Writers are always important people to the world. If not them, who would give us beautiful love stories like Romeo and Julieta, Capitu and Bentinho, Diadorim and Riobaldo, Fernando and Isaura? In short, writers are necessary as a horizon, for the construction of a better world.
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And long live all the writers in the world, from España and Amazonas, the classics, the amateurs, the professionals, the marginalized. Long live those who have already published some work and those who have never published a book. May you keep fighting for your dreams. The important thing is to be happy!
