I have always been a people pleaser. Yes, that’s a thing. But as I grew up I realized that some people are impossible to please, and others, even if pleased will never really love you. It has been painful, because, some of those people were from my own family. But it’s ok, today I know who I am and I have a much better idea of who loves me. I treasure them all and I make sure to make them feel special every time I have a chance. So, I’ve learned to be myself and express my thoughts without trying to make everyone happy so they might like me. In fact I don’t care much for anybody’s approval or disapproval. Still, sometimes I find myself thinking: Should I say this or write that? What if somebody doesn’t like it? Or if they feel cross?

Being a writer is not about doing the right thing by someone else’s standards or writing something that will be liked by everybody. You know why? Because you will never be able to please everybody! And you don’t need to. That’s a fact. There will always be someone that won’t like what you wrote, that will be jealous because they didn’t think about it first, and so on.

Not only that, though. You don’t want to write something that will please everybody, because it will probably not be really you. When you are true to you, your writing will attract the right readers for you. If you keep trying to wear a mask, because the market, or the critics, or your parents say so you’ll never truly be YOU in your work. Let me explain. Every writer out there has her own readers. Can you imagine Harry Potter fans reading a Stephen King’s terror novel? I’m not saying there are not exceptions. What I mean is that most people that love J.K. Rowlings’ books will not like King’s books. But both authors are read by millions of readers.

You have to believe in yourself because nobody else will if you don’t. It’s all in the passion you can put in your writing, the heart, as they say. And believe me you can’t infuse passion to something you are writing for external reasons –your mom wants you to write romance, or women don’t write horror– or because you were told that a memoir would sell better or more. When you find what you love to write, the passion will be palpable all over it. And you know what? the readers that connect with your writing will be your REAL fans and the more you’ll write the more they’ll want. Being true to you is your best marketing strategy and you won’t be able to stop writing because you’ll be writing about what you love.