Writers in Bahrain are among the top fairy creatures, you hear myths that they exist, but they are all secluded in particular areas that no one knows of.

It’s kinda ironic because I do know of a number of extremely talented writers, but they are just shelving themselves in a bubble that they are in the wrong country. Well, the thing is, if your friend is a writer, just try this: walk to them and tell them I know another writer. Their reaction would almost be “but it can’t be! I thought I was the only one!”.

I admit, there is tremendous pressure on everyone here to lay off writing and pursue a “normal” and boring career and that is one of the top reasons why established writers don’t actually pursue it. They fall prey to the terror that is responsible soon enough and just give up.

See writing takes practice, and if you don’t do it daily, you kinda lose track of those skills. Most also feel the torture of “you want to be what? A writer? Okay sweety, but what do you want to be when you grow up?”. Writing is not taken seriously here… So I really think that it is very difficult to swim against the current because being a writer in a country that is dominated by oil wealth is kind of being an investigator that is looking for unicorns. It can happen, but it is very unlikely.

Lots of things can hinder our dreams and stop our talents from growing. But the most important thing here is to give ourselves permission saying it’s okay to fail and it’s okay to be a loser in something while winning in another thing.

My message to every writer in Bahrain, I hope that something or somewhere is built that links all writers together and a community starts that provide a successful platform for self-publishing authors and writers. Hell, it could be an annual event where the likes of Stephen King are invited to knock some god damn sense into our parents that being a writer is actually pretty damn cool.