I was never a good writer at school. I was not even the most enthusiastic reader of books when I was young. Writing a book was not on my to do list in this lifetime. However, as all creative things do, one day after a stormy time in my life about 15 years ago, I started writing. My first books were very different in style. I was discovering myself through exploring different ways to tell a story. I was practising. When I wrote my first chick-lit story, I realised that I can write story with multiple main characters and keep the story alive for about 300+ pages.
I failed many times
I tried to get my books published in Finland. It was hard to get "no thank you" over and over again. I decided to give up writing after each book because getting those no-answers without any explanation was very hard and de-motivating. However, every time I picked- up my laptop eventually and started writing a new story. I kept on developing my writing skills and over the years my writing changed to be what it is now.
I changed my language
Then one day Drops of Happiness was created and for some reason the text came out in English. I wrote the book four times and only in the last rewriting phase poems started coming out. The poems were Sandra's heart that needed a voice in the book. I know now that the reason I had to re-write it so many times was that the poems had to be born and I wasn't ready for them earlier.
Don't give up on your dreams
I learned that if the Universe says no, it is not just a no but NOT YET. There is a right time for everything. The only thing you need to do is not to give up on your vision and passion. Trust that when the time is right, you will know why things didn't happen before. Meanwhile, you can practise mastering what it is you love to do.