If you are a reader, more often than not you are judged.
Judged by society.
Judged by those close to you.
Judged by yourself.
As a young reader discovering the beauty of the written word, it is difficult to navigate the world of books, especially when flying solo into the readership community. This can often lead to misunderstanding of personal likes and dislikes, and difficulty finding and choosing the right authors and books to read.
As we get older, this daunting process eases in its difficulty, as we’re more aware of our reading habits, favoured genres and writing styles. And by this point in our life, we don’t allow the judgement of others to affect our hobbies.
But it is the judgement we receive as young people, as primary schoolers, that impact our development in personal, academic and social situations.
When we are young and not surrounded by passionate readers (as we might be today), we are made to feel different. To stand out from the crowd for liking something many others do not like. We are made to feel like nerds because who else, apart from a nerd, would genuinely like books and reading? So when I was younger, like many other young people who didn’t know any better back then, I labelled myself a nerd. Especially because my love of the fantasy genre started from a young age.
But why should I put a label on myself just for liking something?
As we enter the high school era, a similar thing happens to us. By this point, we’ve come into our own and accept our love for reading. But those habits start to bleed into our academic life and once again, we’re labelled something based on our habits; not only are we nerds, but we’re teacher’s pets because we take our education seriously.
When will this judgement end?
By the time we reach university, if that is the path we take, we’ve become resilient enough to allow labels not to define us. But they always haunt the back of our minds, reminding us that once upon a time, our reading journey was frowned upon because it didn’t fit in with the norm of the other kids.
We shouldn’t have to hide our passions.
Creativity and a love of writing often go hand in hand with a love of reading. When I was young and someone asked me what I wanted to do in the future, I told them I wanted to become an author. I didn’t let the judgement and misunderstanding of my passion get in the way of people being unable to comprehend what I wanted to do.
So I took it further. Now, with a Bachelor’s Degree and Masters Degree in Writing and Publishing, I continue to advocate for passionate readers and writers by helping them bring their stories to life.
An internship at Busybird Publishing has been but one step in my journey. The team accept you in as one of their own, showing you all the facets of self-publishing and allowing you to hone your diverse skills. And not to mention, Oscar’s constant furry, stress-relieving and playful presence tops the experience off.
So I leave you with this: don’t let the words of others change who you are.
Whether you are nerd, academic, avid reader, aspiring writer or editor, run with your passions and let them fly.
Rebecca Cannizzaro
Thursday intern