A lot of people have asked me how I got around to my writing career. When I answer that I started writing online, they ask:

How do you do that?
Where can I find work like that?
How does it work?
How do you get paid?

Let me share to you my story.

I recently read the Grimms' version of Cinderella, Ashputtel.

Being a Disney fan, I would have expected the original story to be more or less the same as the one portrayed in the cartoon. However, Ashputtel is far from the fairy-tale happily ever after.

It was a dark, gloomy Sunday, the sound of pelting raindrops on the roof echoed in the four walls of her room. Thunder. Lightning. The torrent of rain continued on as she lay awake in her bed.

She stared blankly at the canopy of her double-decked bed. Her mind wandered off to the events of the weeks past. Months. Years. She had always been the headstrong type, never the one to falter and break down when challenges arise. Luck always seems to be at her favor. But now, it seemed otherwise.

She thought back to the day she decided to leave. Many would think it unwise, unpractical, but for her, it was the best decision she has ever made, second to the time she decided to chase after her lifelong dream. Her dreams consumed her. She was determined to be the best that she can be. The passion and the determination were burning inside her for a while. For a while.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore engraved a cryptic message on the Golden Snitch that Harry swallowed in his first quidditch match: I open at the close. It took Harry many grueling days to figure that one out, until the time came, on the Final Battle at Hogwarts, that he let all his guards down, eventually unveiling the answer to the message: I open at the close.