BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

My family recently started taking interest in my writing. Which of course has me worried. What is with the sudden interest?
My oldest sister, the avid reader, I would say is probably the most supportive at the moment. Even she was a bit sceptical at the binning. But even my brother the most judgemental one is asking me how far my first novel is from submission. It is really weird. My mother and my other sister, the chef, can't understand why I keep writing. I might never get published and I might never make more then 25c off my writing, but yet I still write.

Just the other day my brother told me that I can write but to not embarrass him by writing crap. So with my family I think you have to take the sweet with the sour. We are a pretty old fashioned family and in our country becoming a successful fiction writer is unheard of. So, if I want to submit my work I will have to submit it overseas, which just reduces my chances even further. Because if American agents don't want to accept most American authors, what are the chances they will want to accept work from a girl from South Africa? Very slim, but still I am going to try.

I love my family a lot and I truly understand their concerns, but I have to keep on writing, no matter how hard it gets. Maybe they are supporting me now, but will they still support me when the rejection letters come in? I think not, but I refuse to let their prejudices keep me down. After all, what do I have to lose?