nimika
nimika asked Cornelia Funke:

Hey Cornelia! I don't know why I even bother to say this seeing as you have already heard this from many other fans, but I love your books! I can't thank you enough for writing them. :) My question is, did you always wanted to be a writer? Were you ever scared or nervous if this profession never works? I want to be an author too...... but, I don't know, it just seems so impossible, even though I love writing...?

Cornelia Funke Hey Nimika,
each time I hear from a reader who loves my book I feel as if I met another inhabitants of my worlds, so thank you so much first of all!
As for your questions:
no, I wanted to be an astronaut or a pilot as a child. very seriously. And then life surprised me as it tends to do.
As for being nervous or frightened, that writing may not feed you - that is the prize all artists have to pay! For me fear always feels like a test whether we are serious. Life doesn't hand you the golden keys to happiness, fulfillment, creativity without testing you. So fear is always part of the deal!:) Accept it! It's worth it! For what can happen? Even if you have to write for years at night and work by day, even if you'll give only ten readers the words they have been longing to find - isn't that worth everything? So if it is written into your heart that you'll be a writer...trust in it. Fight for it. And accept that it can't be easy. Good things never are!

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