@Bjorn 20 April 2021 edited

Reviving Forgotten Writing Skills **Read, read, and read.** As a kid when I find myself alone, I read. Yes, you read it right. I read about various stories from drama, action, fiction to comedy.  However, the stories I have read were not published and written in a book. It was all written in *Komiks Magazine*. I grew up in a small town where the only thing to consume leisure time was to read *Komiks*, other than playing with fellow kids in the neighborhood.

I was not born rich, we live in a small house not owned by my parents. We don’t have a TV set, not even a small transistor radio. Well, obviously because we don’t have electricity at home.  We cooked our food by burning wood. We got our drinking water in a well and the only thing that provided light during the night was a small gas lamp.

Back in the 90s, reading *Komiks* was a popular pastime in our place. It was the first choice of entertainment for common people. Contrary to average residents who were capable of purchasing a TV set. At age 10 my imagination was already far and no limits. However, it was not only me that has this habit of reading *Komiks*. My siblings also read *Komiks*, and almost all kids in the community. Most likely Gen X and Gen Y kids in our local area have very good comprehension skills because they have already been used to reading at an early age. Published *Komiks* in our town has this *Penpal column* where a name and address is being published if someone wants to have a friend from a different place in the country. We do this by writing through snail mail. So at a young age, I already began writing, exchanging ideas and opinions with different kids in some provinces of different regions.  I guess those are the times that I developed my skills in writing.  **Writing Contest** One day the Publishing house had this writing contest. I was eager to win. I joined and submitted my only entry. As far as I can remember the article I submitted was a story about a father of five who was working so hard just to have food on their plate but was destined to suffer more. I will try to revive the whole story and post it here one of these days. So I sent the article to Atlas Publishing, a local publishing house in our country that produces these *Komiks*. I did not expect the next thing to happen because after submitting my entry I have already forgotten about the writing contest.

**Surprise Sur-prize** A month later, I received a mail from Atlas but I don't have any idea of what the mail was about. The contest was completely out of my mind. I was astounded when I opened up the envelope, it contained a check worth of 50Php with an enclosed letter saying that my entry for the writing contest won as a consolation prize. My mother was clueless until I told her the whole story. She was so happy and proud. She even spread the news to her friends about it and was excited.

The next day mother decided to open a bank account under my name in one of the local banks in the province. She used the check as a starting saving for me. **Forgotten Skills** When I was growing up, my interest was diverted to other things which include teenage rock bands.

I was kind of a foolish kid despite having very strict parents. So by being a little playful, I lost my interest in reading *Komiks* as well as writing. When I went to college, I completely lost the chance to read *Komiks*, as I have to read books for my studies, and writings were devoted to research and *thesis*.

Years have passed until I get married and have my own family, writing and reading have never been my habit. I mean, I also read articles from magazines and similar publications. I sometimes jot down valuable information but seldomly. It was only in 2019 that started writing again but now through blogging. However, it was kind of difficult to regain my enthusiasm to write again. Revitalizing The Potential But it was only temporary, the moment I started my pen writing, the ideas just came out easily. It was like I had unlocked a skill that was hiding for more than a decade.

And now here I am on read.cash, trying to make a living by blogging. I guess it was not late enough to sign in for this platform. As far as I know read.cash is just more than a year since it was launched last 2019 and if all things work out just fine I'll be earning a lot here just like other users in this community. I have shared with you here how I gained skills in writing although my writing seems very basic. More important is the message it conveys. The information that it brings. To motivate and inspire even if it's very minimal but at least it makes a little sense. Thanks for reading. Ciao! ●▬▬▬▬▬๑⇧⇧๑▬▬▬▬▬● *You may want to support me with my journey here at read.cash, I will highly appreciate it.*  *I will also appreciate your generosity please visit me at* **Cointr.ee** *When you do please leave a message so I can extend my gratitude.* https://cointr.ee/bjorn ●▬▬▬▬▬๑⇩⇩๑▬▬▬▬▬● **Feel free to check my previous post:** **Don’t give up: Write even when you don’t want to** https://read.cash/@Bjorn/dont-give-up-write-even-when-you-dont-want-to-b6f0aa40 ****There is no Truth, no Reality: Only Stories**** https://read.cash/@Bjorn/there-is-no-truth-no-reality-only-stories-82226c5c ****Full-time Blogger: Yes You Can**** https://read.cash/@Bjorn/full-time-blogger-yes-you-can-5f631c36 ****Anyone Has Their Own Purpose in Writing**** https://read.cash/@Bjorn/anyone-has-their-own-purpose-in-writing-bf5e255d **Photo Credits:** ****Erik Mclean**** https://unsplash.com/@introspectivedsgn ****NeONBRAND**** https://unsplash.com/@neonbrand ****Lisa Simens Vera**** https://unsplash.com/@lisasimenz ****Henry Sucahya**** https://unsplash.com/@herrysucahya ****Neel**** https://unsplash.com/@neelhimself ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━ Special mention to my sponsors: @Cineholic @CryptoBabe @CryptoMax ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━