Makeda Braithwaite

MYOPIC people usually say writing is not a feasible profession but in reality persons from every profession write every day. Whether a statement, prescription, novel or even a text, it’s still considered as writing.

There are persons who write from their heart and those who do it because they have to. A person who holds literature close to her heart is 20-year-old, Makeda Braithwaite.
Like persons her age, Braithwaite is yet to find herself but one thing she is sure about is her love for writing and literature in all its forms.

“When it comes to writing I’m very competitive with myself and I’m my own worst critic. There’s a massive amount of anxiety associated with my work for me, so I’m always trying to do better and more. I have the uncanny ability to rip my own work to shreds and sink into a sea of hatred in seconds, but I’m a bit vengeful in the sense that I always strive to put those pieces back together and make something new and better,” said the ambitious 20-year-old.

She first discovered her creative passion for literature when she was in First Form at the St. Joseph High School where she was guided by her then English teacher, Ms. Cummings.
Braithwaite’s interest in the art grew as she got older and by the time she entered the Fifth Form in high school, she was writing her own poems.

“Poetry was the only way I could cope with some intense family issues that I was faced with…I realised there was nothing else in the world I would rather be doing than writing,” she said.
The young writer intends to make a career out of literature so she has started to improve her academic knowledge in the field. Braithwaite is a Literature Major at the University of Guyana.

As her knowledge and practical experience increase, she hopes one day to have some of her work published.
There are many more talented youths and adults who share the same dream so her word of advice to them was to keep writing something every day.

“Even if it is a line, a paragraph or a stanza, always keep writing because that’s how you improve and once you master that skill no one can take it from you… People say writing isn’t a feasible profession in Guyana but it is up to you to know that they are simply thinking too small,” she said.

And while many persons chide criticism, Braithwaite encouraged them to listen to it and use it as a guide to be better and improve.