About me

 My name is Rafael Lima; I was born in Brazil in 1989.

I suppose my story is an ordinary story of a Brazilian. I was born into a low-income, single-parent household in Brazil (my father didn’t abandon me, but the story is complex and deserves its own space, perhaps in a book). My education was shaped by my mother and grandmother.

My first contact with the school was in a private kindergarten when I was six years old. After that, I studied primary and high school in public schools. If you’re Brazilian or know about the country, you know how “good” Brazilian public schools are.

Since primary school, I’ve already shown a little talent for writing. I wasn’t a prodigy or a super-gifted boy, but I could write easier than other kids. 

At primary school, I participated in some contests related to writing, but I never got any prizes.

During high school, I started writing some poems about relationships and life. With them, I tried other contests in the school, but I didn’t win again.

During my second year of high school in Brazil (where the system consists of three years), I participated in the nationally recognized ENEM (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio, or National High School Exam). On this test, I got an impressive grade in redaction, 90%. This grade is higher than the national average.

Still, in high school, I started to write erotic short stories. (What? Are you kidding me?). As strange as it seems, I did it. Many people who have read them appreciated those short stories.

After high school, I started to work with telemarketing. It’s an ordinary first job for young people in Brazil. I continued writing; sometimes poems about love and life, other times short stories (most of them were erotic).

I think I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t do anything for that to take place.

About 2009, I stopped writing erotic short stories. I focused on poems and rarely wrote short stories or other things.

In 2010, I converted to Protestantism. This had a crucial role in my writing career.

In 2011, I met the love of my life, Ana Carolina. Inspired by our love, I wrote many poems about her and many romantic poems.

Between 2012 and 2013, I wrote my first novel, Dr Sange. I’m sure that’s not a good book, considering my experience and the subject: crime and vengeance. I tried to sell it online and sent the book to some publishers, but I didn’t get any positive response. Then, I gave up on this book.

I tried to write other books but had no enthusiasm or desire to do it.

Image of -Юлия Здобнова(Yuliya Zdobnova) - Pexels

In 2013, I began to read the Holy Bible regularly and continuously. Because of what I read, I produced too many poems with religious themes, almost 400 until 2014. At the same time, I wrote other poems.

Image of John Mark Smith - Pexels

In 2014, I participated in ENEM again, and thank God, I got a good grade. With this grade, I got a scholarship for an administration associate degree. The course lasted two years, from 2015 to 2016 (I was the best in the class and got a gold medal). I had to write a lot during this period, but this time was for scholarly purposes. Sincerely, that was bothering me. There were many rules and models and blah, blah, blah. Colleges prejudice our creativity (my two cents).

During the college, I didn’t write almost anything. My writing career has parked. At that moment, I didn’t think of being a writer, I only thought of being an ordinary worker.

Parathesis: since 2016, I’ve been studying Spanish and English through apps, videos, texts, etc. “What do you mean?” Soon, you’ll understand.

In 2018, I returned to college, this time for an MBA in Strategic Project Management. Again, I had to write for academic purposes. It was a little better than before because the subjects were more interesting. I finished in early 2019.

I had a gap of almost three years without writing. I returned to writing at the end of 2018. I began to write a novel that I thought about for so long but had never started. I delayed writing it, finishing close to September 2019. I sent it to my friend, Anderson Camilo, to read and evaluate. He made it and sent me considerations. Even so, I kept this book on standby.

Image of Pixabay - Pexels

Parallel to the book writing, I returned to writing some poems about reflections of life. I wrote and sent them to some people on WhatsApp. Most of the people told me the poems were very good.

Poem sent on WhatsApp

At the end of 2019, my friend, Anderson Camilo, sent me a link to publish books on Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon. I had never heard anything about it. But I decided to try. I needed a small book to publish and discover how it worked.

I published my first book, Poesias diversas (Diverse Poems) in December 2019.

Because of my knowledge of Spanish, I did my first translation. I translated my first book and published it on Amazon. The publication was in January 2020.

These two books gave me the enthusiasm to write and publish more. 

Do you remember almost 400 poems written between 2013 and 2014?

I divided them into smaller books and started to publish them in February 2020, with the title Poesia Cristã (Christian Poetry). My first book had the support of my Chilean friend, Rodrigo Belmar Cruz, reviewing my translation.

In April 2020, I gathered all the poems I had sent in WhatsApp and made my book Poesia e vida (Poetry and Life). This book was written in Portuguese and Spanish.

I continued this process and translated the novel I had already finished, O caminho para a paz (The Path to Peace). I did the translation to Spanish and a revision in the book, publishing it in September 2020.

In the following months of 2020, I decided to do a new and challenging thing: write a novel in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. I worked hard and got it. My first book in three languages was published, Approved for Life. I was very proud of myself because I achieved something I didn’t know I could achieve. I only could make it because of the knowledge I obtained from studying English and Spanish since 2016.

After that, I got motivated to translate my poetry books into English. It was very hard; I had to learn many new words, expressions, and everything else, but I got it. In October 2020, I published Diverse Poetries, my first translated poetry book into English.

I continued the translation of all my books. In March 2021 I finished my last translation, the novel I published in September 2020, The Path to Peace. All my books were available in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

From March to now (November 2021), I continued writing and publishing simultaneously in three languages. I think that is easier and better than writing an entire book in Portuguese, and so, translating it.

Image of Christina Morillo - Pexels

In 2021, I published four new books: Diverse poetries II (April 2021), Christian Poetry vol. II (June 2021), Exposed Lives (August 2021), and Behaviors (October 2021). This last one was my first book of short stories.

Then, this is my history. From now on, I’ll share more about myself and my work on this blog.

I hope you enjoy this blog and my books.