Refuse to let hate shrink you.

Find the courage to keep creating in the face of negativity!

This is a pep talk for anyone that’s tempted to shrink themselves and play it safe with their art (or stop sharing it altogether) because they’re receiving hate, criticism or being laughed at online or in their personal lives.

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Online hate isn’t personal, it’s a symptom of being seen and visible.

Prior to my success as a globally best-selling author, I had actually experienced public criticism, shaming, stalking and mean comments since I was ten years old.

Yes, ten.

I’ve been getting my reps in and preparing for visibility from a very young age.

I created a YouTube account as a kid, uploading videos of myself from my laptop after school - dancing, talking to the camera, creating funny little sketches with my friends, demonstrating how to create the ‘perfect Lady Gaga hair bow’ on my Bratz doll while talking to the camera. I wish I still had access to these videos, but unfortunately I deleted them all as a teenager out of embarrassment.

As to be expected of an enthusiastic young girl that expressed herself without shame - I received a lot of ‘hate’. Most of it came from my friends on fake accounts. Someone even created a Facebook page named Florence Given is a slag and wrote fake statuses under my name about how I wanted to ‘suck off everyone in Plymouth’ (I’m in fits of laughter as I type this!!).

What I didn’t realise then is that the criticism wasn’t about me, as much as it was about what I represented; freedom, self-expression and a refusal to shrink. Most young girls have their enthusiasm and their spark shamed out of them, and through some force of magic I’d managed to hold onto mine. I’ve learned over the years that this alone is enough to make you a target, and it certainly doesn’t stop at school.