About Me
My obsession started during the Twilight craze. It was 2009, the final year of primary school. In a warm, humid classroom with only a ceiling fan to give us a little bit of reprieve, my friends and I found ourselves free for a little bit of time - a teacher was late. They were all reading, passing around and talking about these books with black covers.
"What's that?" I asked.
They gasped in shock. "You don't know?"
And so it was that 11-year-old me started reading them. I was entranced. So far in my life, books were boring - too wordy, too long, too much effort. The TV was much better! That quote about those who aren't readers just haven't found the right book yet is completely right. I read the Twilight Saga, then I reread it, and again, and again...
I was in a book hangover. It was a state of mind I would become very familiar with later in life. Nothing else mattered, and nothing could break me out. I wanted to read, desperately, but Twilight was the only interesting thing.
"Enough!" one of my friends said one day, after yet another long discussion of a series we were all experts in. "Check out this book I'm reading." It was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Apparently, the Twilight books weren't the only interesting ones in the world - who knew? I devoured the Harry Potter series and went on to discover other books on my own, some of which would become my lifelong companions (and caused more of the aforementioned book hangovers).
I started writing my own stories at the age thirteen. They were... not the best. But I was thirteen! Can't blame me. The itch to write my own stories never went away, and grew strong enough that I was determined to study it, become better and get published. I decided to move away from home (Malaysia) and go to an English-speaking country for university. English being the language I preferred to read and write in, of course. I found myself in Winchester, the final resting place of the author of one of my favourite books of all time; the author being Jane Austen and the book being Pride and Prejudice.
That's it for my story, really. If you're wondering why 'The Nightlight', it's a nickname a friend came up with for me. My name, Nur Laili, has a very deep meaning. Nur - light, Laili - night. My parents meant it to be something like, 'light of the night'. Shining in the darkness and all that. As friends do, my 'deep' name was given another meaning, and I've loved it ever since.
"What's that?" I asked.
They gasped in shock. "You don't know?"
And so it was that 11-year-old me started reading them. I was entranced. So far in my life, books were boring - too wordy, too long, too much effort. The TV was much better! That quote about those who aren't readers just haven't found the right book yet is completely right. I read the Twilight Saga, then I reread it, and again, and again...
I was in a book hangover. It was a state of mind I would become very familiar with later in life. Nothing else mattered, and nothing could break me out. I wanted to read, desperately, but Twilight was the only interesting thing.
"Enough!" one of my friends said one day, after yet another long discussion of a series we were all experts in. "Check out this book I'm reading." It was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Apparently, the Twilight books weren't the only interesting ones in the world - who knew? I devoured the Harry Potter series and went on to discover other books on my own, some of which would become my lifelong companions (and caused more of the aforementioned book hangovers).
I started writing my own stories at the age thirteen. They were... not the best. But I was thirteen! Can't blame me. The itch to write my own stories never went away, and grew strong enough that I was determined to study it, become better and get published. I decided to move away from home (Malaysia) and go to an English-speaking country for university. English being the language I preferred to read and write in, of course. I found myself in Winchester, the final resting place of the author of one of my favourite books of all time; the author being Jane Austen and the book being Pride and Prejudice.
That's it for my story, really. If you're wondering why 'The Nightlight', it's a nickname a friend came up with for me. My name, Nur Laili, has a very deep meaning. Nur - light, Laili - night. My parents meant it to be something like, 'light of the night'. Shining in the darkness and all that. As friends do, my 'deep' name was given another meaning, and I've loved it ever since.
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