"Let’s Try It!" by Tatyana Korsakova, summary Automatic translate

"Let’s Give It a Try!" is an autobiographical essay by Belarusian writer Tatyana Korsakova (real name Tatyana Viktorovna Rimskaya-Korsakova, born 1975 in Gomel), written in 2015. Published in the anthology "How I Changed My Life for the Better," the essay recounts how an ordinary young woman with uncertain prospects, a rented apartment, and morning sickness eventually became a professional author.

A dream in the back of the mind

The narrator recalls how, even before her son was born, she watched television and envied a successful writer with a country house and red boots — the self-confidence she herself lacked. The dream of becoming a writer seemed like a shameful indulgence: pregnancy, morning sickness, and household chores were no time for "extraordinary horizons." She forbade herself to think about it, allowing only occasional glimpses.

After the birth of my son, busy days and sleepless nights seemed to have crowded out all dreams. The joy of motherhood overshadowed everything else. But the dream of a bookshelf and red boots never went away — it simply hid in the shadows, biding its time.

First attempts and "magic books"

When the storyteller finally had some free time, she took up writing. The stories she wrote for her son weren’t working out — they came out "something intricate, with a twist." The writing was folded into a folder and hidden away until better times.

It was then that the narrator discovered special books — those that promised readers the almost impossible: to believe in themselves and change their lives for the better. The authors of these books were persuasive. Having mastered the internet, she found forums of similarly "crazy and obsessive" people — people who dreamed of writing and were not ashamed of it. The courage of others made her own fears seem less formidable.

Magic books advised: if you want a miracle, formulate your dream. And if you’re eager to become a writer, write it down. The storyteller followed the advice and wrote the story in a couple of hours.

The Tale of Silantiy

This story is a fairy tale about a hermit named Silantiy, who lives in the forest. He found a half-dead cat named Pribluda in the taiga, and she took up residence in his home. Silantiy had long dreamed of writing: at first, he burned manuscripts in the fireplace, comparing himself to Gogol, then asked his only friend, the gamekeeper Timofey, to bring him a laptop from the district center. Timofey complied with the request a month later.

Having received a laptop, Silantiy mastered the internet, found a forum for young writers, and began writing a book in the Slavic fantasy genre — about brownies, mermaids, kikimoras, and wood-goblins, with a detective plot and a love story. He was assisted in the writing by Ustyusha, a mysterious woman who visited him in his forest house and became his muse. The work took a year.

When the manuscript was ready, Silantiy hesitated for three months to send it, losing weight and looking haggard. Finally, one dark night, he sent the text to the largest publishing house. A response arrived from the head of the fantasy fiction editorial department: the manuscript was deemed "very entertaining," although the editor pointed out some violations of folklore canons — the leshy’s tail, the kikimora’s green hair, and its pointed ears. Nevertheless, the editor offered to sign a contract.

Silantiy celebrated the occasion with Timofey and the neighbors. When the guests left, Ustyusha remained. Silantiy wondered if he’d been untrue by agreeing to edits for the sake of publication. Ustyusha laughed, tucked an emerald-green lock of hair under her headscarf, and suggested inviting the editor over — let him see for himself that the host didn’t look like a faun at all. Silantiy kissed her behind her pointed ear.

From story to life

The narrator returns to herself: this short text "with the right ending, where dreams came true," changed her entire life. It became her first journey — albeit in a world of possibilities, not reality. It took courage to send the first manuscript to the "coolest" publisher and patience — something she had always lacked.

At the end, the narrator admits: she still doesn’t have a country house, and red boots are no longer in fashion. But now she has her own bookshelf and the right to call herself a writer without blinking an eye.