Becoming a Writer

In this post, I will tell you a little about me and what I am doing in order to become a writer. As this is the first time I have fully acknowledged my desired career path and therefore don't know whether it will work, I'd ask that you don't take what I am about to write as advice, just a note of my development. Everything I have to say in this post is simply my feeling, no judgement on any person who cannot do what I am doing or thinks I am crazy for doing it (I also think that at times).

I have always known that I love to write. As far back as I can remember, I have been jotting things down, devising stories, creating characters, I've always been big on list making.

The first story I ever made up (spoken, but recorded in writing by my parents) was when I was two-and-a-half years old. A story about characters I already knew of, Wizdora, Tattybogle and Stan, a fanfiction of sorts. The story took an hour to tell and took up twelve A4 lined pages.

As I got older, I carried on writing fanfiction, my creative side not quite mature enough to think up my own characters just yet. I would sit for hours on my dad's computer typing tales of Casualty and Holby City characters in whatever situation I could think to put them in. It wasn't until I was 14 that I sat down and wrote my very first, self thought up story. One that still needs a lot of tweaking, that may or may not be published one day but one I remain proud of to this day. I stayed committed to that idea and powered through almost every evening after school until I could finally say it was finished and that takes a lot of work, especially on top of school and homework.

Nowadays, in my twenties I guess I don't have the same level of concentration. I find an idea and begin to write, then lose interest because of something, anything I find more pressing in life—be it nephews and nieces, elderly grandparents, and work commitments. Recently, this has been something I have struggled with, and after a long time of thinking over my options, I made a leap.

Before you read what I have done and think it is something worth doing, you should know that I have an incredibly (on an out of this world level) supportive family network. They have been understanding and let me put my creativity first, despite the financial strain it may have (or may not have, depending on how well I do) for the foreseeable future.

I had a mini-meltdown. I couldn't stand being trapped in the world of corporate employment in which I was at the bottom of a very long list of people I should answer to. I want to run my own life, not have someone else tell me where I should be and when, and I was fed up of having a price put on my hourly work. A price set up by some big boss somewhere who has never met me. So I quit. I took myself out of conventional employment and I feel free. Now when I say 'free,' I don't mean I am fully running my own life yet, I mean I will be one day soon. The financial side is very difficult. I am working more practically in other areas to make up for my lack of monthly income. I am not able to buy the things I could a few months ago, but for me, it is worth it. I am not rich, I am not financially free, but I can, for the first time in my life, say that I am free to write and that is what I do.

After only a few months of this odd, unconventional freedom, I have already devised two thirds of a new novel and have made good progress in setting up an independent mean of money-making through my other creative passions e.g. drawing, painting, and script writing for small theatre companies.

For the first time in my life, I can say 'I am a writer' and it actually be true.