How I Became a Writer by Accident
Every child gets asked what they want to be when they grow up. For me, that question got a different answer every other year. I mean, it’s tough to decide what you want to be when you have so many interests and talents. I wanted to be an artist, a fashion designer, a chef, and many other things. I knew I wanted a career path that allowed me to express my creativity. But one thing I never dreamt of was becoming a writer.
In fact, I never considered writing to be one of my talents.
As a child, drawing felt more natural to me than writing. Whenever I laid my hands on a pen and paper, I drew. I had drawings on the back pages of all my school notebooks from doodling in class during lectures. While other kids kept diaries to journal their thoughts, I kept sketch pads to capture my imagination. What I couldn’t express with words, I illustrated through images.
Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved a good book and read whenever I laid my hands on one. But writing didn’t interest me much. It was something I only did when I was compelled to — like writing school essays.
But as fate would have it, I ended up as a writer. How on earth did that even happen?
My writing journey began in the most unusual manner. It was 2021 and I was enrolled in a product design Bootcamp. On the first day of the Bootcamp, we were asked to publish an essay detailing our learning. My heart skipped a few beats when I heard this. The mere thought of sharing my writing online scared me to death.
Nevertheless, my determination to ace the Bootcamp trumped my fear and I published my first online essay in April 2021.
After I hit the publish button, the clock did not stop ticking, nor did the world end. In fact, nothing significant happened. I quickly realized that publishing an article was not as scary as I had thought.
The following week, the assignment remained the same and I published my second article. Then something unexpected happened. I got an email from the editor of a Medium publication who wanted to publish my story. At first, I was shocked. Then the shock turned into over-excitement. I was so excited, you would think I had won the lottery. “So someone is interested in reading what I have to write?” I thought to myself.
It was a huge confidence boost for me.
Five weeks and 3 articles later, I became a top writer on Medium — more confidence boost.
“Uhm… I might be okay at the writing thing” I thought to myself.
During this time, I interned at a startup as a UX Designer. My newfound love for writing was becoming more apparent to my colleagues. So, when the position of content writer became available, I was offered the role. I didn’t even think twice before accepting.
Yeah, I still had doubts about my writing ability. But, I was more than elated that someone was willing to offer me money to write for them.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I got my first paid writing position.
However, despite having the job title, I still didn’t believe I had earned the right to call myself a writer. It was almost as if I needed a title conferment ceremony before I could boldly call myself a writer.
Once, I was having a conversation with an acquaintance I had recently met, and the topic of my writing came up. I joked that I would start calling myself a writer once I completed a writing course while rebuffing her compliments.
Well, by a stroke of luck, that joke became a reality. I got a scholarship to join the Write of Passage online writing school. This helped intensify my love for the art of writing. Now I find myself writing every day.
Who’d have thought it, eh?
Although my goal has always been to express my creativity, I never planned to take this path. This just goes to show that when you have a dream, you don’t need to have the “how” all figured out before taking that first step. It will be revealed along the way.
