Why do you write? Why did you want to become an author?
I’ve gotten variations of this question a lot and it boils down to a few reasons that can be summed up in a few different ideas: it was very practical, it was so much fun, and it was a way to show my family I wasn’t as stupid as they thought.
After my divorce when my kids were still in early elementary school, I had traditional skills to fall back on as a career. I’ve sold insurance in several states and I’ve been a teacher, but managing traditional full-time jobs with young kids wasn’t easy. (As I’m sure a lot of you know.)
For a long time, I was very lucky and my ex and his new wife helped out a lot, but as both of their mental health deteriorated, their ability to help me did too. (oh the drama I could tell you) But that left me doing all of the heavy lifting and trying to decide the best way to handle our future since staying around my ex wasn’t good for them or me any longer.
Right around the time all that drama was getting stirred up, I was talking to one of my sisters and we were discussing different career paths that would let me be home more with the kids. I mentioned writing and she kind of groaned saying it was time for me to put up or shut up about it.
I might’ve mentioned wanting to write since I was a teenager.
It always felt like a very big, impossible dream, though. Authors were people who were published through publishing houses and wrote about highland warriors or dirty billionaires. Neither of those were remotely like the ideas stirring around in my head. But as I started poking around what being an author would look like (because I’m a planner in everything but the actual writing), I realized there were independently published authors. (and that some of the authors I was currently reading were self-published…that was such a surprise lol)
That led me down a wonderful rabbit hole of research and questions to figure out, but the more I discovered, the more reasonable it actually felt. So I did it. I wrote my first book. I made a list of all the random things I’d like to write and just dove in. It was a novella and I’ve learned so much since then, but it’s been the best decision of my life and one of those turning points that changed everything.
I’ve had the time to be there for my kids and to prove to my family that my dreams were not ridiculous and that I am smart, too (I come from a whole family of everyone being Type-A overachievers with stupidly high IQs so they’re not always very nice.)
I love that I’ve been able to be there for my kids and to show them that you can make your dreams a reality, and I love that I get to play with the people in my head for a living. I can see myself doing this for many years to come (although it’s weird figuring out what things will look like now that both my kids are in college), and I’m very grateful for every reader who helped me along the way.
You guys are the best.
As for what I would say to a new author starting out on this journey…you can do it…research, plan, read, and have confidence. There is room for everyone, so dive right in.
Everyone starts somewhere and like I recently told someone close to me in my real life, every author starts somewhere and just putting those words down on paper for the first time makes you amazing.
