How did I become a writer? It wasn't hard. I was practically born writing.
One of my first memories is having a pencil gripped in my hand. I was sitting on my granddaddy's lap at his kitchen table, and he was teaching me how to "draw the letters" of my name. He also taught me how to draw 3-D boxes and stick figures. Storytelling followed, and throughout my education I found myself drawn to any classes that encouraged writing.
After years of trying all the wrong career choices, I finally landed a writing-related job, freelancing as a ghostwriter for a video game company. They paid with in-game credits which I in turn sold to other players for cold, hard cash.
In the fall of 2011, two things happened. The first was receiving a box from my late Granny's estate of things she wanted me to have. One of those things was a copy of my high school literary journal, which I'd given her during my senior year.
The second thing was that I saved up enough money from my writing gigs to take my family on an off-season vacation with a view of the Atlantic Ocean. The apparent message from the beyond coupled with my new confidence in my ability to make money at writing caused me to take my talents more seriously than ever before.
On January 2, 2012 I signed up for Elance, an outsourcing company. It took almost two solid months of submitting proposals to jobs before someone took a chance on me, a new writer with no reviews to her name. Once those initial 5-star reviews became available, I was blessed to get hired by a long-term client who threw a lot of work my way. In fact, I still write for that client!
The decision to work full-time as a writer changed my life for the better. I can't imagine doing anything else!
Check in next week when I share my #DirtyLittleSecret about something else that inspired me to take on a full-time writing career.
Take care,
Becky
