Start Writing
I thought I was a writer. I thought it was in my bones, but I never did the things you might expect a good writer to do. I didn't read all that much growing up. I'm pretty introverted, so talking and interviewing terrifies me to my core. My mind is pretty blank when it comes to ideas and subjects on which to write about. I have a pretty basic grammar knowledge. But I did manage to get a degree in Journalism many years ago.
Ask me to list you 5 writers I love, and I'd be hard-pressed to get past 3 (Tommy Tomlinson, Tim O'Brien, Carl Hiaassen)....ohhh! David Sedaris too, so there's 4.
As I was getting my degree at the beginning of the 2000's, I really did feel like I was on the right path. I didn't particularly like hard news so I found myself gravitating toward feature writing.
I spent a summer interning at the local paper of the retirement community mecca The Villages in Florida (yes it is every bit of crazy you’ve imagined) covering anything and everything sports related. I was able to write a few features on local seniors (of the citizen variety, not the soon-to-be high school grads).
I liked it. My editor liked it. He told me he thought I could be really good at it...maybe one of the best. I'm sure it was hyperbole to some extent - something a mentor tells an intern to give him/her a boost - but it stuck with me.
But when you realize you need to pay bills and writing for a newspaper doesn't necessarily allow you to do that with any kind of great ease, life takes a turn. I got away from writing and did a number of different jobs (none all that related to my degree).
21 years later and I keep coming back to wondering where I might be if I stuck with it? Now make no mistake, I'm really happy with the way everything has turned out. I have a wonderful wife, good friends, and a great job...but I still wonder.
A writer - it's something I've always called myself in the back of my mind. Something I could always fall back on if suddenly I found myself without a job. We tell ourselves little things like this because we want to be good at something. Truth is, I don't really know that I'm good at it, and it scares me.
I read Tommy Tomlinson's post about one of his favorite Little Richard songs (embedded below) and it just made me smile. Tommy is a storyteller and makes it look so effortless (I'm quite sure it isn't).
I tend to find myself most inspired after reading a well-written story or listening to a song/concert. It makes me want to be creative. So as I subscribed to Tommy's substack (you really should too) and I went back to the front page, the button in the top right corner of the site simply said, "Start Writing”.
So here I am. Where it goes, I don't really know, but seeing those two words is maybe the push I need to at least convince myself that I am still a writer, or maybe one day could be.