During the last few weeks I have had several people approach me and ask me, â??How did you get started in your pursuit of becoming a writer?â?
While I have not arrived at the goals and dreams I have concerning writing, I will be glad to share a little bit of what I have learned over the past few years.
Three years ago I began to seriously pursue a career in writing. Writing had been part of my life since I was 9 years old and I had enjoyed writing for fun through school and into marriage. Starting with poetry, I then went to short stories but early in my marriage and while my children were young my writing ceased as a busy life took over.
When my children were older I began writing for a church newsletter and worked on Bible studies that I shared with my friends. I wrote a short non-fiction book based on some of the Bible studies and sent it to a few publishers in the early 1990â??s with no success. The desire to write was something I could not get past however and a chance peek at the local newspaper one day changed my life and its course forever.
Advertised in the paper was Community Education and its winter schedule of classes. I had participated in Community Education before, taking a hair braiding class a few years earlier. What caught my eye this time was a writing class; four weeks for a small amount of money. With the state of my finances this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to see how serious I was about writing.
This brings me to the first topic in this series of articles on pursuing a writing career. Topic one is to take a writing class. Whether it is a course in college, community education or lessons on-line, go ahead and sign up for a class to get your feet wet. How will you know how serious you are if you never step out of the boat? Many people talk about doing different things and living their dream but never follow through. Here is one easy step if you want to be a writer: take a class.
When I arrived at the first class I almost ran back out the door. There were eight other ladies and I was sure they were all expert writers and would probably laugh at my feeble attempts to create on paper. Taking a class made me realize what little self-confidence I had and how afraid I was to share what was in my heart. On a more positive note, it also introduced to some wonderful ladies who were really no different than me and helped me to realize that I did want to go to the next step in becoming a career writer, joining a writing group. Join me next week for more tips on pursuing a career in writing.