I thought, this week, that I would share a little bit about how I became a writer.
It is an odd tale to tell, because in all honesty, I don’t remember time when I wasn’t a ‘writer’, but there were a few key events that led to my becoming a ‘Writer’.
I remember the first real bit of writing I did at school; we did a project across a few subjects; we made books in DT using marbling for the covers and sewing the pages together; we prepared pictures for each page or chapter, and we wrote the stories. I don’t actually recall now if I wrote that story in English or Welsh, but it was my first real story – my first actual book!
The story was pretty incredible (by which I mean, not credible); something about a flood and a family member solving the flood by using one small spanner to fix a leak in the pipes under the road (nope, no drilling or digging, just swimming down and using a spanner) and saving the day.
I’d say, upon reflection, that the piece lacked character development and the events were not exactly credible. But I remember the finished article and feeling proud that I had made a book. We did another one that year; one about a rainbow and the plot of that one is less clear in my mind – something to do with travelling over one of the stripes of the rainbow and ending up in a world themed to that colour.
Anyway, at most I was 8 years old and that is when I first felt like a writer.
After that, I wrote stories for school when I was asked to, wrote a little at home in holidays (I had a typewriter when I was 10 yrs old), and by the time I was in my early twenties the internet had brought us all the book communities that led to the birth of online fanfiction.
I dabbled in a little of that, sharing my work with fans of the series’ I chose to engage in. I am hesitant about looking that page up again in case I am disappointed in the work I submitted, but I suppose it was all part of the journey.
Once I qualified as a teacher, I wrote with much greater frequency – generally to create resources for school, but occasionally just for fun.
The real step into becoming a ‘Writer’ was when my husband decided to enrol on a Masters programme. He suggested that I might enrol on one as well, as that way we could work along side one another (on different courses), and I would not become a distraction when he needed to work. It was he who suggested the MA in Creative Writing – I was reluctant to study for an MA in education, due to the whole work/life balance so when he suggested CW, I leapt at the chance. We were in Oxford for the weekend, and I picked up a bag full of writing texts before we left to come home, determined that even should I not enrol on the course, I would throw myself into studying writing anyway.
It was as if a door had been opened, and I found a real purpose for my writing.
Now I do tend to go headfirst into new hobbies; I get all the gadgets and books and tools, and I dabble, and then I tend to put them to one side. But this time it was different; I spent the three months before the course began preparing by taking online free courses and starting a writing journal, working through the books, ordering the course texts.
Once the course started, I had to take the leap and start sharing work with fellow students. This was a far cry from sharing on the fanfiction boards, all of whom had a similar level of writing experience. These students came from a mix of academic backgrounds – some with the BA in CW; some had publishing experience; some worked in the industry already. All I had was dabbling in my twenties and writing for the kids at school about twice a month for 12 years.
The students in my tutor group were kind, and helpful and my skills came on bit by bit in that first few weeks. My first assignment had a decent score, but some disappointing feedback – not wrong! Very helpful, but not what I’d expected. Once I got over it, it was a steep learning curve to apply what I was learning. I’ve always had positive feedback from work peers and pupils on my writing – but again, a kind and biased audience rather than a qualified one.
Shortly after the course began, the forum about getting work out there opened and I began to think about sharing my work with the wider world: within a year of beginning my MA, I had work accepted on two e and print ‘zines’, and I even had a story accepted for a print anthology that was curated to raise money during the C19 pandemic.
That sealed the deal: I have always been a ‘writer’ but when I got that print copy of the book with my name, right there, in ink: that’s when I felt I could call myself a ‘Writer’.
Since then, I’ve finished the course; had more acceptances for online publishing; entered a few competitions; written the bulk of my first novel (as yet unfinished and unedited).
I couldn’t tell you how it feels for other people, but for me I have always written; I don’t feel like a writer (or Writer) is something you become, I feel like it is something that you are.
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