When I was little, I loved to make up stories. In my third grade class, we would receive a sticker every time we wrote a story and read it in front of the class. I had the most stickers out of everyone and I loved every minute of reading my intense horror stories about ghosts haunting slumber parties. Of course, the ghosts always turned out to be dogs wearing sheets, but the suspense build up was pretty good for an 8-year-old.
I have always wanted to be a writer. I've also wanted to be a lawyer and a professor, and a publisher and editor and so many other things, but I always seem to come back to writing. I took a poetry writing course during my first year of college and halfway through the class I decided to change my major from political science to English writing.
I have written poetry, fiction and articles. I've worked for two different newspapers and have been published on teen writing websites. But even though I've always known that writing is what I love to do, I've never truly admitted to myself that my future is to be an actual writer.
This summer, I started writing for multiple publications. I've started writing more and more for myself and have finally declared that my life will be dedicated to writing. Whether that is journalism or writing novels or books of poetry, I'm not sure yet. All I know is I have always encouraged people to follow their dreams regardless of the rationality behind it and I needed to take my own advice.
Calling myself a writer has a much different meaning now. I'm not just someone who writes. I'm someone who hopes to one day move people or help people through my words. I'll never be J.K. Rowling, but if I could even have half of the affect on one person that she has had on an entire generation, I will have accomplished something amazing.
The hardest part of being a writer is writing. I struggle with writer's block. I'm not the best at coming up with conflict for my fiction, and my poetry is often too sappy for me to ever let my parents read. But every now and then, I find some inspiration, and I start to write and think to myself, "Yeah Nicole, you could definitely do this for the rest of your life."
My declaration to myself has really helped encourage me to focus on my writing. I'm planning on setting aside some time to write on a regular basis because that is the only way to get better. Sometimes, I do worry about my future as a writer. Will I make enough money to eat? Will people want to read what I have to say? I honestly have no idea, but that doesn't mean I won't try.
For anyone struggling with wanting to be something that isn't a conventional career path, I have two words of advice: do it.
When the arts are looked down upon for not being viable career choices, people forget that someone has to create the movies, the art, the literature, the comic books, the music that everyone loves. So why shouldn't that be us? Maybe society has moved towards technology, but the arts are still important. So do it.
