Jenn Hollowell talks about her writers path and asks the question, "Did your career take a turn, or have you been following the path originally anticipated?" I can honestly say "What path?" I didn’t anticipate a path. I kind of fell into writing.
In my previous life, as I jokingly refer to life in Canada before I came to Sri Lanka, I was an accountant. A good one, but still, a long way away from being a writer. Oh sure, I’d dreamed of being a writer for a long time. I had a wonderful English teacher in high school who was incredibly encouraging about writing, and I had several university professors who made comments along the lines of, "I shouldn’t be surprised to hear you’ve become a writer." But I never thought it was possible for me. I lacked the self confidence.
But here I am, now, firmly entrenched in the writer’s life. How did this happen?
For me, it started when I bought my first copy of The Writer’s Market in 1990. Yeah, that far back. 
I read the articles and started researching the publishing process and the business end of things. Well, I am anal, after all. 
I dreamed of writing a novel or five, and talked about it with some friends. I even had some who encouraged me to – they figured I’d do a great job!
But it took me until around nine years ago to finally start writing a novel. Oh, sure, I’d been writing user manuals, policies and procedures guides, training manuals and other materials, and the like for nearly every job I’d ever had, but I didn’t count that as writing – it was just stuff I did for the job.
Then I stumbled onto an online fiction writing course, and in the process, realized that there was a story that came before that story, so I switched to writing the earlier story instead. And thus Placidia was born. Not a good first draft, but still, at least it was a completed first draft, and that’s an accomplishment in itself. Sure, it took three or four years, but so what? Those three or four years would have passed anyway.
Then I started the next first draft shortly thereafter and moved to Sri Lanka (2003) and married my husband, and thus I became the ex-accountant who no longer had to earn a living, and finished that first draft in the next three months. And since then, I’ve completed a few more first drafts of more novels, one of which we’re currently working on editing.
And along the way, I got roped into writing for a local travel magazine. No, not reluctantly at all, but with trepidation. Self confidence, you see. I lacked it. Much to my delight and surprise, the editor liked the quality of my writing enough that I’ve since written several dozen or more articles for that magazine, and went on to write a monthly column for a second magazine, and now I’m the assistant editor for a third. Four years ago, I had no writing credits to speak of.
Sure, my fiction still isn’t published, but then, it hasn’t been time yet. My fiction hasn’t been publishable quality until now. I think. Unless that’s the lack of self confidence talking.
Was this the path I planned? Nope. Couldn’t have planned it even if I wanted to. But that doesn’t mean I’m complaining.
Sometimes, life throws us surprises. I’m all for taking those surprises and running with them. Who knows where they’ll lead?
That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
What’s your path been like?
Next up is Razib Ahmed at Techtainment
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- living my life all over again
- Spontaneous Derivation
- Jenn Hollowell: Working Writer
- Peregrinas
- Techtainment
- Anything That Pays
- Polenth’s Quill
- wfg thinks out loud
- Twisted Fantasy
- Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama
- A Thoughtful Life
- The Speakeasy
- Virtual Wordsmith
- The Writer’s Round-About
- Copious Notes
- Tennessee Text Wrestling
- Writings
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
An ex-accountant, huh? I’m still doing bookkeeping, and I’m so very jealous that you’ve escaped! LOL
In a way, I love the numbers. I love that 1+1 always equals 2. There are no shades of gray in accounting/bookkeeping. But it is exactly that aspect that makes it tedious sometimes.
Writing is rarely tedious (unless I really hate the topic!), but there is no definitive “right answer”. It is always subjective.
Your route to fiction writing (and to Sri Lanka) sounds interesting. I like how you’ve stayed so open to new ideas and new paths in life. The most interesting people are the ones who stay curious and ready to take advantage of new opportunities. It’s not coincidental that such people also have the best stories to tell!
I always wanted to write. I could not think of doing anything else. Your stroy is very interesting. I wish that someday you can write a novel (and then it turned into a movie) about your own life.
My previous life was far from writing as well. Your post reminds me of a creative writing course I took in 1997 (and I still have all the materials), so I guess my real pursuit began sooner than I thought. You’re lucky about having teachers who were encouraging. My English teacher during my senior year of high school laughed in my face and said, “you’ll never be a writer,” after asking me what I planned to do with my life. I’ll never forget that. It became a driving force . . . to prove him wrong.
I still consider myself unpublished but I’ve had a circuitous route to writing. I started wanting to write in high school and left that idea behind in college. Forgot about it for ten years while I’ve been at home with my kids. Now, I’m starting to look at it seriously. I lack the self confidence, as you mentioned. It’s scary to think of putting my stuff out there for people to read, for editors to judge.
Your story sure is interesting. I think we all have odd paths that get us to write. It’s 8:14 AM so I can’t remember my story well but I know there’s 5 years of college and a BA in English that helped me get to where I am today…. still unpublished. lol
hmmm…i commented it didn’t show up. i’ll post again.
i always knew i would be an author. last year it happened for me (nonfiction). i then decided that i want to author both nonfiction and nonfiction full time.
I think it’s a good thing to have a bit of self doubt. It’s that which drives you to edit things and get them right. Having no self-confidence at all is obviously a problem though… yay for getting enough to keep writing!
Path? What is this path you mention? LOL
My writing path can be described as unexpected. I always wanted to write, but I never thought I’d actually attempt to have my writing published. I just did it for fun. In college, I had a professor (a published author) who was kind enough to tell me that he thought I had something good in my hands and urged me to submit work. And so I started, and I haven’t turned back.
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a little kid, but it wasn’t until going-on eight years ago that I wrote my first novel (trunk novel). I spent fourteen years as a university bureaucrat, but I’m lucky now to be able to focus on my fiction-writing — I’m ramping up my productivity away from the university job, and I am learning more and more about the publishing industry, too — so… hopefully!
Your story sounds similar to mine… up until the move to Sri Lanka and marriage, heh. You lucky gal! Having an understanding significant other seems to be a big bonus on the writing path.
My path of writing is pretty incomplete at this point, except that I want to keep blazing on.
Jenn, I think that, for me, if there hadn’t been teachers who were encouraging, I never would have started writing. I would never have had enough belief in myself. I think God (the universe, a vague higher power, whatever you choose to call it) gives us what we need, and for me, this was what I needed. Perhaps a karmic pay-it-forward?
Beth, there’s no rule that says you have to show your fiction to anyone before you’re ready. It took me a long time to get up the nerve. Don’t worry about that now. Just start writing. Show it to people when it’s less terrifying.
Razib, I’ve thought about writing about my life. Parts of it are too… Odd to the point that no one would believe it.
But the adventures here, a Canadian in Sri Lanka, that, I think I can sell. 
Thanks for your encouragement. 
Arachne, for me, having an understanding significant other has made a huge difference. He’s incredibly encouraging when I’ve given up or want to give up. He nags me to write when I need the nagging. He helps me plot and develop and edit. My particular spouse has been more than fantastic for me. But, going back to the karmic pay-it-forward thing, I think it’s also because I absolutely need him and his encouragement.
Hah! Bunnygirl, one of these days, I should tell you some stories from when I used to work graveyards at a major tourist hotel.
They involve police lineups in my hotel lobby with mall security, city police, RCMP, and military police; a naked man swimming in a huge goldfish pond who, when the police came after him, ran outside – into -40 weather; and sofas from every floor ending up in our elevators. 
I think you’re right, but also, being flexible means that I can roll with the punches and not get overly depressed that things didn’t work out my way. Things happen regardless of attitude, so why not enjoy as much as you can? Which doesn’t mean I’m always so happy in the face of misery, but…
Colby, that professor of yours sounds wonderful.
Rebecca, I still don’t really believe in my work. At least, not as much as Fahim, who keeps nagging me to send stuff out. He probably serves as half my self-esteem alone. *laughs* Yeah, gotta work on that…
Kathleen, I feel your pain.
I had it pretty good, though – I was self-employed for a whole bunch of small businesses in a whole bunch of different industries. For my construction clients, I occasionally had to go to the job site, so I even had my own hard hat in the trunk of my car. 
But I disagree about “no shades of grey in accounting”. There are when it concerns taxes and write-offs.
But I nitpick. 
I hope you can escape soon if that’s what you really want.
The journey along the path sometimes feels like a long trudge. I’ve been pushing at it for nine years now and only just feel like I’m beginning to make some headway. I can completely relate to your lack of self confidence. The truth is, being a writer requires a fair bit of ego. We need to believe in ourselves and sometimes coming to that faith in our abilities is a challenging path of its own.