The story of how I became a writer is a little unusual. In fact, when people ask about it, I really don't know what to tell them.
I am a senior civil engineering student in university, and I love what I study. When people think of engineers they typically think nerd, loves math, introverted, not creative. Those are all qualities that typically aren't associated with good writing or creativity and good content. But you see, I had (and still do have) a passion inside me for creativity, for creating new things. It had been building up for a long time, and I never had an outlet for it. Before I became a writer, I had absolutely no writing experience other than college essays and the occasional cover letter looking for a job. The key is to recognize your passion and find an outlet.
Come past new years, I did something I rarely ever do. Encouraged by my wife, I made the goal of getting published in some way this year. I didn't know what it would take, I didn't know if I could do it. Keep in mind, I never even had a blog before this point. My writing resume looked a lot like something that would come out of a broken printer. So after I made that resolution, I started thinking how I could make it happen.
3 days later, I was published.
Yeah, that happened fast. In three days I had sent a total of 1 email to a company I now call my full-time employer. I sent one email, and they said: sure, come write for us. That was a little weird, because I thought, "Wasn't this supposed to be hard?" I mean, I see the names of authors and writers on articles across the web and they are probably seasoned veterans with a college degree in writing or English or something... right? The story of how a civil engineer still in school became the editor of one of the largest online publishers of engineering and technical content is a little, lucky, maybe?
I sent an email off to Interesting Engineering, which at the time was just a fun Facebook page I liked to see content from. They responded and said I could write some content on a volunteer basis. I wasn't looking for money at the time, I didn't even know if a college student could make money writing for a website.
In 2 months I had quit all 3 of my other part-time jobs and began writing full time.
All it took was hard work. I made it a point to write every day, to work on my word usage, to intrigue everyday people about topics like structures, molecular bonds, chemistry, technology. Seven months removed from that first email and I am employed as a full-time editor for the website I not too long ago called a hobby. So what point am I trying to make by telling you my story? Well, it all starts with an email.
If you want to get out there and write, create, publish, produce, market, work, do what you love, all it takes is an email. Don't be afraid to take a step, because the worst that could happen is the door doesn't open. You see, we live in a world with virtually endless doors. Keep trying each one. One is bound to open, or maybe just have a broken lock. You can succeed.
So when people ask me how I became a writer, I say, "I asked."