Becoming A Writer

I love being a writer; it is a joy and it is a privilege. Writing enables me to reach inside the hearts and minds of others, and create a lasting impact with words, imagery and imagination. It gives me a space to be raw, real and vulnerable too. 

Technically, I suppose I became a writer when I began storytelling as a child. My wonderful grandparents, Celia and Alan, would often tell me stories that I would vividly imagine. I would then write them out and find ways to create meaning in their seemingly ordinary lives (though I believe they had an extraordinary love story). I enjoyed narrating their tales of family, holidays, work and sports cars because it was like being gifted a window into their lives. As a child, I also enjoyed writing poetry (normally of the rhyming kind) and short stories, as well as many a diary entry. Though, from the outside, these may not seem like career-defining moments - it is these experiences of writing that have shaped me into the writer I am today.

I found the lack of space for creative writing at secondary school challenging. I so desperately wanted to experiment with language rather than analyse someone else's. This being said, I learned to absorb language and to study the craftsmanship of the books I was studying, and enjoyed experimenting at home with Shakespeare's sonnets despite having a love/hate relationship with his plays!

Choosing to study creative writing at university felt like a huge risk. Previously, I'd had very little teaching on how to write, and I questioned if I would be able to find my voice amongst so many other incredible writers. To my delight, I thoroughly enjoyed studying the craft of creative writing and I grew more than I could have imagined in this time. I not only grew in confidence as a person, but as a writer, and my niche became writing with and about empathy. 

Learning from others around me has been enlightening, and has been a really important part of my journey to this point. My lecturers facilitated a space where I could have a creative approach to academia and push the conventional boundaries of writing (and much to my surprise I went on to achieve a first-class honours degree)! I learned that though my writing style is unique, it still can find its place, and it still has value.

I would now consider myself an emerging author. I work as a freelance writer for individuals and small businesses, as well as being a blogger and content creator for a local business in North Devon. I write with my heart, even in marketing, by seeking the gaps where businesses can better serve their customers. The experience of being a writer is rewarding because I get to see the impact of my words upon the lives of real people! 

In the September of 2021, I successfully published my first personal essay, ‘The Things That Go Unseen, Unsaid and Unheard’, with Small Leaf Press (which you can read here) and I continue to work on pieces that push the boundaries of writing where I can! Themes of connection and the untold story have become the focal point for many pieces of my work, including the book I am currently writing, 'Yours, Sincerely (which you can read about here). Despite having a passion for creative non-fiction and hybrid writing, I have recently been dreaming up ideas for short stories and a potential novella. I would also love to experiment with collaborative authorship as I know this creates some really interesting results. 

My early writing played an essential role in developing the way that I write today. Listening to the stories of others and embracing the ordinary wholeheartedly continues to be an evident part of my creative process and the passion I have for my work. Though I couldn't specifically study creative writing at school, I found a way to learn what I could from my A-Level subjects (I even occasionally use the philosophy and ethics content in my writing)! University was just as much about the experience, for me, as the subjects I studied. Creative Writing stretched me to establish my voice and write authentically, whereas Popular Music enabled me to think about my writing lyrically. 

My writing career, as such, has been short thus far, but writing has become a really important part of my identity. As I continue to find my voice as a writer, amongst the words and the pages I can still see elements of that young girl who just wanted to tell beautiful stories.