How Did We End Up Here?

You know those people who say
“I’ve always wanted to be a mechanical engineer – always! And now I am one, and it’s just as good as i’ve always dreamed!”
I don’t actually know too many of those people!

If you are doing what you’ve always dreamed of as a job – props to you! So many people give up, or think their dreams are impossible, and it never happens. Or worse – it does, and it wasn’t what they thought…

When it comes to writing, I am finally doing something that I LOVE – maybe it wasn’t something that i’ve wanted to do my entire life, but my current love affair did start when I was in high school.

My first true writing experience, was in a Creative Writing class elective in Year 9. I got to explore my creativity in another type of writing form (I had already been writing songs for quite a few years, but this was a whole other ball game!).
When I heard about a competition for young writers, I decided to throw my hat into the ring and see what bunny jumped out.

When I heard that I received an ‘honourable mention’ I was so proud! Before I entered, I showed my short ‘novella’ to a teacher (whose advice and notes I still have to this day – he was the first person to tell me I had writing talent) and away it went, warts and all, with a topic I knew almost NOTHING about.

Looking back, it is AWEFUL! But I didn’t stop there, I wrote another (and longer) VERY personal ‘novella’ the next year. I was the FIRST person to enter the contest Two Years in a row (although now there was another person who did the same – but the flag with my face on it was there first) and received SECOND Place for that one.

I was SO PROUD of what I had achieved, but I was dealing with a lot of stuff in my life, so I put the project, and writing in general, aside.

FIVE YEARS LATER, I stumbled onto a website which had a monthly competition where I could win $500!! It was Furious Fiction. Jumping into Furious Fiction every month not only helped me with regular rejection (I am yet to have a shortlisted entry – but happy for all the other writers getting recognition!) and got the creative writing ‘juices’ flowing again! All of a sudden, I had ideas flowing out too fast for my poor fingers to catch up – and Hannah Carmichael was born.

The Hannah Carmichael Chronicles was my first proper character and storyline I had created in Five years, and I was in LOVE – I had also discovered my primary writing genre.

So, where are we now? Well, I have Hannah still going (with some very EXCITING news about her coming soon!) and there are some other Incredible projects and opportunities (which I will tell you about in the coming months) that are taking off at a momentous speed.

I can finally say that I am doing what I love – I am a writer.
What was your dream job as a kid? Are you doing it now?
Let me know in the comments below…

See you in the Adventures
CG