The "Accidental" Writer

Many of us aspire in our hearts to be writers. Speaking and writing seem like natural twins. One adds power to the other. Writing gives one credibility as an expert in his field, so we want to add this to our repertoire.

When a few friends got together for a New Year's celebration, John Smith passed a piece of paper around and asked us to write down our goals. A few of us wrote that we are going to get published in 2009. And I believe some of us truly will.

I am a big fan of goal setting, truly! But see, Sami never set a goal to be published. But she is; and she is making decent money for a beginning writer! Many have been setting goals every year to get published, and they're not. What did she do?
She wrote!


She just wrote. Ever since she was two years old, she was typing stuff into the old monochrome computer. She wrote when she was happy, when she went on a trip, when she was sad, especially when she was mad! She wrote stories, essays, and stuff! The girl can rant at 150 words a minute and you'd think the keyboard was a mini machine gun gone awry. Sami never had any formal training on writing, or getting published, or how to this, or how to that! She's very young and she's enjoying getting paid for what she does anyway.

I've been observing her for many years (she is my daughter) and I think it happened this way.

Reading. She reads a lot, I mean, a lot. I kept track of her reading list when she was quite young, and she scored 300+ books a year. Her reading choices are varied, from novels, scientific books, biographies, and the Internet.

Authenticity. Sami wrote about her passions and interests. She never pondered whether the topic was hot or not, whether it would "sell" or not. She never asked whether she'd score points with readers. She just wrote from her heart, using her authentic "voice". She wrote very privately; most of her blogging is hidden. She wrote for her own self-expression.

A learning attitude. She keeps an open mind and is always eager to learn. Mastering the science of research for her own satisfaction, she now gets paid to do it. A voracious self-taught learner, she has carved niches for her career as an artist (graphic, make-up, and visual), and writer...and who knows what future holds for this creative, hard-working, and resourceful young lady.

Facebook. She set up her Facebook profile after attending Michael Port's seminar. She was networking, not to get business out of it, but just to connect. Someone accidentally stumbled upon her writing and liked her style. So, she was offered the writing gig. She's now happily hanging out at bookstores researching and typing away. Doing what she loves and getting paid for it.



I'm sure she was born with that talent seeded in her heart and many of us are. There are probably many other qualities that went into her landing her accidental writing gig. In the meantime, I am so jealous that I am going to rub her head every chance I get, hoping to have that mojo rubbed into mine. I am also going to practice some of the points I wrote here and see if it works for me.

So, future writer, go to it, get writing! You and me both.