By the time I’d turned 40, I’d worked as a secretary, stockbroker, real estate manager, and clothing store owner. But I never let go of my dream of becoming a writer.
As early as junior high school, I knew my life’s purpose. I wanted to become a writer. However, a teen pregnancy and marriage caused me to drop out of high school in tenth grade.
Predictably, the marriage didn’t last. And I spent the next 15 years recovering my education.
By the time I’d turned 40, I’d worked as a secretary, stockbroker, real estate manager, and clothing store owner. Despite many career accomplishments in these fields, none of these jobs brought me happiness. Yet, as a single parent, I didn’t feel I could enter my profession of choice—one that often fails to provide a living wage. But I never let go of my dream of writing. Over time and at every chance, I recorded my thoughts in journals.
Soon after I’d remarried, the store that my husband and I owned was completely destroyed by a flood. He immediately returned to the banking industry from which he’d previously been laid off. And I was left to choose a new line of employment.
I decided to pursue the career I’d always wanted but had never chanced.
Breaking into newspaper and magazine article writing would not be easy. Though I’d won my first essay contest in eighth grade, I’d failed to take any journalism courses in college. Instead, I’d opted for a BBA degree.
By way of self-study, I read every journalism text book I could find. And when an article or newspaper column appeared particularly well-written, I tore it from its publication and analyzed its structure, paragraph by paragraph, noting good uses of transitional sentences and clever wording.
Feeling unsure of my skill level and talent, I sent my first essay, which was actually a page from my journal, to a small community newspaper. The editor replied she’d be pleased to publish my op/ed—which I had only recently learned meant “opposite editorial.”
Over the next few years, more than 50 guest opinion columns I’d written about everything from social ills to pop culture were published. Many appeared in major newspapers. I even received an assignment from The Washington Post.
