After Six Years of Writing For a Living, I Finally Feel Like a Writer
I became a writer in 2011. Having dropped out of a PhD in mathematics, I needed a way to pay the bills but hated the idea of getting a “real job,” so I started freelancing online. I ghostwrote content for pennies, proofread other people’s work for even fewer pennies, and gradually found my way onto better platforms that provided more work and higher pay rates. I’m planning to publish a detailed post about my freelance writing career in the first week of January, so follow me if you’re interested.
Although I’ve been a writer since 2011, I only started feeling like a writer in 2017. This was the year I started publishing my short stories and poetry. Unlike my paid work, these go out under my name. Their purpose isn’t to sell a product, promote someone else’s business, or pay my electricity bill, but to hopefully give readers some small fraction of the satisfaction I get when I read a story, poem, or novel that expresses something that matters to me.
It’s been an amazing year. I’m touched and grateful for the feedback I’ve received, and I’ve also been delighted to read works by talented Medium writers.
To recap, here are my 2017 stories:
I wrote this story of loneliness and loss for a Reedsy short story contest in April. When I won, they asked me to sign up to Medium to publish it.
Another Reedsy contest winner, this chance encounter between a suicidal misfit and an angry pianist is the story that’s received most positive reactions from friends and family, although it’s lacking claps — possibly because I didn’t have a Medium network when it posted in June.
Originally published in Buckshot Magazine, this speculative story about a little boy who lives in a strangely miniaturized world found a new home in Fiction Planet.
I wrote this poem at 17, after stargazing from my first girlfriend’s remote moorland home. It’s still one of my favorites.
My most popular story on Medium so far, and my first in the wonderful Lit Up publication. It’s weird.
This is possibly the truest story I’ve ever published. I still made most of it up. But the elephants were real…
Fun meta-microfiction. It’s 300 words. Give it a read.
Another Lit Up story about a cute cat who wants to protect his humans.
Inspired by Lit Up’s prompt “Secrets.”
Inspired by Poetry in Form’s Flash Fibonacci Spiral prompt. Poems in this format are so much fun to write.
A sweet Sunday sonnet for P.S. I Love You.
A haiku for Haiku Hub. Yes, those are my feet.
One last flash: monsters and mental health.
Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout 2017. Every clap, response, highlight, and share means a lot. I wish you all success in 2018.
Happy new year!