My Writing Journey

Some people specialize in a certain sport such as football or tennis. Others are more artistically inclined. Then there are the future scientists and math researchers who specialize in the academic field.

Tennis. flickr photo by athrasher shared into the public domain using Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

Lactobacillus casei flickr photo by AJC1 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA)

art flickr photo by idugh shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

I always wanted to be known as the guy who specialized in writing. The expert author in the grade. The one who was well on his way to publishing a best-selling book.  And so began the shameless self-promoting.  I would mention my interest in writing whenever I possibly could. I would boast about the supposed articles I had published in various magazines and the essay competitions I had one. Slowly, people started to notice.

medieval writing flickr photo by hans s shared under a Creative Commons (BY-ND) license

However, I was an author in name and name alone. All of the proud boasts I had made were nothing more than empty lies. The truth was that whenever I started working on a piece, I would give up the very next day.

This went on throughout all my MS years. It was the summer before HS started that I finally got sick of all the lies. I decided that it was time to finally become an author in spirit, not just in words. And that was how I started to slave over the piece that would eventually lead to my first ever magazine submission.

Now, I am determined to pursue a ‘career’ in writing and make it my specialty during these 4 years of HS. It is with this in mind that I am creating the below-mentioned goals that I hope to achieve by the time I leave this school and hopefully move on to college.

The Hog’s Back flickr photo by Shaylor shared under a Creative Commons (BY-ND) license

1:  Getting Published

It was great to be able to send my article to a magazine. However, I don’t even know if that is going to be selected to be published. Also, I don’t want to just stop at one. Therefore, I want to be able to send my articles/stories to a number of different magazines around the world (including prestigious ones) and also hopefully get published in them.

There are a number of steps that I plan to take in order to reach this goal:

Step 1:

• Research all publications I am eligible to submit to and list down all of their criteria on a google doc (include due dates as well)

Step 2:

• Choose the publication that has applications closing the soonest and start to look in-depth at what kind of articles they accept

Step 3:

• Go through the writing process and come up with an article that meets all of the requirements ( Brainstorming -> Rehearsing -> Drafting -> Revising -> Editing -> Publishing)

Step 4:

• Send the completed piece to them along with a cover letter and wait for a response

Step 5:

• Take any feedback received and consider it for next submission (honing writing skills)

Step 6:

• Repeat steps 2-4

2: Essay Competitions

I really want to participate in essay competitions as well. As of now, I take part in the annual Commonwealth essay competition every year. However, I want to take part in more, especially ones on topics that I am really interested and passionate about.

There are a number of steps that I want to take in order to achieve this goal

Step 1:

• Research on competitions that I am eligible to participate, their criteria and whether or not it has topics that intrigue me

Step 2:

• Go through the entire writing process (Sigh … why is there so much writing in every step? ;D)

Step 3:

• Send the article to the competition

Step 4:

• Repeat Step 1-3

3: Internships

I managed to get an internship with a start-up newspaper company over the summer (through shameless haggling and being annoying as one can be) and it was an amazing experience (besides all of the work I had to do that is …). I certainly want to get another internship in either the news industry or the publishing industry as well (easy way to get contacts for the future)

You know the drill by now …

Step 1:

• Research online for the application process of popular publishing and news companies (i.e BBC, Strait Times, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House)
• Contact all contacts I have in the above-mentioned industries and see if they have any offers for me as well

Step 2:

• Prepare my application
• Constantly add to it with any new accomplishments
• Edit it as well based on feedback from previous application experiences

Step 3:

• Send it to respective companies and wait for response
• Follow-up if nothing is forthcoming (wait based on each companies different policy)

Step 4:

• Go ahead with interview and further application procedures if application letter is accepted
• If not, go back to step 1 and start again

Step 5:

• If met with failure during further application procedures, go back to step 1
• Reflect on what to improve on and change for next time

These are the current goals that I have in mind and want to slowly work towards. Of course, they will be updated in due course and I hope that I am able to achieve them and move onto even bigger things. Of course, it may not workout at all. But, you need to try before you can say you will fail …