On Being a Writer

Writing was always something I’d considered as a career.

I was good at it; it gave me a voice, and it helped me get through rough patches of my childhood.

As a person who always felt unheard, telling stories through writing came quite naturally, and it gave me an outlet to announce my feelings to the world. 

However, I never really knew what type of writer I wanted to be or how to make my dream a reality. I just knew I would prefer having the flexibility of a writing career to being stationed in an office working on accounting or business principles or whatever it is that math-oriented people tend to do on their jobs. 

Instead, I wanted a career where I would always be able to use my creative thinking skills to develop catchy phrases and taglines. In other words, I wanted a career where I was working with words more than with numbers.

Eventually, I wanted to write inspiring and creative pieces that would help people who were struggling with emotional issues.

Since I knew I wanted to establish myself as a professional writer, I chose to major in English-Creative Writing at Winthrop University, and although there have been many people who have told me that I should have chosen a different undergraduate major, I believe this was the best choice I could have made.

Not only did I learn different styles of writing, ranging from poetry, prose, short stories, technical writing, and so on, I also learned how to analyze text, produce coherent thoughts, and be an effective editor. I even learned how to accept criticism when it came to my writing, which initially I had a hard time doing. My success at being able to apply all the new skills I had acquired from my studies motivated me to continue striving to develop even better skills and gain the experience I would need to establish myself as a professional writer.

All that changed when I graduated. My quirky enthusiasm and self-confidence turned into self-doubt as I struggled to find a job. I started regretting what I loved to do, and I actually stopped writing for fun. I began to despise people who thought that grammar and writing weren’t important. Social gatherings became awkward as I had to explain to people that I was unemployed.

Finally, something clicked. I was no longer going to allow rejection letters to stop me from accomplishing what I had always loved to do, write.

Once, that decision was made, more writing opportunities opened up, and my spirit was instantaneously lifted. I got an opportunity to be a writing intern for a community newspaper, and I became an editorial intern for a lifestyle magazine.

These experiences opened my eyes to interests that I had not thought of before, such as using multimedia elements to produce compelling news packages.

I no longer wanted to be just a pen and paper type of writer. I wanted to be a creative writer who was also efficient in using other storytelling methods for writing.

Hence, I am now getting a Master of Arts in New Media Journalism, where I am learning the tools I need to market myself as a versatile writer.

Today I can say, “Hi, my name is Tynisha, and I’m glad to be a writer.”

—

Tynisha Ferguson is an online graduate student at Full Sail University, a real-world education college for entertainment, media, and the arts. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts degree in New Media Journalism and she has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English-Creative Writing with a minor in Social Sciences from Winthrop University. She is interning with Women Writers, Women Books on the journal as an editor and graphic designer on the Power and Knowing Issues of When Women Waken.

Find Tynisha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tsferguson

and on GenTwenty  http://gentwenty.com/author/tynishaferguson/

Tags: featured, on being a writer out of college, starting out writing

Category: Being a Writer, Contemporary Women Writers