MY EXPERIENCE AS A WRITER.

You know how people who are renowned writers now would usually say "I always knew I had a way with words and knew I would end up doing something around content"? Yes, that's definitely my story too.  

As a child, I remember having a secret dairy (it was nothing fancy, just a typical Nigerian 80 leaves higher education notebook that I tore into two halves to double the pages) where I would document in detail, as much as I could, every single piece of each day, regardless of how uneventful they were. Thinking back to such memories now reassures me once again that growth is sure, it may take time and it may hurt, but if you let it run its course through you, you will soon be looking back and smiling too. 

Oops! Did I mention that I am also a Surgical Nurse specialist? I trained at the prestigious university college hospital, Ibadan Oyo State. You should check out my other articles here on LinkedIn. I will not fail to say my interest and passion for writing and writing well went a long way in helping my journey into the healthcare, social, and development space within which I now thrive. 

Back to business. As I grew in age and understanding, I increasingly realized that I had to shift from just writing in my secret diary to writing about things that are more relatable to other people and focus more on the value that my musings offered to anyone who scrolled by my work. I had to widen my mental space - I started reading!  

I developed an intentional desire to read anything and almost everything in print and on the web. I read books on leadership, relationship, academics, mentorship, talent, confidence, career, spiritual growth, and a few on business, even though I had no idea that I would one day run either an organization or a startup agency. I went ahead to consume as much content as I could, the more I read the better I realized that I spoke and wrote as well, my mental vocabulary began to expand, I also began to study dictionaries at random (however weird that sounds). I absolutely loved this phase, why? because it was so practical, I did something different and saw something different exude from my person and in the quality of my work. 

Okay, pause. Allow this young woman to digress a little. If you are an upcoming writer, content creator, or someone just passionate about the beauty of words, and you often doubt or fear that you are not growing as fast or getting as sound as your counterparts in the space out there, then listen to my advice in the next paragraph. 

Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life, there are no holidays and no vacations. Am I kidding? Absolutely Not. Your ability to write can also be described as a muscle, that needs to be exercised every single day, even if it's only a letter, a note to self, a journal entry, or anything, write it down. Make sure it becomes a culture for you to pen down your thoughts, however random, don't let them escape. As you do this, you will realize that beautiful transformation and expansion in how a “word” yesterday becomes a “sentence” today and then grows into a “paragraph” tomorrow. Writing starts off as a process but with practice becomes a flow.  

You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap thinking its good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it - Octavia E. Butler 

So, back to my story. I fell in love. Cheesy, I know, but I did, or at least I think I did. I was in my final year in basic nursing school, and I had made a nice doctor friend whom I saw every other day during clinic hours of my periodic posting. And all of a sudden, this feeling of love began to articulate words inside my head, of course, I wrote them down and again, this became a culture for me, I began to write about how I felt per time, whether I was sad, happy, excited or upset. At this point, I realize today that inspiration and experience were the source of my writing and not a habit. The latter is a lot more dependable long-term. Just follow me. I am going somewhere. 

I would document those thoughts day in and day out. So, one day I wrote something for my best friend's birthday to express how precious she was to me, she read it and said that she loved it and commented "Thank you for the beautiful poem", a poem? I thought I just wrote some words while high on gratitude; I didn't know it had a name or a category. Another learning phase was activated! 

WRITING REQUIRES CONTINOUS RESEARCH AND LEARNING.

I began to read online and offline about different forms, types, and styles of writing. I was curious to know whether anything I wrote was a fit for any of the categories I had read about. After much research (I still do research to date) I discovered that my writing style was dynamic but had a more central hinge that was core to creative writing (poetry, fiction, and storytelling) because that was where my writing style was naturally inclined to. What can I say? I've got a wildly imaginative mind.  

About 2 years passed by and I stumbled upon LinkedIn through a very dear friend, at first, I wasn’t sure if the blue world (LinkedIn space) was a place a simple nurse like myself was going to fit into. But then again, I have been known to stick up and stand out almost everywhere I go, so why not. I did it. I made my first post and then dropped my phone to have a good laugh at the seeming nonsense I had carefully published on the world's largest professional network. I am laughing now. What! I had 15 reactions, and with all that crap, fifteen. I was encouraged. I kept posting, now more than ever paying a lot more attention to my day-to-day experiences at work as a surgical nurse, I was able to turn those experiences into lessons that motivated people, and that went a long way to placing me where I am today, I just wanted to add value. 

Another phase kicked in. How does LinkedIn actually work? Why was my network not growing as much as I wanted it to? How come my engagements were limited between 30 – 60 reactions? I began asking questions and again – Research (saves me all the time). I went on the internet and read a dozen articles on what LinkedIn is, how it works (algorithm), and how to leverage it. YOU CAN'T BE A GREAT WRITER WITHOUT BEING A GREAT RESEARCHER.  

At this point, I had grown out of writing because I was happy, in love, or inspired, writing had now become a habit for me.

Octavia E. Butler said, and I quote “First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.”

So, I began to apply every single tip I came across and carefully observed what worked and what didn’t, and from that, I discovered some tips for content type and structuring of my own. I should write about it soon. 

Bottom line, I wouldn’t be a writer/content director today if I gave up 5 years ago and decided to stop trying. I also wouldn’t be a writer if I didn’t do consistent research and put my gleanings into practical use.

Writing is a process before it becomes a flow. 

What has your process been like? or have you already gotten your flow? 

Till next time. Stay you. Thanks for sticking with me till the end.