In the 7th grade I wanted to be an architect but it turns out math is involved. Who knew? My 8th grade English teacher talked me into working on the school newspaper and I was hooked. It seemed like easy lifting compared to architecture.
This quote from newspaper columnist Russell Baker sort of sums up how I felt about writing as a career:
"The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn't require any."
Baker and I, however, soon discovered that being an adequate writer is hard work, never mind being a great writer and doing it consistently. I thought that if I could speak the mother tongue that I could be a great writer. Wrong. But thank goodness Baker and I didn