My Firsts in Writing

Author's Note: This was intended for the Writers challenge about the first thing I wrote. I missed the deadline, but felt like publishing it anyway, so here it is.

I was always directionless and skittish regarding what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be when I was younger. At different times in my life between starting school and, let's say, 20, I wanted to be, in no particular order (as that would require my memory to work well enough):

• Vigilante like Edward Woodward's Robert McCall in The Equaliser or Batman, you know...
• Songwriter/musician (I have never had the staying power to stick with one instrument, though...and I can't sing for shit)
• Record Store owner (as an alternative to songwriter/musician, I could be a failed songwriter/musician-turned-record store owner)
• Music/Film Journalist (another alternative to songwriter/musician or filmmaker. So a failed songwriter/musician or filmmaker-turned-journalist)
• Filmmaker (I studied TV production and film-related stuff at college for two years before I stopped.)
• Comedian (I love to make people laugh, and it felt like it might be fun to get paid for acting like a self-absorbed tit on stage)
• Writer/screenwriter

Writing was always in the mix somewhere. Since reading The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, some Roald Dahl and lots of fairytales as a kid, through Of Mice and Men and more grown-up stuff like Trainspotting, American Psycho and a lot more as I got older, I was really attracted to the idea of writing.

As I've written sporadically over the years before joining Vocal, rather than just talk about one piece of writing, I've broken my journey to now into key pieces.

First Proper Writing at School (that I still remember)

My problem with writing in the past, until I was a content writer and then joined Vocal, was I never gave writing the dedication and attention it deserved. So, when it comes to remembering what I first wrote, I can't. In school, I remember writing a story about a demon/alien who visited a man at night when he couldn't sleep to ask him why his life should be spared.

That is the only detail I can remember about the story and the teacher's words. Apparently, there were too many "long-winded sentences". I am sure it was not the best thing in the world, but I cannot remember any positives they offered. Just that I prattled on too much for their liking. Thanks...sir?

First Writing At College

At college, even though that is not as long ago, it was still over 20 years ago. I had to write the screenplay and story for a 15-minute original drama. I remember very little of my script. I intended to do a take on Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, but then, because I couldn't afford to buy a leg of lamb as a prop, I changed the idea slightly.

There was an overworked, shy and quiet office worker whose mum died, and he set up his bullies. See...memory lets me down. I remember putting a lot of effort into the backdrops for the scenes we filmed in the college's studio. I used wallpaper and mocked up many print-outs for the guy's office. Rather than just using placeholder text for newspaper articles, though...I spent the night on my computer, writing pretend articles for the pretend newspaper because I felt that if anything was in a shot for my crappy little college film, I wanted it to have nice details. I do not have a copy of the rushes or the finished edited thing.

I still like the fact that I put that much effort in, though.

Between dropping out of college to move to Essex and live with my future wife, and before I became a content writer for work, I only did a little writing.

First Writing as a Content Writer

Then I became a content writer and have written lots on lots of different subjects. I honestly don't remember the first thing I wrote about, though I know I did a lot of writing about pregnancy and DUI lawyer web content initially.

As someone who never really finished school properly or went to University or has a notable English qualification, I have always been a little proud that I managed to take my ability to write and make money from it, even if I've not always been a glorious success.

First Writing on Vocal

Everything I've written for Vocal is on this account, and I've only ever deleted two poems, so I know exactly what the first thing I wrote was. I started with having a basic account and then, during the COVID lockdown, participated in some market research to get $100 and a free Vocal+ account. I spent most of that year telling myself that I would start writing because I wanted to connect my name to my writing (for my work, it's primarily uncredited) and kept putting it off.

It was only on May 15th, 2022, when I published my first story on Vocal, titled Writing Under My Own Name for the First Time Really.

It was an introductory piece about who I was and what brought me to writing on Vocal. I am still proud of it because it was the first one, and you can read it by following the link below.

First Poem I Ever Wrote and Shared

Following a few successful pieces on Vocal and a couple of Top Stories, I wanted to have a go at poetry as I noticed the Poets community was thriving. I was not ready to write a piece of fiction (one of the main reasons for joining Vocal in the first place), so poetry felt like a safer way to get my creative feet wet.

Although it was not a Top Story, the first poem I wrote, titled Untilted 1 (Wasted Life), was well received by people who read it and got lovely feedback. I am still proud of that poem because it started an unexpected journey in which I became what I refer to as an "accidental poet". Poetry never interested me until I wrote that piece and followed it up with many haiku and my first poetry, Top Story. But that's a tale for another time.

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Since writing the abovementioned pieces, I've had numerous Top Stories and published 412 pieces. Like all journeys, my writing journey involved making that first step and following it through with another step and then another and another.

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Thanks for reading!

I am a little sad it did not make it for the challenge, but hope you enjoyed this bit of insight.

If you have the time and inclination, you can also take a look at some other pieces I've published recently, like: