On the day I turned 11 years old, I decided I wasn’t a kid anymore. I decided I was a woman.

Typing those words makes me laugh out loud. But looking back on that day I realize that even though 11-year-old me had no idea what it really meant to be a woman, I did have a clear vision of the woman I wanted to be.

Like most kids, my answer to the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question constantly changed. But there were three that stuck: writer, teacher, and business owner. And I always thought I had to choose just one. These three careers didn’t seem related at all.

So first, I would be a writer. After going to Berkeley for graduate school I worked as a newspaper reporter for several years in Louisville, Kentucky.

Then in 2009, I returned to my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama to be an English teacher.

But I missed writing, so I started freelancing and kept blogging, a practice I’d started in Louisville. Juggling this with teaching was hard work. I needed a group of women to encourage and empower me to keep sharing my story and the stories of others. So, I started See Jane Write, which began as a networking group for women who write and blog but eventually grew into a business.

Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed of Being

There’s a quote I saw on Instagram one day that I have saved on my phone. It reads: “You owe it to yourself to become everything you’ve ever dreamed of being.”

On May 24, 2019, I left my teaching job because I realized that through See Jane Write I get to be all I’ve ever dreamed of being all at once. Through my blogging and freelancing, I am a writer. Through the coaching, courses, and workshops I do for women who write, I am a teacher, still. And because See Jane Write is a business, I am an entrepreneur. 

Related Reading: So…I quit my job!

I found a way to write my way to the life of my girlhood dreams. And I think you can find a way to do the same.

Through writing, I found a way to build my dream job from scratch. But my career as a writerpreneur, as I like to call myself, is just the tip of the iceberg. Writing has changed and continues to change every aspect of my life.

By writing about the natural hair movement I learned to love my curls. By writing about colorism, I learned to love my dark brown skin.

I write love letters to my body. I write love letters to my husband. I write love letters to my God.

Writing helps me to understand the world. Writing helps me to understand myself.

Writing helped me find my style. Writing helped me find my voice.

I’m convinced writing can help you do the same and so much more.

But first, you have to start. Start writing something — anything — today. And then write again tomorrow. And write again the day after that.

Girl, just write.