5 Impactful Moments in My Life as a Writer

These moments define how I work, earn, and operate as a freelance creative professional.

Who Am I?

Like my bio at the bottom states, I’m a professional editor and writer with work appearing across a multitude of platforms and publications. I’ve got more than 200 stories in circulation and write two monthly columns for Tor Nightfire and Disover Pods. I’ve been writing all my life, but only count the last five years as me working professionally as a writer.

All my life, what I do now, is what I dreamed of doing. There were a lot of setbacks, traumas, and unfortunate circumstances along the way, but I made it. Throughout my life and career, there have been particular moments that I know shaped me into the writer I am today. By going over five of those moments, I hope you’ll look inward at the moments in your life that have had an impact on you, and reflect.

And in that reflection, I hope you find solace.

The Moments that Define Me

There are many more moments throughout my life that have helped me see who I am as a writer. These five are the ones that feel the most impactful, however, and I hope I’ll be able to illustrate to you why. Like cutting out certain people and activities in my life, these moments—while not all positive—instantly gave me a boost, not only in my career but also in my craft and understanding of the type of writer I am and want to be.

1. Being fired from my first in-house writing job

The first time I went full-time freelancer my end goal was to land an in-house job as a content writer. These are often salaried positions where the option to work from home is usually on the table. I could still work the freelancer lifestyle—anywhere I want—while making the income of a corporate suit.

It was a win-win in my mind. Then I got the job and faced the most blatant racist moment in my career and found myself reeling for support in an all-white culture that ‘stuck together.’ I’ve interviewed for other in-house writing positions but have found that at that level, there are so many unpacked issues that the workplace is absolutely toxic, and having a creative onboard brings out the middle school bully in the adults who never followed their passions.

Lesson: Dreams are sometimes nightmares in disguise. I am much more selective and thorough about taking on jobs, putting my self-care and respect first over what may seem like a financially great position.

2. Quitting my manager job to write full-time

Before I was a full-time writer, I worked in retail. For years, I was a bookseller and worked in logistics. In my mind, I believed that I would use retail work as my main revenue source while I built my author career. Middle management by day, writer by night.

But the longer I worked in the retail world, the quicker I realized, I wasn’t the type for middle management. It didn’t sit well in my guts. Working in those jobs, while fun and memorable/necessary, was an absolute lie to who I was.

Lesson: I’m nothing but a creative, trying to work as anything else is doing my soul a disservice.

3. Giving up on writing because it wasn’t guaranteed

When I graduated high school, I gave up on writing. I decided that my dream of becoming a writer was unrealistic. No one gets to be the thing they want to be. During the two years that I didn’t write, I sorta just existed. I hung out with friends, partied, lived. But I wasn’t happy. I was absolutely miserable for the most part.

I fell in with a group of people who were all creative but weren’t actually working at their art or craft. They were like me. Loved to start a project, but the act of working it into a pliable piece of art, in the end, was a hack, only people who sold out or gave up did that. Being in this environment sapped me further of what little spark I had left to be the writer I wanted to be.

Lesson: I can’t be around people who don’t believe in and support the pursuit of their creativity or passions with unyielding determination.

4. Writing my first book after not writing for over a year

One day during that time of not being a writer, I decided to write a short story for the first time in years. It was an exercise in getting out of my head, in trying for happiness that had alluded me for so long. In a week, that short story had ballooned into a novel.

I didn’t sleep much. My life was in that book, my heart was in that book, in the characters and their journey. That was the first book ever requested by a publisher and showed me that maybe some people do have it in them to reach their dreams.

Lesson: If I want to be the writer that I want to be, I have to work at it even if there’s no logical chance of success. The act of creating is the fire, all else is smoke and ash.

5. Meeting my writing heroes as colleagues

Over the past year or so, I’ve met several writing heroes in interviews for articles, while looking for work, in shared social groups, and more. It’s been a weird place to be in to know that I’m in the same circles as best-selling and award-winning authors whose books I used to gush over when I was a bookseller.

The fact that I’m still at the very beginning of my career as a writer has made me feel like I’m doing everything right and will someday be like those best-selling authors. Out there, a bookseller who dreams of being a writer will Stan my work. And someday, maybe we’ll meet and they can tell me all about their journey.

Lesson: Surrounding myself with the people who are doing what I am trying to do is not just good for morale or networking, but it keeps me from thinking I’m an imposter.

I Am More Than Scattered Parts

The moments above are just teardrops in the deluge that has been my life. And even though some of them were bad moments, they weren’t all bad. The years I spent not writing and just shooting the shit, was a growing and living period I never would have been able to do if I was dedicating my time to writing. The racist boss showed me that no matter what, my safety and well-being are more important than a paycheck.

Impactful moments shouldn’t be held, overanalyzed, or be made into bigger things than they are, but they are worth reflecting on. Doing so helps us see how certain motives of ours are colored or shaded in the shadows of the past. These moments are not me, I am these moments and a billion more.

Further Reading

Aigner Loren Wilson is a queer Black SFWA, HWA, and Codex writer. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from WIRED, The Writer, Tordotcom, Fiyah, and she is a Hugo Award finalist for her editing. Along with her writing roles, she is also the guest editor for Fireside Fiction and Apparition Literary summer and winter issues. Subscribe for access to masterclass courses in writing, editing, and making a living as a creative.