Why It Took Me 20 Years to Discover That I Want To Be a Writer

“You should become a writer”.

These were the words of my Year 12 English teacher, back in 2001.

Apparently he had seen something in my persuasive and observational essays that warranted the words of encouragement.

But I had other plans.

You see, my parents had moved to Australia in 1971 from the former Yugoslavia to “save some money and move back home”.

Like most in their boat — figurative and literal — they never moved back home. However, they continued to value the accumulation of money — probably because they had very little of it growing up.

We are all products of our environment and I ended up inheriting much of their value system, especially when it came to money.

What Do You Wanna Do With Your Life, Kiddo?

At seventeen — I found myself sitting in a career counsellor’s office. I was asked the question that no seventeen-year-old with no requisite life and work experience would be able to reasonably answer — “what do you wanna do with your life, kiddo?”

I mumbled something back — “I guess I’ll study business…that will open doors to jobs… and money, right?”