So that's how I started. I think often of how the caterpillar metamorphizes, that time where they change their entire bodily structure (which I call the "goopy period.") The truth is, I feel as if I will always be in my own "goopy period," always evolving as a writer. And that makes me happy.

And I kept going. I kept writing. I kept getting rejections, and eventually, some acceptances. After the first month of asking, my brain started spitting out story ideas at a high rate. And I've been going ever since.

There's something really wonderful about reading as a writer. It unlocks this whole other layer. I felt my mind expanding as I read.

This was a period of prodigious short fiction reading for me. I read so many magazines, anthologies, and collections. I remember reading a huge volume of Bradbury stories. Gosh, that was an amazing experience.

Obviously, I didn't sell that story. I didn't sell the next one either. Or the next couple after that, if I recall. But I'd done the hardest thing. I'd given myself permission to start.

It was a terrible story. Like, truly awful. I spelled the same character name two different ways. And that wasn't even the worst part, not by a long shot. I submitted this story to the top pro-paying markets.

Now, this part must remain shrouded in mystery. I underwent a life event so startling and amazing that it unlocked my writerly powers. I gained the courage to try. So I sat down at the computer and began to type out my first story.

So, my true writer origin story doesn't start until my very late 20s. This was the time I decided I would write seriously and send those stories out into the world. Some would call this a late start, but for me, the timing was perfect.

In college, I took a couple of creative writing classes for fun. I didn't intend to do anything with that work. I took these classes with the same attitude I picked an entomology class for my schedule. They were cool courses I could get credit for.

I've heard a lot of origin stories that start in childhood, of authors who began to write as soon as they could pick up a pen. That, however, is not my story. I wrote poetry as a kid, but I didn't start truly writing fiction until adulthood.

The strange and wonderous way I became a writer. A thread. 🧵

🌈🚀💫Queer & trans* SFF poets: share your work pub'd this September! Drop the title/link for your recent poetry to be included in the monthly Queer Spec Poetry Roundup on Stardust & Verse! Originals & reprints welcome; feel free to interpret queer/trans* and speculative broadly. Shares appreciated!