NO ONE NEEDS TO BE STUCK DOING WHAT DOESN’T APPEAL TO THEM.

Fear usually guides our first forays into career decision.

Will this career support me financially?

Is it a career that I can rely on at all times?

Our parents and loved ones, usually take these questions as guiding lights because they want the best for us and think this way we will be protected against the vagaries of time and fortune.

But the shifting trends of time have shown that even engineers and doctors face tumultuous times in their work.

My story is one that travels from that fear to hope…

Talent‌ ‌for‌ ‌writing‌ ‌from‌ ‌childhood.

I always enjoyed reading but wrote only when asked to do so. I never wrote stories or poems in my free time but when I wrote essays even during exams, they were so well appreciated that some were put up on the class bulletin board!

Yet, despite a love for reading I chose science along with economics in my 11th and 12th just because I was a good student and I could do it. Fortunately, mid-way I understood that neither engineering nor architecture (the two most desired outcomes of this combination) were my goals.

Arts was a no-no for my parents. So, I walked into Commerce and an MBA afterwards. Surprisingly I enjoyed my MBA and ended up topping the class and majoring in Finance and Marketing.

Now came the time to enter the job market.

I started working in a private sector bank, but as I worked, I realised this banking life was not for me.

But then what?

I had no clue.

Switched‌ ‌to‌ ‌a‌ ‌full‌ ‌time‌ ‌writing‌ ‌career.

In 2008, I was the mother of a child and clueless about my career. Refocusing on my joy in reading, I looked for more formal ventures that dealt with reading and writing.

There were not many opportunities in publishing but I found technical writing and started as an intern. The main thing to remember is that usually when you decide to quit one career and start another, the first hurdle you meet is that the income you get might not be equivalent or very less in comparison to the one you were commanding earlier (especially if the new career has absolutely no links to the old)

While writing, I came in contact with people who ran a content writing firm and started writing for them while working on my day job.

Soon, I quit technical writing and then concentrated on creating content from home. I wrote blogs, ghostwrote 3 books in varied subjects (ghostwriting means writing for a fees for a client wherein usually the client’s name appears on the book), tried my hand at copywriting, animation scriptwriting and even wrote for magazines!

It was a time for learning and the people I worked with appreciated my work. But I am not naturally confident of my abilities and as I worked all alone, I never knew how my writing compared to others.

During this time, I interacted with some people who worked with a company that required copywriters. They liked what I did, gave me an international training as a copywriter and made me a part of their team. It was wonderful. For the first time, I was working with a team of writers and could ideate with so many heads!

When my long copy (advertorial of around 20 pages) on the company’s product became the highest selling copy of the year, I understood that I am good enough. Soon, the bounds of corporate life again started chafing at me and I re-started my freelancing, but this time with far greater confidence. I also created my own website

I now work regularly from a co-working space and count corporates and individuals among clients. I ghostwrite books, mentor writers for non-fiction and create business content for varied clients.

Now I finally understand that I like learning new things and working with words. I have learnt, law, finance, psychology, corporate quality and more as I created varied content for my clients. I love being a ghostwriter and get up every Monday morning with a smile and wait impatiently to run to my workplace…

What more can you want from your career?!