You Must Eat, Drink, and Sleep Writing: Personal And Professional Credentials
Lesson #5: Everything you do can help you become a writer of the $100 club (or the 6%).
To: All New Writers
From: Teri Nickels
Date: Monday, July 31, 2023
Re: (Memo #6) Lesson #5 (You were born to write.)
Hello, my students!
Today’s lesson will discuss the natural writer you are.
I’ve always been a storyteller.
As a child, my family members loved to hear me tell fictional stories about marrying my first celebrity crush, Kel Mitchell (Kenan & Kel, Good Burger, Good Burger 2).
Mitchell was supposed to be my husband and bless me with ten children, but of course, life had other plans for me because I am not married, I have no children, and I lost contact with Mr. Mitchell after the last episode of Kenan & Kel.
The point of my fantasy is that I always wanted to be a writer — even if I didn’t know it yet.
I was serious about writing my first novel when I was in high school, but when my computer crashed and erased all of the details of my characters and plot, I felt it was a sign that maybe I wasn’t supposed to tell any stories that I could share with the world.
But now, as a 30-something-year-old woman, I believe that the story I was trying to tell wasn’t unique and strange enough to attract the attention of loyal readers.
So now, I am currently working on my first novel — a sci-fi thriller, to be exact.
The point of this setback is that I eventually found myself back where I truly belonged — creating a world for characters always talking to me in my head.
I was born to write. And no matter how much I try to distance myself from that reality, I am constantly reeled back into some form of written communication.
When my mother was shot and killed by her father (and my grandfather) in September 2021, I was lost as hell.
I literally wanted to die the day after my mother's death. I was just thankful I was already attending therapy when the horrific event occurred. But do you know what kept me sane besides God, a therapist, and my family and friends?
My mother's words the year before she died — that still haunts me but motivate me daily.
“Teri, I have been waiting on this book of yours for years now. Will I have to die before you take your writing career seriously?”
Basically, the spirit of my mother fuels my writing journey.
My mother was laid to rest in early October 2021. My birthday was October 25th. I accidentally came across Medium in early January 2022. And I wrote my first article on January 18, 2022.
Every significant occurrence in my life, concerning jobs or life-changing experiences, has always led me back to writing as the focal point. But do you know what this means for you?
Each of us has stories oozing out of our pores, and we don’t even realize that we have learned additional skills along the way — concerning our love, passion, or purpose of writing.
The jobs I’ve held, I didn’t think they were beneficial to the path that I am taking now as a full-time writer (mentally) and a side hustle (physically). I eat, drink, and sleep writing — but I only get paid a tiny percentage for my efforts.
But hey! At least I’m a paid writer — whether it’s pennies or dollars.
But that’s who you must be to achieve your first goal on Medium. You must live as a writer — while maintaining all your responsibilities and obligations.
In my downtime, I always do something that betters me as a writer, such as researching ideas, writing outlines, editing, or even simply daydreaming.
Yes! Daydreaming has allowed me to come up with some exciting topics, and daydreaming has made it easier to write a five-minute article in roughly an hour and a half. It’s almost as if I must let my mind write the story first before picking up a pen and paper or putting my fingers on the keyboard. But again, I am constantly investing time in my craft.
But before I start rambling too much, I want to share my personal and professional credentials with you because you may be surprised how much we have in common or how much you can learn from simply writing and sharing a public message with the world.
Teri Nickels’ Personal and Professional Credentials as a Multimedia Writer
With my background in multimedia, I have learned marketing, advertising, writing, video editing, and leadership skills that can be a great asset within the communication industry.
In the past, I was an Event Specialist who planned, executed, and hosted events for an entire university of 4,000 full-time students.
I was responsible for brainstorming budget-friendly event ideas, hiring volunteers, contacting vendors, accommodating speakers, decorating venues, and completing basic administrative tasks such as filing, faxing, printing, leading meetings (including minutes), emailing, data entry, and budgeting.
My favorite part of the job was being responsible for all the marketing strategies, such as social media marketing, email marketing, and advertising through custom-made flyers, brochures, and goodie bags.
My team of volunteers and office staff would discuss the feedback we received from past event participants to determine the success rate and what to plan next based on student surveys. The surveys would also determine how we could increase interest in each future event as a team.
We would encourage participation using various marketing strategies, such as giveaways, drawings, discounts at local businesses, and sponsorships from surrounding businesses that wanted to collaborate with the university.
What I have learned about marketing is that people are more important than the product because people not only buy products or services but also want to feel that the product benefits them in some significant way, whether helpful, inspirational, educational, or entertaining.
With my experience as an event specialist, I can create public messages that attract the interest of specific audiences through marketing, interpersonal communication, and excellent writing and leadership skills.
After the interesting job opportunity within the event department on campus, I transitioned into the exciting world of print and online media. I started as a student News Writer, where I was assigned events to attend, then prepared news articles by engaging in interviews with the public and researching the topic at hand.
Due to my work ethic, I was promoted by the editor-in-chief and one of the communication department professors to Assistant Editor. I would lead meetings where I would delegate weekly tasks to each news writer and photojournalist. I would also revise articles and review photos before sending them off to print.
The editor-in-chief recommended I write opinion pieces for the campus’s online magazine.
With my experience in print and online media, I can create public messages for educational and entertaining purposes using journalistic ethics and writing, interpersonal communication, and leadership skills.
After completing my college career, I earned a bachelor’s degree in communication.
I created an online jewelry store on Esty within the same graduation year. I ran it until the pandemic hit in 2020, but it was a success. I would sell out of inventory, and consumers would patiently wait to restock. I used a marketing strategy that helped me to build trust with my clients.
When someone would purchase an item, I would give them a random item for free so that when they were reviewing their purchase via Etsy, they could share their experience with more than just one item, which built my credibility as a store owner who was selling quality items at a reasonable price. I increased interest in my online store by creating business cards and promoting my store on various social media channels.
A few years after completing my degree, I became interested in videography. I created a YouTube channel to share my humorous wisdom. My two favorite parts of video creation are planning and editing. I would write scripts for each video and use various editing techniques to make the video engaging and appealing to the eye.
With my experience in video editing, I can create videos that bring a brand or company to life by using more than one of the 5 senses to make a lasting impression on future consumers. This experience has taught me about digital marketing strategies.
Currently, I am a Digital Content Specialist with a following of over 5,000 subscribers. I create online content based on the interests of the public through data research and topics of relatability.
I create personal essays that attract a specific audience of men and women who relate to everyday life occurrences, such as relationship issues. I prepare, write, edit, and finalize each article for weekly publishing. I have built a rapport with not only the editors of specific publications but I have grown a community of writers who I mentor through video calls and email correspondence.
I have published over 250 articles since January 2022, and I have created 3 sub-communities under one writing/reading platform to create public messages that address specific audiences.
One sub-community is based on humorous and vulnerable topics. The second one is based on relationships and psychology of men and women. And the third one focuses on teaching the writers of the online community how to make money online. I promote my original content on various social media channels and create posts based on marketing strategies.
With my experience in online writing, I have gained trust and provided value to consumers whose interest is based on learning through written communication.
Through my online writing career, I have gained proofreading, storytelling, project management, data analysis, problem-solving, and copywriting skills.
I would love to showcase my variety of skills and also gain additional skills within the communication industry.
If you are interested in working with me, please get in touch with me at the following:
tnickels17@outlook.com
You know the saying, “You are what you eat?”
Well, you are what you do.
You have had to eat your words before, but guess what? That’s an experience to explore through storytelling.
You’ve probably written in a diary throughout your upbringing, and some of those stories are what you can choose to share with a community of others — just like you.
You have had vivid dreams while sleeping that could be turned into blockbuster films and New York Times Best Selling novels.
You have even overheard a conversation or two that could help the masses with an everyday dilemma.
And, when you are in job interviews, you have to sell yourself to get career opportunities, and natural writers may be pros at talking about themselves because writers tend to be very detailed and goal-oriented.
You are a writer through and through, and you need to channel those skills that you think you lack and push yourself to be more than just the words you say and be an expert in what you do. You have so many skills and haven’t discovered any because you haven’t taken your writing career seriously.
Hey!
That was my mother talking — not me.
But I do have one request of you.
Take an hour, sit down with an old fashion pen and paper, and write down everything you have done professionally and some monumental moments in your life.
Then, think about how you would present those parts of yourself if you were looking for your dream writing job.
You will discover that you have learned several transferrable skills and even a couple of technical skills along the way that you could use to your advantage as a writer on Medium.
But remember that you may have to do a little research to understand what each skill entails, but that’s also part of being a writer.
Please, let me know if you complete the exercise! I would love to hear more about your background!
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Teri Nickels
P.S. You deserve to be a part of the 6% (The $100 Club).
Subscribe to my email list for future memos sent directly to your inbox — about how to become a Medium writer of the 6%.
