How I Became a Writer
The good, the bad, the extraordinary, and the indifferent
I knew I was going to be a writer when I was ten years old.
I was in the third grade, and was experiencing some serious behavioral issues. Then, one day, a substitute teacher came into my class. My regular teacher, the one who usually told me to shut up and then sent me to the back of the room daily, was unavailable.
Now this teacher, whose name I will never forget, Mrs. Simon, told us that we were going to “do something special today”. We were going to all write out our very own story. That meant, no math, no science, and no memorized meaningless poems.
She asked us to write a story two pages long. A simple story with a beginning, middle, and end. The story needed to describe a problem that needed to be solved, and we also needed to provide a solution. There need to be some obstacles, good people, bad people and such, and we had all day to do it.
The very idea of doing this was transformative for me. To create something of my own, rather than just memorize the creations of others was the most radical thing I had ever considered.
I wrote my story, something about cowboys and Indians. Mrs. Simon didn’t even bother grading them. She simply congratulated us for successfully completing the project.
About four years later, when I was in the seventh grade, I entered a contest where we were asked to write a 1,000 word story about some obscure historical figure.
I had to lookup what the word “obscure” meant?
I chose Haym Solomon since I had recently seen a short film about Salomon in my Hebrew School, a place I went to after my secular studies in P.S. 11
Solomon was a Polish-born Jewish political financial broker and businessman and who assisted the Superintendent of Finance, English-born Robert Morris. Solomon was also a good friend of George Washington, and was the prime financier of the rebel American side during the American Revolutionary War.
Solomon had immigrated to New York City from Poland, and during the American Revolution, had helped convert French loans into ready cash, by selling bills of exchange for Morris. Soloman, probably saved the Continental army at Valley Forge, by brokering large donations. Without him, the revolution would probably have failed. In the end, he donated his entire fortune to various Founding Fathers of the United States, to the American Revolutionary army, and the Continental Army. He died broke and mostly forgotten.
I created the paper by rummaging through every school-book I could find about the American Revolution. It was an empowering and fulfilling experience.
Five hundred students entered papers in the contest. When they gathered us for the assembly. All five hundred of us, they announced the winners. Carolyn Ross was the First Prize winner. This was expected. She was the smartest student in the school in every subject. Then they announced the second prize winner. Henry Milton, a shy and brilliant book worm.
Then they announced the third place winner, Lewis Harrison! Huh? Me?????? I had never won anything in my life for anything.
I walked to the stage to get my award certificate, and was mentally numbed by the applause. I had been pushed around for most of my life, kicked out of classes for misbehaving. This writing thing was OK by me. I was in all the way.
It was at that moment that I knew I wanted to be a writer!
In high school, I wrote as much as I could. I was antsy being forced to sit in any class and failed or got “D” of “F” grades in mist multiple choice exams.
Often the essays were graded separately, and I would write intense, fact-filled, and long winded papers, that usually got me “B” grades. Today, I can just feel what it must have been like for a teacher to grade my papers.
Barely getting through High school and my first years in college, I finally got a degree, after six years of dropping out of “pass-fail” classes in philosophy.
The one thing I knew I was going to do, good grades or bad grades was write.
Through all of this, something extraordinary happened. I was invited to interview for a Radio Show on an NPR affiliated community radio station (WIOX FM). I got the gig. Now I was writing a radio show!
Then, I was also invited to participate (with pay) at a number of conferences of people looking to get interviewed in talk radio. Here’s the promo for my show..”What’s Up with Lewis Harrison”.
Here’s the humorous promo for that show…
So here I am now, publishing my own stuff, for major publishers, and on Kindleon, but with ever greater interest focused in ebooks, and audio books and leaning in that direction. Of course, I publish multiple stories in Medium.com and a few weekly at AskLewis.Substack.com.
My next step may be to use A.I. to convert some of my 40 plus books into audiobooks. I’m resistant to A.I. but I will eventually fold, and use it for some things, though certainly not for my Medium stories.
Best of all I get write, publish, and know that someone, somewhere is going to read it, give me some likes, and even a few comments. As Martha Stewart often says, “It’s a good thing.”
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The article you have just read is an excerpt from my program “How to Become a Great Writer.” Part of my The Self Improvement Lifestyle Course”. Learn more in my online Self-Improvement Community at…
Author: Lewis Harrison is the author of over a dozen books with traditional publishers. He also self publishes. He is the creator of the HAGT Method (Harrison’s Applied Game Theory), and is the Executive Director of the International Association of Healing Professionals an educational organization that offers programs around the world in Intentional Living.
He is also Independent Scholar and a Results-Oriented Success Coach, with a passion for knowledge, personal development, self-improvement, creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. You can read all of his Medium stories at Lewis.coaches@medium.com.
“I am always exploring trends, areas of interest, and solutions to build new stories upon. Please share this article with others. It is appreciated.
If you have any ideas you would like me to write about, just email me at LewisCoaches@gmail.com or check out all of my books, blogs, and videos through my portal www.asklewis.com
