Why I want to become a Writer

I don’t know how it all began but I remember quite lucidly the days when my father would give my siblings and I fifty Naira each to take to school to buy snacks during the lunch break but instead of using this money to buy biscuits and zobo as was peculiar with kids of our age, we would usually save the money until it was well up to an amount that we could use to buy a book. The desire for books burned in our hearts that at the age of eleven I had already acquired about 14 books with my lunch money. I had just two books more than my younger sibling who had about 12. Some of the books we had were "Chike and the river", "Eze goes to school", "the bottled leopard", "sugar girl" and the likes of them.

          When I was eventually admitted some three years after I had begun my primary education into the renowned Government Secondary School Bwari-Abuja, my appetite for books grew fiercer that I could not help wishing I had any book I came across in the library. One thing however, stood out and that was, although I had much books in my library, the popular saying that "readers are writers or leaders" did not apply to me because I never nursed any ambition to write, not for one day! All I ever wanted to do was to read until I was drowned in the reservoir of knowledge. Thus the idea of writing remained dormant in me until the chords were stricken by one of my teachers sometimes in 2005. I think I was in JSS 2 then or thereabout. The teacher wanted me to participate in an essay writing competition. "Of all the students there are in my class, why did this woman choose me?’’ I remember asking myself. Anyway, that night I scribbled a few words together on a piece of paper which I promptly submitted to her the following day and after she had read through she said to me, "Kure, you would make a good writer" I think that singular experience launched me into an entirely new world, I wanted more than anything to become a writer and not just any writer but a world acclaimed writer with local and international laurels to his name just like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Adichie and a host of others.

The question of why I would like to become a writer has never occurred to me. As a matter of fact even though I well know I would like to become a published writer, I have never sat one day to pen down reasons why I would like to become one. The reason is that, I believe the question is not one that necessarily deserves an answer. "Why?" You may want to ask. The answer is not farfetched as the question of why anyone would like to write from my perspective is like asking a person why he breathes. For God’s sake! He has to breathe so that he can live. In the same vein, just as staying alive is a natural consequence of breathing so is writing a consequence of reading. You cannot read and run short of what to write because reading is the first spark of writing. No wonder Williams Wordsworth defined the art of poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility”. In other words, writing could be necessitated by feelings that have been cooked up in the mind via the medium of reading. Therefore anyone who can read has the capacity to become a published writer only that many readers today do not develop their writing acumen to a professional level.

Nevertheless, there are two fundamental reasons why I would like to become a writer.

To begin with, I love writing and can afford to do it any day, and at any given time. Really I have come to discover that of all my hobbies, writing tickles my fancy the most. I have this sense of fulfillment and achievement whenever I try to imagine stuffs, cook up stories or try to develop imaginary characters to suit the story I may be telling. My love for writing is also informed by the fact that it is the most appropriate medium to transmit one’s ideas to others for the general good. These ideas are capable of changing the world and making it a better place. Robert Kiyosaki, an American business guru for instance, believes so much in committing his ideas to writing by writing financial books that would benefit many in the area of business. Today it is reported that Robert’s financial books are one of the reasons why some names are still in business. In fact his book ‘Rich dad, Poor dad’ first published in 1997 is reputed to have been on the number 1 New York Times Bestseller list for a good number of years. Nothing would please me more than to see my ideas transform so many lives.

          Similarly I believe that writers only die physical deaths. As far as I am concerned, they go on to live in the minds of people long after they are gone. This particular reason makes me want to write even the more and do it on a professional basis. I do not intend to live my life without impacting the world and leaving it better than I met it. In fact I look forward to a time when I would be able to conclude like Julius Caesar, “veni, vidi, vici”; “I came, I saw, I conquered”. Also, the great Williams Shakespeare is still celebrated today for his literary works. Thus just like this great man, it would give me much pride and joy never to die in the hearts of men. 

          By way of conclusion, I do like to say that there are different reasons why people write, for some it could be for the money whereas for others it could be for the prestige that accompanies writing but as for me, the above constitute the primary reasons why I would like to become a writer. I do not intend to write for the fun of it, I want to do it on a professional basis; I want to do it for maximum impact.