Breaking the “real writer” myth

People sometimes ask me if I’ve always wanted to be a writer.

I say yes. The short answer is yes. And the long answer is, well, yes.

But first, I was going to be a person who worked for the government.

I grew up in a government town, so this seemed like the natural thing to do. My plan was to get hired doing anything in the government through my university co-op job, so that I…