When I was in first grade, I decided that I wanted to be a cartoonist for a newspaper. I honestly don’t remember why, but my mind was made up. I hadn’t thought of any characters and had no story in mind; these were both bridges I’d cross when I got to them. I hadn’t read any particular cartoon that made me want to be a cartoonist. I hadn’t read a lot of cartoons period. Still, I wanted to be a cartoonist. I liked the idea of being one. There was something appealing about the idea of being a cartoonist.
I later decided that I wanted to be a comedian. I remember what it was that made me want to do this. My dad showed me a comedian on television. I don’t remember what comedian it was or what their act was. This was the first time that I understood what a comedian was, and the concept alone was enough to make me want to be one.
My dad didn’t like this idea and tried really hard to talk me out of it. I’m not sure if he was successful; if I just lost interest; or if I was distracted by something else, but I ended up deciding that I wanted to become a writer. When I was in second grade, I had a teacher who made me love reading more than anything else, and I decided that I loved reading so much that I wanted to create works that other people could read and enjoy.
I wanted to do this on and off for years until around middle school. It was then that we had a career dress up day. I remember specifically not being sure how to dress as an author. I decided to borrow a set of scrubs and go as a surgeon instead. My parents latched onto this idea, and I even convinced myself that I really did want to be a surgeon. I decided that I would be a general surgeon; the stakes for brain surgery were too high.
It wasn’t until ninth grade that I changed my mind. I wrote a story called “Greg.” Looking back, it wasn’t a particularly interesting story, but it was my first story in years and the first one that I would consider reflective of my style as a writer. Despite a lower quality compared to many works I’ve produced since, this story was very significant to my rediscovering my passion as a writer. Since then, I’ve realized that I am drawn to storytelling. This led me to the Mississippi School of the Arts where I am currently enrolled as a literary student.
While there, I started writing a fantasy series with a wide scope. As I wrote it, something felt wrong about it though. I had imagined very vibrant imagery for the story that I didn’t want to waste page space in describing, but I also didn’t feel like this project was meant to be a screenplay like I had written a few of in the past. Recently, I decided that the story would work best as a comic and have started working on it as such.
In a way, I’ve circled back to where I started in considering what I wanted to do with my life. I’m not sure if that’s inspirational or just funny, but I have a lot of feelings about it that I’m not entirely sure that I understand. I am at least sure that I am happy to be working on a project that I am passionate about.
