Being an engineering graduate, writing was not exactly an area of my specialization. Although I dreamt of becoming an author one day, it seemed like a far-fetched dream!
As they say, “Man proposes, God, disposes!” Looks like God had other plans for me!
And, so after a 20-year sabbatical, I re-entered the corporate sector as a fresher in the field of content writing. When I joined Webguruz Technologies in September 2016, I had very little idea of digital marketing and content writing.
Here’s how it started:
Day 1: I was told to write a blog of 500 words with the keywords, “sell a house”, “sell a home.” That was easy!
Day 2: I was given the keywords “sell my house”, “sell my home.” So, I told the digital marketer who assigned me the task that I had already written this on the previous day, give me something else. And, he smiled and said, “No, you have to write on this again.” And, I did!
Day 3: I am given the keywords “sell your house”, “sell your home.” And, I tell myself, “What?” “How can I do this?” And, again I complain to the digital marketer that this is what I have done in the past two days. He cheekily points out that there is a difference, “Yesterday it was “sell my home”, today it is “sell your home!”
Then he said, “Welcome to content writing!” You will be writing on similar or the same keywords every day!
I was shocked! I was wondered how anyone could write unique content on the same keywords every day? The problem was that it was not just for one project, but the same story for all the projects!
I started to think that I had chosen the wrong career! This was something beyond me!
But I continued somehow!
And, two things happened:
- All the clients of the company loved my content because search engines were kind to my writing and boosted the rankings of the websites for which I had written.
- I began to feel a strange kind of thrill each time I checked my content on plagiarism tools and the result was 100% Unique.
Then it became a self-imposed challenge to create something different, something better each day! And, this changed my life! I began to look forward to going to work.
When I would begin writing for the day, I would get lost in the world of words, whether it was for a real estate site, dating site, digital marketing…….! This improved my vocabulary and speed of writing. Within a month the number of words I would write in a day more than doubled. Also, I started my account on ezinezrticles.com and submitting content for clients, and had a clean record(no rejections). Within a month, I was a Platinum author, and 2 months later I was a Diamond author!
Then I became unstoppable! I simply loved my work! It boosted my self-esteem and self-confidence! I became a more positive person and suddenly many trivial things in life stopped bothering me!
After a few months came a project to edit an e-book on parenting by a client who was not a native English speaker. This book required a lot of work as far as editing was concerned! I had to literally re-write the entire book. I enjoyed the experience. I felt as if I was literally writing the book myself.
And, I thought to myself, “Why not?”
I started writing my first book around that period in 2017. However, I got too caught up in my daily chores and could not complete the book.
I was doing very well as a writer and became a Team Leader in just six months after joining!
I, however, decided to work as a freelancer and quit my job after 2.5 years. I worked for different clients across the globe.
Then came the year 2020 which brought the pandemic. I lost some clients during that time. And, before I could get new ones, I thought of writing my book again. I had my incomplete manuscript on my laptop but did not feel like going back to it.
So, I started afresh and completed my first book, A Lockdown Story – A tale of my transformational journey during the lockdowns. I self-published the book on kindle direct publishing.
My content writing experience made the entire process very simple!
- Having edited the book for the client helped me understand the nuances of writing a book.
- My experience as a content writer had taught me the art of creating engaging content. And, this is the reason that most of my readers told me that they could not put the book down. It had that “what next?” feel about it that made them keep reading!
- The experience of using various tools and software for content creation and presentation helped me in aspects such as cover design, formatting, etc.
- The most valuable part was that the writing speed I had developed. I could complete my first book of 12k words in less than a month. I increased the word count in my books and my speed helped me complete them quickly. This is why from June 2020 to July 2021, I have published 5 books in all.
- I never suffered “writers’ block” because I had grown accustomed to writing on the same topic over and over again. So, my mind was always overflowing with ideas and it never stopped!
- Another major benefit that content writing offered was that I had become a well-read person. Writing on various technical and non-technical topics helped me evolve as an individual. I was aware of the latest technologies, what is happening in the world of marketing, and more!
Well! So content writing has helped me fulfill my dream of becoming an author! And, my love for writing is only growing!
