The Accidental Writer

Okay, I'm straying from my formula today to tell you all a long-winded secret.

You see, this photo here is of a guitar I own. A guitar that I had totally forgotten I owned (me owning a guitar with a butterfly inlay is not, surprisingly, the secret) until talking with Tupelo yesterday about how, when I was a young lass, I applied to the Music Industry program at the University of Southern California. When I was 20, music was everything to me. I played (this) guitar and wrote songs and wanted to work in "The Industry" in a big studio in Hollywood. 

Well, I was rejected by the program, but a week after I received my rejection letter, USC called (on the telephone!) saying that they had made a mistake, that I was accepted into USC, just not into the program I had applied to. As I remember it, the woman over the phone asked if there was anything else I might be interested in majoring in, and I literally picked up the catalog and, while she was on the other line, chose "Creative Writing." I had no intention of staying in the Creative Writing program. I looked at it as a foot in the door. I was planning to transfer into the Music Industry program as soon as I proved myself worthy.

Well, I never transferred. After my first creative writing class, I was in love.

So my secret: I'm an accidental writer.

I wasn't one of those people who grew up knowing I was a writer. I didn't write one single story until I was forced to in a classroom setting!

Anyway, I still own this guitar (though it's in the depths of my garage), and I still love music (country most of all), and after making this odd confession to Tupelo yesterday, I realized (suddenly) why I'm so interested in the collaboration between music and writing. My side project is producing literary-based audio tours that are scored much like a film. It's such a fun process to work with both musicians and writers to create a cohesive work.

So in a way, I got to do it all.

So, are there any other accidental writers out there? What other lives did you live before becoming a writer? Do any of those other lives seep slyly into your writing life?