What Inpired Me to Start Writing
- Andrea Harrison
- Dec 4
- 3 min read
My mini-bio
From very young I always had a strong and vivid imagination. Often, I would go into a sort of trance, concocting imaginary places and characters. I was always creating stories; some I wrote down and others I kept locked away in my head. I was burning to write something and have the world read it but lacked the courage to publish—until my 60’s!
It began after I retired from teaching and worked briefly in sales. I was bored with my job until my husband, Gregg approached me about going to Switzerland to live for six months. His company was looking to send one of its employees to their overseas office to learn another aspect of the business. Gregg volunteered. I took a leave of absence from my job and soon we were embarking on an adventure I would have never dreamed we would experience. The company paid for us to reside in a cozy little ski lodge apartment on the top floor of a two-family house owned by a native family in a rural area surrounded by the Alps.
I could not get a work Visa so while Gregg was working, I would travel and explore the landscape of the Alps and many other cultural jewels of the country. I wanted to keep a record of what I had seen and done so purchased a journal.
Once I had returned off the train and was back at the apartment, I began writing about all the wonderful places and natural landscape I had witnessed. Unfortunately, my travel pass expired and we decided it was too expensive to renew. In the meantime, I had filled up the journal but that didn’t stop me from continuing to write. I began a screenplay and before I knew if I had finished it and was beginning another. Before our residency ended I had completed two screenplays and a travel journal.
As we were getting ready to leave, I told Gregg I did not want to return to my job. All the writing I had done had impassioned me to start a writing business once we returned to the U.S. Soon my business, The Prolific Word was born, and I had become a self-employed content marketing writer. While residing in Switzerland I had re-discovered my true passion-- to tell stories, yet they weren’t my own.
In 2022, I published my first book, a children’s environmental story about a group of shellfish who are determined to find a solution to surviving in their polluted ocean. Inspiration came in two ways. First, a client whose book I was editing encouraged me to write my own book. I wanted to write a book but didn’t know what to write about. Then one morning when I awoke, a working title, “The Selfish Shellfish”, just popped into my head. With this book I brought my teaching experience, passion for words, concern for the planet and how this would impact the younger generation.
Since then, my passion for storytelling has expanded into the romance genre. “Miranda” began as a short story in a creative writing workshop, but I became so invested in the character that I developed it into a full novel. Drawing from personal experience, the main character is faced with the challenges and triumphs of starting over later in life. Much like my protagonist, I have undergone a mid-life reinvention when I found love again with Gregg after many years of divorce and launched my writing business in 2016.
Through my experience in living in Switzerland and working with business clients to help tell their stories as well as telling my own, I believe I am living proof that it is never too late in life to pursue your dreams and excel at what you like to do.
Have a dream and want to make it happen? Looking to start afresh with new goals? Here is a free download of 30 affirmations to encourage and motivate you:
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