I dreaded writing, but now I can’t live without it

Muhammed Abdullahi Tosin is a writer and entrepreneur from Nigeria.

Until 2009, writing was probably one of the hardest things for me.

I didn’t hate writing for its own sake. In fact, I adored many writers. I envied their wits, elegance and (almost) immortal existence.

But I hated writing all the same.

Why was this so?

• Writing was a lonely task; it bored me

• Writing took time; I was busy with ‘important’ stuff

• Writing requires talent; I didn’t have any

• Writing well required special training; I had none

My teachers in high school would cheer me on. They sometimes even coerced me to write for inter-school contests.

“You write well,” they would lie.

They all failed to get me to write. I couldn’t argue with them. I’d only nod, smile, promise them I'd start writing, and then ignore them.  I was just not made to be a writer. I couldn’t be one. And for a very long time, I wasn’t one.

Fast forward to 2009, and I got into the university to study law. But I was so broke that I didn't have a computer or even a reliable internet connection.

In my first year in the university, an essay contest was staged for students in my school. At the prompting of a friend, Hafiz, and despite my fears and self-doubts, I started drafting my entry.

And oh, I did it on old school paper! It was really messy, the ideas disjointed and with lots of crossed-out parts.

Then I typed it on the notepad of my Nokia 6080 phone – the only tech gadget I had. I borrowed a laptop from Hafiz, transferred the draft to it via a Bluetooth device, edited and printed it, and got it ready for submission.

However, at that point, I made up my mind everything was all a waste of time. I was going to tear it up and never look back. I was just too sure my entry would be laughed at before being thrown into the trashcan. It looked too uninspiring to beat any other entry – even if there were a thousand–I was convinced mine was the worst.

I told my friend and I was sure he lied to me again. “It looks good to me,” he said.

I didn't get a chance to say another word when he collected the printed entry from me. He went ahead to submit it.

One month later, the result was out. I won second place.

I was awarded at a well-attended ceremony. I received some books and a certificate of merit. It felt really good.

But that wasn’t the best part for me. The best part was when I received my graded entry and saw the remark of the head of the judging panel, Dr. Mahfouz Adedimeji, a national columnist and senior lecturer at the university.

“This is an impressive entry, and more so coming from a freshman,” it started. “We had dozens of quality entries and this is one of the two that jumped out at us. It was not until the third re-reading that we decided the other should be awarded the first prize.”

You should have seen how those words melted my heart. I couldn’t hold back my tears.

The win encouraged me, but I didn't have a laptop, reliable internet access or other resources I needed to hone my writing skills.

So I improvised. I would type each article on the notepad on my Nokia 6080 phone, save it in my email draft or send it to a borrowed laptop via a Bluetooth device, and then print it to enter essay contests or paste it on one of the student notice boards in my university.

That way, I started writing at least one article every week.

By 2011, I had entered about 100 essay contests, won 11 of them, 2 iPads, two computers, some hundreds of thousands of Naira, sponsored trips and a national conference, and I’d greatly improved my writing skills.

Friends started asking me to teach them how to write and tell them about essay contests they could enter – so they could win too. I would explain the same things to different friends, many times a week.

And soon, I was overwhelmed.

I wanted to turn the problem into a prospect, and so in August 2012, I started a blog where I announced essay contests, and taught how to write.

In 3 years, it’s helped over 100,000 people learn one or two things about writing, and provided them with ample contest opportunities to put their skills to the test.

Today, I’ve not only self-published two books – Your Right To Write and Vertical Writing – that rose to become national bestsellers, my income also mostly comes from writing – freelance writing.

I earn 4 figures monthly – and this is a lot of money in my country – doing what I truly enjoy and would do if money were out of the picture. And it's all thanks to my writing skills.

I fell in love with writing by accident, and now I can’t live without it.