Missy Wilkinson realized she wanted to become a writer after winning a high school essay competition that sent her to Japan.
The competition held by her Colorado high school’s America Japan Society became one of Wilkinson’s first steps on the path of writing professionally. Today Wilkinson is an LSU alumna, published novelist and special sections editor at “The Gambit”
“Writing was always something that came naturally,” Wilkinson said. “Everyone writes, especially in school, so I wrote the essay, not because I wanted to win a writing competition, but because I wanted to go to Japan.”
During her high school career in Colorado, two of her English teachers would frequently tell her she was good at writing.
“In one of my classes, each student had a nickname, such as ‘Skittles,’ which made the class very interesting,” Wilkinson said. “In that class my teacher called me ‘English’ because I was good at writing.”
After graduating from high school, Wilkinson always kept the idea of being a writer in the back of her mind despite being hesitant about what that would mean for the future.
“Being a writer always felt like an unrealistic dream,” Wilkinson said. “It seemed like a gamble to pursue, especially because I lived somewhere outside of a central publication hub and did not have an idea of how other people in this line of work made a living at it.”
After high school Wilkinson said she wanted to move back to her birthplace of Louisiana and never leave again. She attended Tulane for a year, but then she said she realized it was a poor fit for her. Wilkinson selected LSU to receive her English degree.
“My parents met at LSU, and I spent time doing things on campus when I was growing up,” Wilkinson said. “I decided that going to LSU would be a better fit because the English program was still good and I could live with family.”
Had it not been for the now retired director of LSU’s creative writing program David Madden, she may have never become a full-fledged author. Madden took Wilkinson under his wing and had her working with him, leading to her very first publishing job.
“He really became a friend as well as my mentor,” Wilkinson said. “One day after he was reading through my works, he told me ‘You are a writer. There is nothing else for you.’”
Wilkinson said that she never forgot those words because, when Madden told her she was a writer, the words were exactly what she needed to hear to give her the last push to become an author.
After graduating college, Wilkinson worked many different jobs until she landed her full-time job at The Gambit. During her lunch breaks at the publication, she wrote her fourth full length novel “Destroying Angel” which became her first published book, which was released in July 8.
Taking the time to work on a novel while working a full-time job can be tough, Wilkinson said, but the key is setting reasonable goals for herself.
“It is easy to let projects slip, but I would tell myself that if I wrote one sentence I would be pleased,” Wilkinson said. “Sometimes I would only write a single sentence, but other times I would end up writing thousands of words.”
Wilkinson said that any writers who want to make their own novels should first find a job that gives them downtime to work on their own projects. She said that sometimes creativity and making money can be at odds with one another, so having a job that allots downtime is the key to balancing work with personal projects. She also said to never stop writing books because each book will be better and easier to write than the one before.
Wilkinson said for any writers interested in journalism or publication, the trick to success is getting your name and bylines out into the open. She said to start writing wherever you can.
Wilkinson is continuing her work by writing a sequel to “Destroying Angel.”