My mother was a journalist and avid reader who gave me the love of words -- and an old-fashioned typewriter to bang away on. While I didn't major in writing at college, I did lots of extracurriculars and internships that were writing-focused. Upon graduating, I back-doored it into professional writing by doing corporate communications. Before long, I was writing freelance feature articles on the side, and was eventually able to write full-time.