Louis Michael: Growing up and growing onwards…
In last week’s column I spoke about coming to the end of my time at university. This week I’m looking back on my time at Latest as this will be my last column with Latest magazine. It all feels cyclical in the most beautiful way.
I started writing for Latest when I was 20. How does that feel like yesterday and a million years ago at the same time? The first time they offered me the position I thought they were joking. They were asking if I wanted to write a weekly column in a magazine. The idea of being trusted with such a responsibility was incomprehensible to me at the time. Who was I, a 20 year old, to talk about life? Nearly two years later I want to express my gratitude for that initial belief because it went on to give me such an incredibly validating experience. I am so grateful to Latest for trusting and supporting my voice, believing that I had something worthwhile to say, and allowing me a place on their pages.
As a young writer, being given such a role was like being handed the Holy Grail. I was a year into an english and creative writing degree and I could already ‘technically’ call myself a professional writer, even if I might have had to get a second job to keep the fridge full — although that’s pretty standard for writers, right?
Having the obligation to write something every week was a blessing in disguise that I’ve been able to appreciate more and more as time has gone on. The self discipline it’s built in me will be something I take forward into every aspect of my life.
So much has happened in the time I’ve been with Latest, and I feel a reconnection as I write this to the person I was when wrote my first ever column.
I remember it was cold and dark outside, as it was just turning to winter. Now, as I write my final column its light and warm outdoors, and summer is just arriving; I think that’s a beautifully fitting pathetic fallacy.
Thank you Latest for allowing me to take my first steps into the writer’s world, I can’t wait to carry on exploring.
