by Eric Goudie

Created on: March 24, 2009   Last Updated: September 18, 2010

I have been a writer my entire life. It’s a compulsion, an addiction, an uncontrollable part of who I am. When I have something to say it must be said, and while I’m clumsy, self-conscious and easily flustered in casual conversation when I can put those words down on paper it’s like a fire within me springs to life.

I first joined Helium in the fall of 2008, wrote several articles, became a Channel Manager (then called a Steward), an editor and a How-to Guide builder. I still worked full time running my own business, so the hours spent on Helium were too brief for me to amass a very large body of work, and over the months my involvement dwindled to no more than a few hours of work on the site every week.

In June of 2010 my company finally went under, and a few weeks later the only other job prospect that I realistically could have excelled at came and went. My personal life suffered a major blow at this time as well when my wife and I found out that we had lost a pregnancy, dealing a severe blow to our chances of ever having children.

So over the course of the summer I slowly found myself turning back to Helium, not out of a need to get things off my chest but out of a need to do something, anything, that was of value.

So I wrote. I wrote about what I new, I wrote about what I wanted to write about, and I wrote as much as I could. I continue to write as vociferously as I can, both to earn money and to recapture the prowess as a writer that I once enjoyed.

I know that I’ll never get rich writing for Helium – I’ll probably never even make enough to pay more than half of the household bills. But at least I can spend my days doing something honest, productive and that’s a better use of my time than flipping burgers.

My expectations mellowed a lot over the summer of 2010. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot older as well. Oddly enough I feel good about myself, my life and where I’m heading – like the blinders have been painfully ripped off of my face and I can now begin to see a new way forward.

I’ll probably never reach the levels of fame and fortune I once thought I would, but oddly enough I don’t think I mind that. I am a writer. Every day when I sit down, log on and begin to work I get to write. Finally I have found success.

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