...When I was writing my first book, I didn’t mean to publish it.
Nor did I have the ambition to become a writer.
I was just burned out with my job as a journalist.
At the time I was working for “Newsweek” and suffering from a profound crisis
of my professional identity.
When I had entered that world, your work ethic and a good story were all that mattered
– you had to have a valid piece of information,
exclusive data for the reader, obtained straight from the horse’s mouth.
Later, though, the media were struck by a serious blow related to the rise of new technologies.
Today the situation is even more acute, as social media act faster and reach much broader
audiences than traditional newspapers or radio stations.
I was working away on my book to save my professional dignity and mental hygiene.
And, as I like to say, so as not to go mad – because all texts, even cover stories,
are currently written from behind your desk, without doing any field research.
I wrote that book for myself. I was playing with the plot.
I didn’t think that a mere ten years later this decision would prove to have turned my life around.
When I finished the novel, crime fiction in Poland was not as popular
or prestigious a genre as it is today.
Quite the contrary – the general opinion was that crime stories were only written
by those hack-writers who were unable to pen a ‘normal’ book.
But I didn’t have a mission or an ego large enough to pose as a ‘real’ writer.
As you can see, in the long run it sometimes pays off to listen to yourself and avoid compromises,
to not let yourself be cut down to fit a certain pattern that is expected from you.
I can now say that leaving my prestigious, safe and well-paid job was the best decision I could
have taken, although I have no idea where I got the strength to survive that time.
I don’t know what my life would look like now if I had failed.
It could all have ended in tears.
I jumped head-first, acting like a complete lunatic.
I guess only young people are capable of doing such things – I probably wouldn’t have the guts
to do it now...
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