I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I took the long way around.
My first job at SPH wasn’t in a newsroom. I was hired as a part-time customer service officer, and the first lines I ever wrote professionally were three-line property ads for the classifieds.
I edged closer over time: a short but eye-opening internship with The New Paper, followed years later by a return to writing as a magazine journalist at Her World. I then stepped away from writing to build a floral brand, a role I stayed in for more than a decade.
Journalism taught me that every lived experience is a story. And it shaped how I later observed my own life, especially in recent years as a stay-at-home mother. To look closely, stay with the uncomfortable moments, and figure out the why. Eventually, these observations and feelings translated into a story.
For years, I told myself I had to focus on writing that actually paid the bills. Practicality came first, and the dream took a back seat. Until I became a SAHM and was no longer expected to “work.” Suddenly, it became possible to sit still and write something just for myself, no client, no assignment, no brief.
Making the shortlist for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2026 is deeply meaningful, affirming that the long way wasn’t the wrong way.
Honestly, none of this would have been possible without my biggest supporter, my husband K, who told me not to worry about the bills for now, to just write, and to let my writing be the focus around which our family life temporarily rearranged itself.
Now, it’s straight into edits before 2026 publication.
JACLYN LIM 