I never wanted to do anything but write, but I knew the chances of getting published in the 1970s were slim, so I got a journalism degree. I worked for newspapers for 20+ years, moved to the UK, raised kids, did some other jobs. I had never written serious fiction, just a couple of short stories, until 2009, when I was staying with my mother, who'd had a mild stroke. I was extremely bored and couldn't find anything I wanted to read, so I decided to write a mystery, that being my favorite genre. Before I knew it, I'd written a series of five, none of which impressed an agent or publisher. Sending a query to them and waiting three or four months for a rejection? Meh.
Then I ran across an article in the Daily Mail (very appropriate, given the lyrics to Paperback Writer) about someone who had gone the indie route after falling out with their publisher. I thought, 'hey, I could do that', and after a while getting to grips with the formatting, I published my series. A few copies sold and I wrote some more. Then I started a second series, based on an eccentric relative. Those sold, too. Things were getting serious now, so about two years ago, I decided to try a historical mystery series. It sells better than the other two, which continue to dribble sales in now and then.
I will never get rich, but I'm doing something I love, and it's immensely satisfying.