Ask HN: How can I transition from being a software engineer to being a writer?

I've been a software engineer in industry for around 5 years. I've recently been spending some of my free time writing essays, letters, and anecdotes, and find the process surprisingly fulfilling. I've always enjoyed writing code, but these days I find myself enjoying the process of eloquently expressing abstract thoughts into English words more than the process of expressing logical ideas into readable, working, testable code.

I've been toying with the idea of taking extended time off to travel, read, and write, and was wondering if I could take advantage of that time off to also attempt a career in writing. I have enough saved up such that a totally failed, reasonably long attempt at doing so would still leave me financially secure, but the main issue is that I have no idea where to start (besides to write, haha). Do you have any suggestions, resources, or advice? Thanks!

To give you a sense, this essay is the longest I've spent on a single piece of written work: https://hackernoon.com/a-personal-story-about-existential-anxiety-and-the-pursuit-of-fulfillment-6c94c9798679