Did you ever wonder why you have this need to write? The need to spit out words on to paper without regard to whether someone else will ever read it or not?
When did it start? As a youngster, teen, adult or late in life?
Did you make up stories when you were little?
Did you have an imaginary friend?
We all have our own beginnings, hope you'll drop a comment about yours.
I wrote a little about mine here: My writing origins
I tried writing my first novel at 6 years old. It was terrible, but I loved writing it. I've wanted to tell stories my whole life, and that desire has only gotten stronger with time. My dad was always reading, and my mom wanted to be a writer. I guess growing up in a house that loved the written word so much shaped this part of me.
ReplyDeleteIt seems I've been writing for a very long time but it took me almost as long to figure out that maybe that meant I should be a writer.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested, here's a link to my origin story:
http://mjfifield.blogspot.com/2012/02/origins.html
Enjoy your nap!
I started young, Donna: 6 or 7, right after reading my first sci-fi book "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet". That inspired me so much that I wanted to try and write my own adventures. They were terrible of course, but they were mine.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange that although I had been "reading" since birth (with Mom's assistance for the first couple of years)it was sci-fi that sparked the fire. I never had any desire to write Dick and Jane adventures or to be another Dr. Seuss (although, he comes quite close to being Sci-fi!)
My Mom told me that there was waaay back on my Dad's side there was a newspaper man. Don't know about that, but guess it's possible. What I do remember is my Dad worked night shift a lot and so we didn't see each other that much during the week. I'd leave him notes before I went to school and he'd do the same at night. Going through "stuff" decades later long after his passing . . . I found a file folder of those notes I had written to him. :) He always told me I should be a writer of some sort . . .
ReplyDeleteDonna, I knew since my first memories I wanted to be a writer. Wrote my first screenplay at 6, a murder mystery (no surprise to the people who know my writing now!) and then moved on to poems and stories. I still have them, handwritten in fading pencil on lined paper. It must be something in our genes - a writer gene? I just wish I was one of those writers who had talent in creating art and music too! Those people amaze me. And I read your origins story. LOVED Trixie Belden growing up. Cant find her books in the stores now though. Your tale of a year of RVing must have been life changing in so many ways!
ReplyDeleteI never knew writing was an option or a gift. I've just done it for as long as I can remember! I suppose that's because my mama read to us every night before bed and that fueled our imagination. Storytelling seemed as natural as breathing. I had an imaginary friend at three and over the years, hundreds have joined him!! I wouldn't know how to live any other way!! Those voices in my head are my friends, champions and motivators!! :)
ReplyDeleteI was an only child and my father died when I was four. I lived in Narnia to ease the pain. When I was a little bit older I realised that if you want the stories that YOU want, you have to write them yourself - that's what I've been doing ever since.
ReplyDeleteI wrote loads of poetry and short stories from teenhood. The last 5 years (I am now in my 30's), I've slowed some. I miss it these days, now that life has become stagnant and predictable. The daily grind has gotten to me, I think. Time to find my inner youthful mind.
ReplyDeleteFrom the time I was a wee lad, I told stories to my brothers and sister. Most of them were made up on the spot. I reckon I started writing them down when I was around 10 or 12 - something like that. At last, well into the second century of my life I've finally published my first tale. Oh, and about that imaginary friend? He's still with me! I'd never be able to function without him... at least that's what he tells me.
ReplyDeleteThank you to EVERYONE who commented....I really loved hearing your stories!!
ReplyDeleteMy first memory of wanting to write is very clear in my mind. I was standing in our tiny front yard, beside my father's red Ford pickup truck, wishing I knew how to write down all the thoughts I had in my head. I suppose I was five, maybe four, because I had not yet started first grade (we didn't have kindergarten at our school). I remember having this great desire to write a book that people would read long after I was gone. I'm not even sure how I knew about books at that age, because I don't come from a family of readers.
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