Photo courtesy of Vintage Little People.
Do you remember when you first discovered you wanted to be a writer?
When I was a kid, I used to play with the Fisher Price Little People with my sister. I’d think up a whole plot (kind of like a synopsis) and then I’d act the story out with the people. My sister loved playing with the Little People with me because she loved my stories!
When I was about ten years old, I wrote a book entitled Candyland. It was about a set of twins named Fred and Susan and they find this magical land where everything was made of big, yummy candy! I made my own book cover – a piece of paper colored with purple crayon and the words Candyland were colored with red crayon.
I used to tell people that I didn’t realize that I wanted to be a writer until I was twenty-eight. However, as I look back on my life, there are certain things that I’ve done that indicate that I really should’ve discovered my writing passion way before my late twenties. I’ve always been an avid reader, too, which can sometimes indicate that one is a writer.
Are you a writer? If so, are there writer-type things that you’ve done throughout your life? Share your answers with a comment!
I think it took me about 33 years to realize I’d always wanted to be a writer. (It took me that long to have the patience to really finish a story. I knew I was finaly ready when I lay awake one night thinking about something fun I’d been reading and wondering how it would turn out – and I realized I was thinking about my own book. The writing was finally as much fun as reading!
Kate, thanks for stopping by and commenting. To tell you the truth, when I started, I didn’t have a problem finishing the book – but the books I was writing weren’t very good! 🙁
It’s great that the writing finally became as fun as the reading!
I knew I wanted to be a writer when I figured out I had a love affairs with the IN-doors! Cheers, Karna Bodman (www.karnabodman.com)
Karma, thanks for commenting. I enjoy being indoors during the cold winter months. However, if it’s a nice, pleasant day, I prefer OUTDOORS!
My question is a little bit off topic, but all of us wanna be writers would have an interest in it: when your Christian Fiction book is at last published and placed in a library, would you rather it was placed as fiction books typically are, by alphabetical listing, or in a section especially for Christian fiction genre? As a future librarian, I would really appreciate your opinion. Thanks!
I just did a talk today at International Women’s Day about this very topic. I always say it really hit me around age 23 after i had my first child and I had some time to clack away at the old typewriter, but like you, I’d been making stories up since childhood.
Aww, great story! I’m glad you eventually recognized that you are a writer. 🙂
Victoria, yeah, I’m glad I recognized it, too! 🙂
Tracy, that’s interesting!
LouAnn, that question could also be applied to bookstores, too. I’d imagine if a library had a Christian fiction section, I’d want my book shelved there. However, I was just visiting my library today and they don’t have a CF section – the CF is shelved with the regular fiction.
People ask the same question about African-American novels – should they be shelved with general fiction or in the AA section of the bookstore? I’ve blogged about the AA topic a lot over the years.
I don’t know the exact moment, but it was in elementary school. I do remember one very vivid incident that cemented that goal. I was in the seventh or eighth grade, and my English teacher called me out of another class to give me back a short story he’d graded. He told me I had talent. I remember feeling ecstatic about that!
Gail, that’s wonderful! Actually, I have a similar story to share. I just failed to mention this in my blog post! When I was a freshman in college, the professor would take a week off twice a semester for private student/teacher conferences. He told me that I needed to change my major from Finance to English because I was a good writer. Needless to say, I didn’t listen to him (I was about 18 at the time) and didn’t discover my desire to write for publication until I was about 28.