Ever since I was a little girl, I've had an overactive imagination. An "only child" (I have 5 siblings, but I'm so much younger than all of them that I don't really remember living with any of them in the house), I had to find ways to entertain myself. I didn't have video games, and we only had about 12 channels on our TV.
So I read books. (See my LOVE OF READING post). As I got older and started growing out of my imaginary friends and playing pretend, I learned that the same imagination I was using didn't have to go away. I could write down my stories rather than act them out. Even on the bus to school, a friend and I would write stories and draw illustrations together. I would copy book styles and plotlines and make my own stories out of them. Then, in middle school, some friends and I started writing a joint book based on our lives (we were CONVINCED that a kid in our class was a vampire…). We'd take turns writing, giving ourselves new names, and exaggerating what was happening in our real lives (our crushes actually starting to like us, things like that). We'd write from our own perspectives and passed around a "Confidential" black binder, having fun with continuing each others' stories. When that started to fall apart (another friend was getting jealous because she wasn't included, and some of the guys in our class had made it a mission to get their hands on our binder), I kept writing for myself. What-ifs would run through my mind, and I'd imagine my life as someone else. So I started writing down my own stories, showing them only to one or two close friends. The only way to get these scenarios out of my head was to write them on paper. I remember a study hall in high school when I was vigorously typing at my book. A friend tentatively asked what class I was writing so much for, and he was amazed when I told him that it was for fun. When he came to look at my word count (probably in the 20,000s or so…), he couldn't believe it. Even at work when I have a particularly slow day and I'm waiting for the phone to ring or someone to help, I'll often start running through a story in my head and jot ideas or passages down, whether it's for my blog, a short story, or my (very much slow-moving) novel. Writing is my escape to keep my mind moving forward instead of getting stuck on an idea. I love being able to paint with my words and illicit feelings that I normally hold(way too many of) inside myself. When I want to express myself I do it through writing (just ask my fiance for whom I've written many, many random just-because letters to…). I love writing, and I think I always will. My biggest obstacle that I've been working at overcoming is not stopping when I get stuck or overwhelmed. Those are the moments where it is even more important to just keep the pen (or keyboard) going. Are you a writer? Why do you do it? What made you fall in love with writing and creating new worlds? I'd love to hear your story!
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AuthorJust sharing my passion of reading through my passion of writing. Archives
May 2020
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