My reading and writing career, as it was, began in second grade. This was where being able to read was the major focus of schooling. I don't remember the first book that I picked up, but I do remember the one that made the most impact on me.
I was looking for a book for the weekly "book-it!" program, which promised a coupon for a small pizza in exchange for reading a book cover to cover. The book I'd picked up this week was "The Snarkout Boys and The Avocado of Death" by Danial Pinkwater. It was a very fun story about kids who sneak out at night to watch horrible double-feature movies getting involved with an oddball family and trying to stop a plot by aliens to replace the world' Realtors. It was very silly but it was a YA novel, not a kid's book, and I was proud as heck for reading something at a high-school level.
As for beginning to write, it was in that grade that I stared making picture books based on the Ghostbusters cartoon. My teacher, Mrs. Preston, took my pictures and bound them into a little book with a great big Ghostbusters logo on the front, which was several shades of awesome. I think that's where the desire to write really took root.   | | |
Two series come to mind immediately. Both were raggedy copies from a school library somewhere. Both are probably long since out of print. The first was "The SugarCreek Gang" which was a series about a group of boys who found adventures in the SugarCreek neighborhood. One of the main characters was a poet/writer. I, of course, identified with him. The only thing I hated about the books was that there were no girls in them! That shows how ancient they were, I guess. And of course I loved all the Black Stallion stories and still love horses. As a kid I used to read alot of books about animals, both fiction and nonfiction. I still love nature and wildlife. Always will.
I was very curious as a child and I learned to read by myself when I was 3. The available magazines at my grandparents' were Reader's Digest Selections and so I began to discover lots of interesting facts and stories.
I began to write when I was 29. At that time I was a Tangerine Dream Fan Club member and I was invited by another member, the Spaniard David Díaz-Soto, to contribute with articles for a fanzine called ARISTILLUS, based in Jeréz de la Frontera, Spain. His director, Paco Barroso, told me that he liked my pieces about Progressive Rock and I also found out that for me this was easy and relaxing, as well as exciting, because I had to research about topics, and I am very good at it: a nice and likable endeavour.
And some time later, when I was 31, when I had to give a lecture about Werner Herzog, a German filmmaker and I got good reviews. The first ones to read this were some friends I knew from the Cineteca Nacional and they thought my article was interesting and that I had a way with writing. But the publishing waned and I had to wait for a long while. | | |
In school my range of emotions were wild and it was Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights that focused all my unexplored passions. I was threatened, yet again, with detention due to a late essay, my teacher had wrote me off as a failure...until I wrote a monologue based on Heathcliff's love for Cathy. It was the only piece she read out in class. The only moment I sparkled in school and the moment I realised I could write the thoughts and feelings of another. When I left school she thanked me for it, it turned out my ability to touch someone was apparently through the written word.
I learned to read very early, I was probably about 4. I clearly remember the Janet and John books. I couldn't get enough of them. You don't see them about nowadays which is a shame.
I began to write at school. I loved creative writing so the first to read anything I managed to write were my English teachers.
In school my range of emotions were wild and it was Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights that focused all my unexplored passions. I was threatened, yet again, with detention due to a late essay, my teacher had written me off as a failure...until I wrote a monologue based on Heathcliff's love for Cathy. It was the only piece she read out in class. The only moment I sparkled in school and the moment I realised I could write the thoughts and feelings of another. When I left school she thanked me for it, it turned out my ability to touch someone was through the written word.
I began writing in the first grade. It was for a class assignment and I was hooked. I still have the laminated portfolio our teacher made for us that year. "It says I want to be a creative writer when I grow up." Twenty years later, that's still my life's ambition.
The first people to read what I wrote were my teachers, the entire school and parents who skimmed the posters hanging on the hallway (of course I doubt that many people read them) and my family. My grandmother is still a big fan to this day.
The earliest book that I recall reading was Kim by Rudyard Kipling. I don't quite remember how old I was, as now that I think about it, it suddenly seems to be more like a dream than an actual incident. The first things I wrote were very, very short illustrated stories, one which was about how my turtle was stolen by a neighbor, and my version of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, which I just recently came across in some of my mother's old files. I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade, and my family were the first to read these. In junior high school I wrote a lot of poems and short fictional pieces that I shared with my close friends.
My mother spent hours reading to me as a child, and as soon as I could read by myself, she encouraged me to pick up a book. I loved any Enid Blyton tale, and Dr. Doolittle (original book by Hugh Lofting) was my hero.
I have always scribbled short stories and notes, mainly for my own reading pleasure, but I seriously started writing in 2000, when I began a PR career. In 2007, I started Write Choice For You, a copywriting agency based in Vancouver, and I embarked on a full time job as a copywriter. My first audience comprised of my blog followers (for a blog on eco living on a site called today.com, which today is ironically defunct).
I cant remember a time that I didnt read. Although, when I was quite young, I was a big Nancy Drew, and Tolkien fan
The first favorite book that I remember was Robert Graves the Siege and Fall of Troy, a child's version of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
You know, I've tried, to no avail, and can't remember my first book. Although, Ribsy by Beverly Cleary rings a bell. But, then again, so does The Beast With the Red Hands by Sidney Stuart. I have read so many that it’s quite hard to pinpoint. I was also an avid horror comic book collector and have read many graphic stories that were based on actual novels.
Writing seemed to come natural to me and all my life I have written here and there. However, I never really considered myself a writer and chose the engineering route. Getting laid-off in 2008 was when I seriously dove into it and, I guess I became one.
Only a choice few family and friends had read me prior to becoming published. And, since I typically write horror, most weren't all that interested. Not because the writing was bad mind you, but because it scared them.
about the first question... i don't remember that :P i was little and all i remember is that i used to love reading moral stories and how good always beats the evil!
how i began writing is a huge story! i would love it if you read my blog... its all in detail in it! ---> http://personalbonbon.blogspot.com/
but before writing Personal Bonbon i had written one small fictional article which never got published...
then after that article i wrote two poems... out of that two one was for my Tenth year for our farewell party... but they never considered it ...
and who was the first to read what i wrote is still a mystery to be solved! LOL!
I can't recall the first book I read, there were just too many. At an early age I had a voracious appetite for Agatha Christie's books. Mysteries held, and still hold, a wonderful appeal for me.
My mom urged me to write "books" before I ever began school. She would sew blank pages of paper together on her sewing machine and I'd happily fill them. In school I discovered I had a knack for description and began filling notebooks with drabbles.
Much later on I discovered fan fiction and at the urging of friends, wrote some. The feedback I got was amazing. I was totally blown away by what people were saying about my little collections of words. At that point I decided that a full length original fiction was my next step.
I remember reading Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales as a young child. I loved the story of the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. The other story I remember was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. By the time I was 10, I was easily reading 4 to 5 books a week. The first story I wrote was a mystery when I was about 10 years-old. It was about this child in bed seeing a scary shadow come across her wall. I was asked to read the story out loud to my classmates and tried to present it as a scary event. The child hid under the covers and only came out when her dog, the shadowcaster, jumped on the bed and licked her face. |
99761 interviews created
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS