My love of reading and writing began before I started elementary school. It's always been a part of me. As an adult, I put that love aside for several years while I started my family. When the children got old enough, I once again turned some of my attention to writing.
I can't remember the first book I read. We didn't have a lot of books in our house. I started writing when I was twelve. I began with poetry and then began writing letters to God. I was able to express myself through words on paper that I couldn't say outloud. I remember letting a friend of mine read one of my poems. I was so nervous about it, but he liked it. That gave me the confidence to continue with my writing.
The first book I ever read allll by myself was Dr. Seuss' 'Hop on Pop'. It was one of my favorite books and still is to this day. Though I don't have a copy anymore, I would love to find it again. Just to put it on a shelf and reflect. I also remember getting ahold of some comic books somewhere. Been in love with them ever since! ;)
The way I began to write is the exact same way everyone begins to write. I put pen to paper and thought! I have always been told I had (and still have) an active imagination, didn't have the talent my dad had to draw cartoon submarines. So, naturally, I took the author's route. I create my world's through words...War of the Words I guess.
I was so protective and critical of my writings that I didn't let anyone read them. It wasn't until I got into school and had to write papers...creative writing they called it at the time, that I let anyone lay eyes on my writings. Nine times out of ten I got good marks. In seventh grade, my teacher submitted some of my poetry into a contest (statewide), without my knowledge. Low and behold, I won. That is what began my path into writing.   | | |
I grew up reading The Hardy Boys and The Wizard of Oz series. Then I found my uncle's stash of 1950's and 1960's space operas and sci-fi books; there were garbage bags full of them in the loft above my grandfather's garage.
It was during this period that I tried writing. No luck. I tried again in my early 20's. Same thing. I didn't actually begin writing until I was 32, and it was the hardest thing I ever did. I had to force myself to do it every day.
The first people to read what I wrote were toastmasters - and they actually heard it in speech form. They ganged up on me and told me I should write a book. I listened to them. Wasn't sci-fi that I wrote, though: it was a self-help book.
I really can't remember what I first read but I'm sure as a young teen it was Stephen King ... probably Carrie. I had always been intrigued with Edgar A. Poe, while I attended Edgar A. Poe middle school I learned more about the Poet & became entranced with his work which led me to try my hand at poetry. I believe my friends were the first to have read my work.
One of my favorite books as a child would have to be Dr. Seuss. My writing began with poems when I was 13 years old and was first published a short time later. My grandfather and my parents would have been the first to read my poems.
The first book I remember reading for enjoyment and not as a school assignment was Super Cops by L.H. Whittemore. It was so good that I couldn't wait to see the movie. Unfortunately, the movie did not live up to my expectations. That was probably the first time I experienced the fact books are a better vehicle to stimulate the imagination better than a director's vision put to film. In a book, you can get into the character's head, understand the character's motivation and almost become the character...anticipating what the character will and won't do. In a movie, character development is done through action, facial expressions and dialogue all within a space of 2 to 3 hours.
In my High School English and Creative Writing classes, I wrote police dramas, adventure and science fiction stories, with African American protagonists. The story of the Osguards is my science fiction creation that began as an honors English class writing assignment in 1978. It garnered laughs from both white and black students in the class because they could not fathom African Americans as leaders, especially commanders of complex and intricate spaceships. But I received praise from the teacher for a bold effort. The Osguards' story has remained with me ever since.
My early fan base consisted of former and current Air Force personnel that I flew with in my Air Force career; also, the people in and around Shreveport LA, where I first started writing | | |
Reading has always been my passion. I fell in love with Dr. Seuss and "The Cat in the Hat" and "Make Way for Ducklings" by Robert McCloskey were my younger childhood favorites. Then came Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, The Wind in the Willows, Charlotte's Web, A Wrinkle in Time, The Indian in the Cupboard, and The Westing Game during my later elementary school years.
I first began to write stories for my parents and grandparents since I was an only child and needed to provide entertainment for myself. Then, my elementary school wanted to know if I wanted to join the school paper and write stories for them. I was hooked. However, what really sold me was I entered a contest when I was ten with "The Rocky Mountain News" and they published my article about fishing in the Blue Mesa. I was a celebrity at my school for a day and it made an impact on me because I competed against other classmates. I never thought I would be picked as the winner.
Aside from various readers in school, the first book I really remember sitting down to read was the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. My father owned a compilation of all five books and I read it night and day for a week.
I started writing, or rather dictating, before I started school. In lieu of a bedtime story read from a conventional book I would spend hours telling a story to my mother and then she would read my story to me at bedtime. After this, once I had learned to read and write, I participated in many writing contests at school and finally finished writing my first novel in grade six.
The first people to read what I wrote were people on fictionpress.com. I wasn't comfortable sharing it with people who knew me since I often wrote about things more mature than what my peers read about. While they were reading Babysitter's Club books I was reading Tolkien, Piers Anthony, Madeleine L'Engle, and even some Stephan King. The first people close to me to be exposed to something I wrote were my siblings because I wrote a book for them when I was in grade eight and read it aloud as I went. | | |
The first thing I remember reading was the back of cereal boxes when I was in elementary school. I especially liked Nabisco Shredded Wheat boxes. Cool stuff for a ten year old.
The first stories I wrote were in high school English class. My teacher was not impressed. The first novel I attempted was so bad, I wrote non-fiction for many years: journal articles and magazine columns. My first book was also technical non-fiction. It took time for me to get up the nerve to try fiction again. Now, that's all I want to write. I love storytelling.
The first to read my first writing was Diane, my wife. And she is still the first to read anything I write.
You can find a complete list of my publications at:
http://www.jamesdbest.com/
I was obsessed by the biographies of the great composers - Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt and all of those
I wrote instinctively. I thought every 8 year old had written a novel. I wrote for myself - for entertainment, to work out the world, to escape, about everything I experienced and thought about in life.
My beloved father would read my stories, even when he was tired after long days at work in the clothing factory.
I learned to read on comic books. At an early age, i began wanting to match the words with the colorful pictures and, through the help of "Sesame Street", began to piece the words together. Naturally my first writing was within the comic book genre. it was a Batman tale I wrote at 8 years old, and my classmates read it. It wasn't all that popular, as it had an ending in which Batman lost. It did spark some minor debates, though.
I had deep interest in reading history books and literature pertaining to spirituality. While I was merely seven years old, I pounced upon a copy of "Autobiography of Yogi" by Swami Paramhansa Yogananda Ji. I read books on Indian history and culture before my tenth year.I was inspired by all-round conditions of my people and began expressing my thoughts through poetries both in Hindi and English by the age of 8-9 years.Naturally, my parents were first to read and encouraged me to continue my pursuit for an egalitarian and harmonious world.While I was in a military school, my teachers appreciated my concern for common masses at such a young age. By the age of twenty, I was presenting papers in conferences on gender history, culture, nationalism, globalization etc. and delivering lectures on postmodernism at various research institutes.
I first read Dick and Jane and run spot run, but later graduated to adventure books for kids . Mostly Dave Crockett, Native American stories and I remembering loving to read my world book encyclopedia.
Some of the first things I wrote were songs and poems. Most of my songs I kept to myself and the only writing that I shared were writing assignments for my teachers.
I don't remember what I first read. I just remember that I have always loved to read. My mother used to say I would get so lost in a book she couldn't get my attention.
The first time I realized I could write was in high school. Our English teacher assigned us to write a short story, and I wrote a humorous story. The teacher was so impressed she read it to every one of her English classes. I can still remember how good it felt when students laughed where they were supposed to.
However, I never thought I could make a living as a writer, so I worked in other jobs for awhile, then went into business for myself. All I wrote for many years were business documents and occasional articles for trade journals. I always planned to write "someday." When I had a stroke at the hands of the chiropractor, I realized someday was here. |
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