Here is mine:
I don't know exactly when it started for me, maybe I was 5 maybe I was 7. It doesn't really matter, but whenever we took long car rides (almost every weekend to go up North in Michigan), I would stare out the window and make up stories in my head that fit the landscape we were driving through. I didn't write anything down yet. They were stored simply in my brain.
Later on, in fifth grade I had an inspiring teacher who made us use our spelling words to write sentences. I'm not sure if she told us to weave them all into one complete story, but that's what I did. It was my favorite class. I came up with some pretty weird stuff. It's hard to fit in all twenty words ranging from "lint, wallow, comb, heiress, etc" into something that made sense. (I guess it was a great preparation for all the flash fiction in Rachael Harrie's Campaign.) ;) My favorite yarn from that class was the lint ball that ate the school.
Then my Mom and I started writing picture books together. We never got any published, but we had so much fun working on them together. We sat at the kitchen table sharing our imaginations. We probably did more laughing than actual writing. But the experience was priceless, and I was hooked. We started going to local writer's conferences. I took a creative writing class in school and then at the local university as a Saturday class.
Everywhere I went, I took a notebook to jot down ideas or write a quick poem. Every scrap of paper, even my college calculus class notes were covered with thoughts, things I noticed, and story snippets. (Maybe that's why I failed Calculus!)
Eventually, I got married had kids and life kind of got crowded with other duties and sadly my writing went on hold. Then a couple of years ago, I decided I had to make time for writing again. I started up with picture books because my three kids had given me so many wonderful ideas, but I couldn't quite get them right. So instead I worked on an article for a national magazine and to my surprise it was actually published!
It's my only publishing credit to date, but at least I'm writing every day now and I'm loving it! I'm also sharing the fun with my daughters Jess from Write Skate Dream and Alyssa from Life Is Good. Even my 7 year old son Ryan has been inspired to start his own story.
Well that is my Origins story. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear what got you started on this crazy path to crafting stories. And don't forget to check out everyone else's stories too!
Kathy :)
