Reader Friday: When Did You Decide To Become A Writer?

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When did you decide that you were going to become a writer? Had there been anything holding you back before you made that decision?

12 thoughts on “Reader Friday: When Did You Decide To Become A Writer?

  1. Grade school–what was it–2nd grade when you start learning to string words into sentences? I was hooked. I thought it was amazing that you could string words together like that and make stories.

    Never was nearly so impressed with math. 😎

  2. Fourth grade when I realized writing stories was a thing, when I read The School Story by Andrew Clements. I was hooked. Then in high school when I was applying for college, I rediscovered that writing was a thing, and that people were actually out there to teach you. No one else believed me for a long time, my parents admit that they were just humoring me, but I knew.

  3. In my early 20s, I had a dream that was so incredibly fabulous I had to write it down. That started my love for journal-ling which transpired into writing children’s stories for my kids, and then the discovery of the craft of novel writing. It has been a long, difficult journey…and I have loved (and still do) every minute of it.

  4. Third grade. Gave it up for sports. Then high school, because of my beloved english teacher, Mrs. Bruce. Gave it up again in college after studying with Raymond Carver and not being able to do what he (or some of the gifted students) did. Then again at age 34 after seeing Moonstruck. That time the decision stuck.

  5. I loved books before I could read, and by nine, i started to write and illustrate my own stories. Essay writing was my favourite part of school. In high school, my favourite English teacher wrote across a short story that I should continue to write. I kept his words locked away, but never forgotten, and during the years of my nursing career, I took many creative writing classes. The germ of my debut novel came from a writing exercise in one of those classes. When I finally retired, I completed the novel and started the second. An unexpected but much loved career as grandmother has delayed the completion, but they’re young such a short time. Soon I’ll have more time than I want to finish and keep writing.

  6. In my early 20’s I caught the writing bug, but I didn’t gain enough confidence to make my dreams a reality till I hit 40. Growing up, I viewed authors as literary gods who went on world book tours, with elbow pads on tweed jackets and a pipe gripped between their teeth. In my eyes, they traveled in celebrity circles. A mere mortal like myself couldn’t compete. God himself had blessed authors with the ability to write. How could little ol’ me even think I could do the same? Funny how views change with life experience. 🙂

  7. I’ve written from the time I was 6 or 7 years old, but I didn’t become a fiction writer, not really, until I finally discovered Heinlein’s Rules at the ripe old age of 63. 🙂 MUCH better late than never.

  8. When I was 16. I thought a lot about death back then and I was terrified, mostly because that would meant I would not have any input in this world anymore. Then I tried to think of any way to leave a mark here to say “Hey, I was here too!” and I came up with storytelling since I started to get interested in it. Sadly, I don’t have any story published yet, but if someday I can make someone happy with my stories and they share it with their friends and relatives, it would be worth the effort.

  9. It was in college when I started taking creative writing courses. The hard to please instructor actually liked my writing and was very encouraging. The literature teacher from my Shakespeare class and this instructor, Mr. Staley both wrote stellar recommendations for a scholarship. I didn’t get it and never finished college. I always thought about it but gave up the dream. I didn’t think I could do it. Then after I had to take a early retirement, I decided I was going to do it. Nothing will make me give up the dream now.

  10. Age seven! Really! Even though I’ve had numerous wrong turns, years when I tried to convince myself that it made more sense to do anything else, I’ve always known that I was “meant to be” a writer.

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