Authors: What Got You to Start Writing?

When I was in the second grade, our teacher had us write poems about

"If I Were the President".  Unbeknownst to me, my teacher chose MY poem to go into the Nevada Young Writers of 1983, a book that is published every year with the work teachers send in for their students.  I was presented the book in front of the entire school at an assembly, had my picture taken for the local newspaper, and even got a personally signed letter from the governer of Nevada at the time congratulating me on my acheivement.

I remember thinking why everyone thought my poem was so special.  Let's see if I can remember it...

"If I were the president, I would not steal or start any wars.  I would
throw a big party for the entire country.  Then, I would pick someone
else to be president."

:P  Or something along those lines.  Not very long, but I guess enough
to get my teacher's attention.

After that, I was hooked on writing.  I wrote more stories and poems
growing up and frequently wrote serial stories for my classmates.  I
guess they were my first "crit partners" because they'd smack me around if I showed up to school with nothing new in my stories.  heheheh

I took some creative writing elective classes in school, and some
advanced english classes.  I also deliberately took a typing class to
learn the keyboard.  In my mind, I was preparing myself for my career.
I don't think I ever thought I'd never be an author.  It was always a
dream of mine.  I remember thinking it was going to be damn hard to
break into the industry, but even when I was doing my day to day job,
it was always there in the back of my mind.

I wrote down notes and scenes of THE WOLVERINE AND THE ROSE
(http://www.rebeccagoings.com/books/paranormal/wolvrose.html) while I was on the phone with clients at my job of yesteryear...and on my breaks and lunch hours, I'd be plotting.

It's so wonderful to finally be in a place where I can say I've accomplished my childhood dream.  As a child, I never dreamed of the
New York Times best seller list.  I never dreamed of fortune and fame.
I never wanted to win awards.  All I wanted was to have my books in
bookstores.

I've accomplished that.  The rest is butter.

:)

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com