How I Became a Writer. Part 2

Okay, so while all of my writer ideas were collecting dust on a shelf in my brain. (no I don't dust, too many allergies) I was telling my children stories and thinking I should dabble in the realm of childrens books. I wrote a few but they would be shelved as soon as they were finished.

One morning I was watching an early morning news show. They were interviewing an author and the author said that if you want to be a writer every sentence must be completely new and have never been read before. Talk about a load of mind blowing discouragement. It was those words that rattled in my brain everytime I had an idea come up or the desire to write. I basically talked myself out of ever writing again.

I was busy with a family and volunteering work so the writing bug was sated for a while. (This is the part where Harry Potter comes in) We moved from Provo to Tooele and I was left w/o any volunteer work to do, and no friends. I found the library and dove into the world of reading to pass my time. I hit a point that there were no more books that were appealing to me and I had just finished Harry Potter #5 and was waiting on pins and needles for #6 to come out.

There were no books in the house or Library that I hadn't read. (that I wanted to read, I didn't read the whole library) So I pulled out my two old folders and bag of my old writing and began to read them to pass the time. I pulled out a 12 page story called "The Secret of Amalathea" and read it. As I finished the small exerpt that I had written a long time ago the world of Amalathea opened up in my mind and I thought "I can work on this, I can finish the story." So I sat at the old computer and with my limited four finger typing I wrote 101,000 words before I typed "The End". Thus a very ameturish writer was born again.

How I Became a Writer.

It actually started in fifth grade when I found a collection of short science fiction stories in ny school library. I checked them out over and over again. I decided, at that time, I wanted to write stories just like that myself. Add to that a really old annime called "Battle of the Planets" and I was sold on the scifi genre.

I was enamored by what I now know as the character based sci fi so much so I created my own scenes with the established characters in my head. When I was in high school I met a freind who had written a 300 page novel. (Loved the book still do.) I decided if she could do it I could too and a writer was born. I started as a sophomore and finished the 189 page handwritten book just a few days before summer break my junior year. The book was based LOOSELY on the anime I loved so much as a kid.

Forward a few years and I began to re-write that book in my extreemely rare free time. I learned many things as I re-wrote it. Still not enough to really write a publishable book but I was begining to really be a writer.

Then I got married and had three kids in seven years. Writing was put on hold as I raised my kids. Add two more kids in that span of fifteen years and needless to say I read a ton of books but did not work on my own writing at all.

Everything changed about five years ago. I blame Harry Potter, but I'll let you decide.