Well, I've loved writing from the very beginning. Going back to my school days, my mother always encouraged great writing and putting my all into my papers. She would give me new and fun books all the time. I specifically remember really starting my love of reading when my mom would order The Boxcar Children books from the school catalogues. The excitement I felt when my teacher would place the cellophane wrapped books on my desk when the orders were delivered was nothing short of the butterflies kids get on Christmas morning. Then, my mom decided to go back to school for her master's degree in education, which led to her staying up late frequently for her studies after we were in bed. My brothers and I would creep downstairs and wanted to stay awake with her. She told us we could stay up just a little longer as long as we were reading with her. She bought us books with topics we loved like Star Wars, Barbie, and NASCAR. She made reading a reward.
As I got older, and the onset of the stressful middle school years began, I found that books were my escape on those anxious Sunday evenings, calming my nerves before I'd have to return to school Monday morning. Fictional stories were where I went when I sat on the playground with no one to play with.
Soon, this of course stemmed into my love of writing. My teachers would notice my love of creative writing. I remember being in the third grade and being nervous about our State test. It was time for the writing portion, and I remember feeling pure happiness when I saw the topic: "You're sitting in class and a bird suddenly flies in through the window. What happens next?" Creative writing. I was so thrilled to get to write my own story that I went to town on that paper and aced the test. My teacher took the paper all over the school and showed it to the other teachers.
I was probably about twelve years old when I laid in bed one night and thought, "You know…I really could write my own book. And I'm going to start." And soon after, my first book began.
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