I wrote my first story in 8th grade in a spiral notebook with college ruled lines. I did it in pencil, so that I could erase things when I needed to, and I carried that notebook with me everywhere that year.
I never meant to start writing. This might be a repeat, but my best friend that year was creating a story using everyone in our class as characters. She did something with "me" that I didn't like and she refused to change it when I asked her to do it. It frustrated me so much, that I decided I could write my own story where I could do what I wanted.
Ha! Even back then my characters held the reins, but that's another topic. :-)
What was my first story about? Two teenagers falling in love. There was angst and family drama, and yes, even at that age, I wrote my h/h having sex. I'm sure if I took the time to read my first effort now, I'd be utterly appalled, but hey, I was a kid and no one except my best friend has ever seen that story.
The book is unfinished. I never even made it through the entire notebook. I'm not sure why I stopped. Maybe I didn't know what to do next or maybe school was over for the year or maybe I didn't know how the story ended. Shrug. It doesn't really matter. What matters is this is what gave me the writing bug. This was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Of course, I strayed. It was easier not to write, especially as a kid. Each time, though, someone came along to get me back on the path. I can look back in my life and see it happen again and again, and that's nearly freaky. I mean we're not talking once or twice here, we're talking a good half a dozen times if not more. It makes me wonder, but that's another topic, too.
My final nudge on to the writing path came in 1999. I haven't stopped since, although there have been times I think about it. I'm horribly busy all the time. In essence, I have two full time jobs--writing and the Evil Day Job. I run on coffee (or I did before I quit cold turkey) and vitamins and never get enough sleep. I use all my vacation to write and revise, when once upon a time I used to travel to exotic and fun destinations. And despite this, I keep thinking, wow, I want to tell this story and when am I going to find time to tell this one, and man, I don't want to wait to work on this proposal. :-)
Writing just might be a stronger addiction than the coffee, and to think, it all began because my friend wouldn't change one little thing in her ongoing story. I'm not sure whether or not I should thank her if I ever run into her again. ;-)
