A Writer's Story--The Early Years, Part I

The life of a writer can be difficult. If you have a desire to write a book, very rarely are you able to make a living at it. So, most writers are forced to work a "day job" to support their writing habit. Luckily, I've got a great job working in the education and development department at a bank. It pays the bills, and gives me a chance to indulge my creativity at the same time. So, while I'd like to be able to write full time, my job is reasonably fulfilling.

So why do I want to write? If I can't do it all the time, and devote all my attention to it, why bother? It's just something I've got to do. I've wanted to publish a book for as long as I can remember. The earliest tangible memory that I have of writing creatively was in sixth grade.Yep, I remember it well--Scotland Elementary School, Miss. Miller's class. We had to write and design our own magazine. The magazine had to contain an essay, short story, artwork, poems, an ad, and an interview all based on a specific theme. I chose football. Here's a picture of the cover (laid out and designed by yours truly):

Not as great as the cover of the book, but that's why I didn't do it myself! Still, it's okay for a sixth grader in the days before word processing, digital photography, and all the other technical gadgets we have today. And how about that title. I remember I wanted a really cool word that would really describe the game. Mangling. Cool!

The table of contents, complete with the signatures of my proud parents. As I look at this, I'm kind of impressed. We had to do a lot of writing. I can't remember how long we took to complete this project, but I know it took a while. The good grade and great feedback from my teacher and parents help this project stay with me, and nurtured my love of writing. Not only did we get to write, but we also had to illustrate, as demonstrated by this page:



Kind of funky. I guess they're okay for a 12 year old. The only problem is that I don't think my drawing has progressed much past this point. Ah well, peaked as an artist at 12. The writing is pretty good (I picked this page for the pictures, not the poem), which reminds me that I always could write.

So that's it. After this project, I was hooked. I was on my way. This is one of two memories that directly relate to my desire to write. I"ll share the second memory with you in the near future. Peace.