My Childhood Writings-28-Day Blog Challenge

I'm participating in the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors and this is our first prompt. The challenge is intended to bring other writers together to share our stories. If you're interested in the challenge, here's a link to their website so you can learn more.

Describe your earliest memory of writing. How did your writing habit/process/career develop?

My earliest memory of creating stories was in elementary school. During fifth grade, I created this series of thrillers. The plots involved this killer who stalked people in the woods (thinking my inspiration was Friday the 13th). The funny thing about the stories was the killer and then later his cousin had the most non-threatening ridiculous names (Mac Aroni and Spud Ghettio).

I had a rough childhood growing up and we didn’t have any money. No money meant clothes from layaway at Kmart, crackers for dinner many nights and a phone that was turned off more than it was turned on. This made it difficult to really have any friends, especially during that awkward middle school phase. My cousin Dana and I would get together and write these stories about the amazing lives we wished we had. I was always beautiful in the stories with a boyfriend who looked like Matt Damon (we were really into the movie School Ties at the time lol) and had a rich family.

My beloved grandmother who raised me at times when my parents couldn’t recently passed away. A large amount of my belongings were at her house and this included many of the stories I had written in middle school and high school. Although most of the plots and dialogue was cringe-worthy (sample lines: “They went to the Orange Pit for lunch, a diner that looked just like the one on 90210.” “Their lips met for the first time. ‘I guess this means you’re my boyfriend now,’ she told him. ‘Definitely,’ he agreed.), I did find a few diamonds in the rough. One of the stories involved a psychic trying to find a lost child and that became my inspiration behind my novel First Visions.

I didn’t write fiction for years and years, so I really have my grandmother to thank for leading me down this path. If I hadn’t found those old stories, I would have never rediscovered my creative outlet (I work as a freelance writer and it becomes difficult at times to become inspired after writing about hemorrhoid treatments).

Thanks for letting me share my story and I can’t wait to read other authors who are participating in the 28 Day Challenge.