My First Book; Writing is a Passion that Starts Young…

My First Book; Writing is a Passion that Starts Young…

My mum was clearing out the attic the other day and she came across the first two books I ever wrote. Well I say wrote, but there is not much in the way of words, I was seven when I made them, but with a reading and writing age of much lower, due to dyslexia. So these are more like exceptionally crude graphic novels, ‘Fruits Basket’ by Natsuki Takaya, they are not. However they are my first endeavour in the world of writing, and now, they are over 25 years old, and just go to show that writing, and love of narrative is a passion that starts early.

I always loved telling, writing and drawing stories, but I was discouraged from writing due to my dyslexia. I recall starting a novel at college, a tale of talking rodents which was very much in the spirit of ‘The Rats of Nimh’ and ‘The Deptford Mice’, but when my flat mate (who was studying English Literature) read them she told me not to continue due to my bad spelling and lack grammar.  

I spent my life being told not to write, and there for doing just that – Not writing. Not writing has never stopped me from seeing stories, and making stories up in my head, and the years have never quelled the longing to share them. So eventually I started to write. For me. I sat down at the PC, and wrote 500 words, which I printed off and left on the printer. A few weeks later my sister found it, read it, and to asked questions, she was hooked, and wanted to read more. So then I thought, well, I’ll write and I’ll work hard and I’ll see what happens. So, now I find myself (a few years later) with a manuscript (which is to be honorary mentioned in the Undiscovered Voices Anthology) that I’m about to start submitting to agents.

So where am I going with this you may be asking? Well, here it is: writing makes me happy. It feels right: - that it’s what I should always have been doing. I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s NOT. Especially if you’re, (like me) hindered by dyslexia. But it’s a passion, and one I’ve denied for a long time. 

So what I'm saying is...

...if you love writing, don’t listen if people tell you to stop.


 Write!