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 what I'm saying is...
...if you love writing, don’t listen if people tell you to stop.
Write!
