Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Watcha Say Wednesday: Writer Dreams

I've told my story a few times here on Eyes 2 Page. But to summarize, I didn't grow up envisioning myself as a writer. I played around with poems in middle school, but moved past it. It was the story itself that caused me to begin filling a once white Word doc with over 80,000 words. But in that story, I found how much I love to create. It was as if the world had just been opened to me. As if God had slapped me on the forehead and said, "Um, I've been trying to tell you. Pay attention." Now, all other dreams of what I want to be when I grow up, pale in comparison. Which is scary considering how hard it is to survive as an author? I'm a hedge my bets kind of girl, so I'll keep my day job and give up sleep in order to write and dream of one day earning the title - Author.

Which brings us to today's Watcha Say Wednesday. When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? Have you been writing as soon as you could hold a pencil, or was there a moment in your life that shifted your view? Did you make up stories as a kid, or was it a story that had to be told convert you? Did you focus your life around one day becoming an author, or was it a decision made later in life? Or, is writing just something that you "play around" with?

Answer what speaks to you, and ignore the rest. But do tell, I'm quite curious.

13 comments:

  1. I began writing music when I was in high school. Writing is and always has been my passion. I recently transitioned over to literacy because I wanted to take all of my experiences and share them with the world. Words can change lives and I believe that's part of my divine purpose!

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  2. Thought about it as a teen. Actually thought more of doing a comic book. Writing a full novel didn't happen until much, much later.

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  3. In the third grade. I was a shy little kid and my teacher made me write a story that ended up winning a school contest. They sent me to the local college to meet with all the other winners from other schools. I remember being really uncomfortable around all the strange people, but I've loved writing ever since.

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  4. I was terribly shy when I was little. As a result, I had lots of imaginary friends. I'd make up stories in my head all the time about our adventures. I guess those are the earliest stories I ever "wrote". I didn't discover a love for actual writing until later, in high school.

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  5. i always wanted to be a vet. But then i started writing fan fiction with my friends in high school and, well, it was pretty keen.
    So some time around there i suppose the bug took hold

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  6. When I was 15, my love life wasn't going so hot since I was painfully shy, so I decided to write my own fictional romance. I wrote a 50k book that was absolutely horrendous (still have a copy), but it gave me the writing bug. I dabbled after that with outlines and jotting down story ideas, but didn't get serious until I started staying home with my son two years ago.

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  7. I always secretly wanted to be a writer but I never thought that was something I could want. So I pushed it down for several years. I'd say I was 23?? That was eight years ago but I was going through a lot of stuff, personal and otherwise, but only in the past couple of years has everything fallen into place.

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  8. I so admire people who say they've been dreaming of being an author since they were little. Man, I was just treading water most of my childhood and adolescence. I WISH I'd had that kind of focus when I was young. But I didn't.

    For me, I didn't start writing fiction until I was 25, 26, in that range. Until that point I figured my writing urge was supposed to be utilized in a meaningful, productive to the common good kind of way, ie., through journalism. Writing fiction was so frivolous and well, unlikely. Who writes novels for a living?

    Well, somebody must. There sure are a lot of books in the library. There must be other freaks like me out there, I figured. Turns out I was right.

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  9. Aj you're so speaking my lingo here; though I'm quite a bit older than you.

    Most people during my life have told me I was a good writer, but the same people laughed at my dreams. So I focused on a viable career.

    About 5 years ago I found myself fired, displaced from home and family, and totally despondent. I started a short story by way of a journal and it grew to consume my every waking hour until it became a novel. Then three.

    Then, I knew I was a writer. I'm still focused on my career because it pays the bills, and I'm not sure I'll ever be published, but the satisfaction I've gotten out of writing still consumes me.

    I just love to hear young people doing what they can to make their writing dream come true. Well, any dream, for that matter.

    Life may sometimes throw you hurdles, but that true passion never dies.

    ...........dhole

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  10. It took me years to figure it out. Since I went to school for something else, I figured I didn't have the talent or the expertise to do it.

    Then I heard an author speak, and for years she'd written and hidden her work and was unhappy. Then she stopped hiding it and became happier. That week, I started writing my first manuscript.

    That was five years ago. I don't know if I'm happier, but I'm no longer denying what I wanted to do. In that way, I'm more fulfilled.

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  11. I had always had a big imagination. Throughout elementary school, I would always make up stories in my head.

    At the beginning of Jr. High I read my first fantasy novel and fell in love with the genre. That's when I decided I wanted to write one of my own.

    Of course the first novel I wrote sucked, but it was a start. Since then, I've been absolutely addicted to writing. :)

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  12. Like many of the people who commented, I pissed away my teens and twenties -- but it was a confidence issue. I had no idea I could do this if I wanted to. Figuring that out took a long time.

    But I've always been a writer. In my very first job after college, I applied for web production positions and it finally took a recruiter at a large tech firm to tell me, "Sierra, you are a writer. Your resume is totally writing-oriented. I'm going to recommend you for a tech writing job." I couldn't believe it. I had so NOT angled my resume toward writing. But it was there, the whole time.

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  13. No, I haven't been writing since I was holding a pencil. But I've always been creating. As a teacher, i loved coming up with lesson plans and curriculum units and that easily transferred over to writing. :)

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