The earliest writing attempt I can remember is a short story inspired by an oil painting in our living room. The painting was titled “The Three Sisters,” and it depicted the three mountains by the same name in Oregon. My story gave the background of the mountains, describing how three real sisters were turned into mountains after they angered the Great Spirit. Was it any good? I really can’t recall. On the other hand, at least my mom liked it.
I wrote a Shakespearian-type play and numerous poems during my school years. A creative writing teacher in high school was supportive of my early short story attempts, and this fueled my desire to write fiction. It wasn’t until I was in grad school that I first tried writing a novel. College was too intense for any efforts in this regard.
The first short story I remember writing for “publication” to my classmates, because the teacher read it aloud, was in first grade. It dealt with a magic pencil. Whatever it drew became real. That summer, I also started “writing” skits for the slightly older kids in the neighborhood to act out (and charge parents a nickel to see).
When I was in the sixth grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Robinson, asked her students to write a 200-word essay on the back of our weekly quiz papers. She assigned a topic and then gave us fifteen minutes. I always wrote a poem. I’ll always be grateful for her encouragement. The poems were terrible!
I’m surprised I didn’t end up as a screenwriter as I spent my grade school years wrangling my siblings and neighbor kids into putting on shows and carnivals. By junior high, I found I had a knack for writing compositions and even got an A+ from my hard-nosed drama teacher for my paper about Lon Chaney. By high school, I was the feature writer for the school newspaper. The rest is, well, history…
We did not have creative writing in my school system until high school! However, I was a diarist for many years, and my Mom somehow still had one of my diaries many years later. I was also a lengthy letter writer. For an introvert like me, it was easy to share my thoughts and observations of nature in written form. Still is!
I always enjoyed creative writing assignments in school, but I never considered writing as a career. Midlife hits people in different ways. Some buy a sports car. Some run marathons. I decided to write a book. Then another. And another. And another…until I’m now the author of twenty-two novels, five novellas, a children’s chapter book, and more.
Those are our reflections on our early writing journeys. From school assignments to diaries, we covered them all. Did you ever have a writing passion? If so, what sparked it? Please share your comments below!
Love to learn this about all of you and yes I was writing poems and one page stories in elementary school (most were ripped up by my middle-school self in embarrassment) But I did keep on writing and saved a couple high school stories and oddly enough scripts of Ivanhoe and Treasure Island. Awful!
Good morning, Thank you all for sharing this , I really loved reading them all. When I was very young and in grade school one of our teachers would put up a random poster or picture , I remember one of them being of a clown, anyways she would do this once a week and she would have each of us -students write a story about it, it was really neat how each of us had different wrote different stories about them, I always looked forward to writing the story of the random poster or picture our teacher would put up. Ever since I was young I loved writing poems, as I grew older I would write a poem as a tribute for grandparents, aunts or uncles or pets that had passed. I have always loved writing poems. I remember in the 8th grade our English teacher would have us memorize a poem and she would have each of us get up in the front of the class and we would recite our poems . Thank you for taking me back some years , I loved to read how each of your started your writing careers. Have a Great day and a great week.
Thank you, everyone, for your comments. And bless those English teachers who forced us reluctant students to memorize poetry and passages. It wasn’t fun at the time, but as an adult I appreciate those snippets of classics that still linger in my brain. This is the forest primeval…
It’s neat to read about all of your early writing experiences – thank you for sharing them!
Love to learn this about all of you and yes I was writing poems and one page stories in elementary school (most were ripped up by my middle-school self in embarrassment) But I did keep on writing and saved a couple high school stories and oddly enough scripts of Ivanhoe and Treasure Island. Awful!
Good morning, Thank you all for sharing this , I really loved reading them all. When I was very young and in grade school one of our teachers would put up a random poster or picture , I remember one of them being of a clown, anyways she would do this once a week and she would have each of us -students write a story about it, it was really neat how each of us had different wrote different stories about them, I always looked forward to writing the story of the random poster or picture our teacher would put up. Ever since I was young I loved writing poems, as I grew older I would write a poem as a tribute for grandparents, aunts or uncles or pets that had passed. I have always loved writing poems. I remember in the 8th grade our English teacher would have us memorize a poem and she would have each of us get up in the front of the class and we would recite our poems . Thank you for taking me back some years , I loved to read how each of your started your writing careers. Have a Great day and a great week.
Thank you, everyone, for your comments. And bless those English teachers who forced us reluctant students to memorize poetry and passages. It wasn’t fun at the time, but as an adult I appreciate those snippets of classics that still linger in my brain. This is the forest primeval…
I still have the little stories that I wrote in elementary school.