How it all started...

How did all of this start?  It’s funny, really.  I can’t remember a time that I didn’t write, but I know there had to be.  I didn’t come out of the womb with a pen in my hand and the ability to spin stories from nothing.  I try to think back and remember what sparked it, the one event that made me write a story or poem, but I can’t.  I can’t even remember the first thing I wrote.  They weren’t there. And poof!  They were.  I remember writing as early as fifth grade with a certainty, but beyond that the details are fuzzy.

I grew up in the country, and I mean the country.  The grocery store was at least half an hour away, and our closest neighbors were half a mile maybe more.  We were surrounded by fields and farms.  Our house was this amazing two-story brick structure built before the civil war.  I loved it.  I still love it.  It’s been years since I drove out there just to check it out.  Honestly, the last time I did it made me kind of sad.  We had 5 acres, lots of pine trees, a long gravel drive, and barns.  Yes, more than one.  They were old and hadn’t been cared for and my family tore most of them down.  They updated the house and improved the property but that didn’t take away from the feel of it all.  It was great.  And I am by no means a country girl, but there’s something to be said for the history there.

I would spend hours outside climbing through the barns and wandering through wooded areas.  I remember vividly climbing into the loft of the only barn left on the property and curling up with my pen and paper.  I wrote a poem that day all about the things that could have happened there.  I still have it somewhere.  Another time I sat in our hallway by the huge grandfather clock and wrote a poem about that.  It was mostly poetry when I was little.  But there were always stories happening in my head.  I’ve always had an active imagination, what can I say?  My Barbies had detailed lives and personalities.  I’m pretty sure I talked to myself a lot as a child.    

Writing for me is a stress reliever.  I worry a lot, too much if you ask my boyfriend.  When I’m writing I get to forget all of my worries for just a while, and spend time in someone else’s world. 

So, how did it all start?  I guess I can’t say for sure.  It just did.  It’s been a part of my life for along time.  And it will be for a long time to come.