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Friday, August 5, 2011

The First Spark


As it is a dreary (desperately needed) rainy day, I’m feeling up for something nostalgic.
So I’m posing the question: What book first turned you on to writing? Or reading, if that’s your preference.

I can’t remember exactly when it was I first wanted to write. I’ve always loved making up stories. When I was in first grade, people would ask what my favorite subject was and I would say “writing.” Then they’d ask what my least favorite was and I would say “spelling.” I found it incredibly confusing that people would always laugh.

The first book I remember really falling in love with though, was The Grand Escape by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.



I was probably eight years old the first time I read this juvenile book, and ten years the last time, but for some reason, this cute comedic story about two runaway house cats really stuck with me. I had to have read it at least six times in a row. And then I went out and bought the sequels. I think I'd memorized half the dialogue. If there was ever a book that made me want to be a writer, this was it. 

I started writing my own "cat adventure stories," trying to re-create The Grand Escape feelWhen people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said “a writer, like Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.” So I guess you could say she was my first role model... that wasn't fictional :P 

6 comments:

  1. That's so awesome! The book that made me want to write was SongQuest by Katherine Roberts. I LOVED that book and wrote my own sequel to it (even though she already had a couple). :) That's definitely what set my writing career in motion.

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  2. Easy - the Doll in the Garden. It was a MG ghost story that I would get and return to the library every two weeks, because I was too scared to finish the freaking thing.

    As an adult now, it rocks!

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  3. I think Anne of Green Gables was the book that made me want to be a writer. I loved so many stories before that, but that one was magic.

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  4. You're going to laugh, but the book that made me consider writing young adult was Gossip Girl (book, not show). It was fun, snarky, and I thought "I can write something like this!"

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  5. The book that first turned me on to writing was Stephen King's The Stand. By the time I finished reading it, I really believed the characters were real people, and I thought 'I could do that!'

    Ellie Garratt

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  6. I wanted to write stories before I knew how to spell or read! I'd say my stories out loud and my mom would type them on the typewriter.

    Also, you’ve been given the Liebster Blog Award on my blog post today http://bit.ly/nnawbA
    Congrats! :)

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