"Let's write!"

I have tried to put a lot of thought to where I actually began learning how to write and I think, that in my mind, I have finally gone far enough back in time to where it really all began...

My dad used to read to me when I was very young. I would lay in the bottom bunk bed, my older sister on the top, and I'd listen to my dad read. He would read anything from Little House on the Prairie, to the Wizard of OZ, and The Lord of the Rings. When he was finished for the night, my sister would be asleep, but I would usually still be awake. My dad and I had regular talks at this time, he leaning over me to kiss me goodnight and tuck me in the blankets; my famous inquiry to him at this time would be "tell me a story when you were little," hoping that my dad was able to come up with stories on his own. I knew then, even at such a young age, that authors, like the ones that wrote the books my dad and I read together, started their writing by, no doubt, telling a story. Of course my dad had stories about when he was little--- like when he buried a toy truck in the back yard so he wouldn't lose it because he and his family were moving...

I think that really was the beginning. From there, I made the decision that I wanted to be an author. I vowed that I would write a book---or several books--- and someday a little girl and her father would read them together before bedtime. I got started--- it was probably---second grade where I wrote and animated a story about a detective girl named Sally and her sidekick kitten named Whiskers. Naturally, I wanted to share my stories with my neighborhood friends, and they loved it and wanted to write stories of their own. For a while my friends and I would write and read under the shade of my tall plum tree on the side of my home, writing together and reading aloud. But, as most games go when you are in elementray, writing began to get boring to most of my friends. They would much rather play hide-and-seek or play "box-houses" (where you would build houses for your favorite toys out of old boxes and play) or something else. I participated with my friends in their other games, but whenever we were deciding what we should play and I was asked what I wanted to do, I would say, “let’s write!” (Most of the time they would groan or say, “I know what Kassie wants to do…write.”)

I am practically the same way, but now I have a book shoved under my nose; I am constantly reading something. I mastered the art of reading while I walk in Junior High--- and when I get close to an ending in a book or it is a book I am really interested in, it hardly strays from my side. So, I guess the way that I learned how to write is very much connected to my passion for loving to read. I still have those hopes of writing a book, published in the library for a bookworm to read and enjoy. And who knows--- maybe I’ll be the next J.K Rowling. (Just kidding.)