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Period: to
Timeline
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The first books I read
I didn't start to truly enjoy reading until 1st grade, I believe. I started to read a lot in my free time, my parents can even recall being proud of me for spending my time in books rather than on my moms phone or the computer. I read some graphic novels, like Smile by Raina Telgemeier, A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon, and Diary of a Whimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. However, I also read my fair share of books that were just words, no pictures, such as Charlotte's Web and How to Steal a Dog. -
The Internet
Eventually, around the middle of 1st grade, I started going on the internet a lot more. I watched a lot of YouTube, and eventually came across videos where people would make their own stories and act them out with toys or drawings. Saying it now, it sounds kind of ridiculous, but I was very interested in the concept as a kid. It inspired me, and made me want to create my own little world to write and expand on for years to come. However, I didn't know how to do that just yet. -
Finally attempting to write
After a long time of watching other people be creative with storytelling and writing, I decided I had to give it a shot. This developed into a long time of me making characters, comics, and even several page long stories for class, or even just for fun. With just a pencil and a journal I could be entranced for hours, writing down anything I could think of. I wrote so many silly high-school dramas and fantasy stories that, of course, weren't masterpieces, but I was having fun, so I didn't care. -
Creative opportunities in class
Honestly, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the teachers I had as a kid. I had so many teachers that shared my love for reading and writing, and gave me plenty of opportunities to express myself in my assignments. I had countless writing assignments where I got to make my own world. I could make up whatever I wanted, and since I was so creative and practiced writing a lot at home, I was getting A's and A+'s on every assignment, which was a big motivator to keep getting better. -
Meeting other writers
After a few years of casual writing and even writing things about interests and series I liked, I started middle school, and met some other writers that were like me. People who were just creative and wanted to get their ideas and thoughts out on paper. We would share our writing, thoughts, ideas, opinions, everything. It was a very eye-opening experience and made me feel more welcomed into a small community. -
Combining my hobbies
Another hobby I've had my entire life is art. I won't talk about it too much, but I've always enjoyed drawing characters and learning anatomy and whatnot. So, when I realized this could correlate with writing, I was motivated beyond belief. I would draw random characters that I thought of and write them a story to go along with their appearance. This is something I still do today. -
A hobby turns full-time
I started devoting 90% of my time to writing and put all my effort into my writing assignments for school. Writing became a priority and I loved learning new techniques and looking in books and other people's writing for inspiration. -
Current day
Over the past few years, it's been relatively the same thing. I spend my free time writing whenever I feel like it and develop my skills overtime. I still love writing and I've especially grown to be interested in analyzing texts, as I find other people's thoughts very interesting, especially if they differ from mine.