One Event In My Childhood That Had The Greatest Effect On My Writing

My mother's death when I was four, caused me to start reading because it was a quiet activity that I could do by myself. When I discovered books, it was a whole new world that I could lose myself in and I soon decide I wanted to be able to give a child, a teenager or an adult a place to go when they had a rough day. To make a place that was magical, calming, emotional, or happy. (this inspired Cat Republic)

My grandpa would hold me on his lap and tell me stories about Snooty Pig, Stinky the Skunk, Darla the Cow and Honest John Burrows. There were several more characters included in these stories, but these were the few characters that stood out to me. Honest John Burrows was the most un-honest person, but he wasn't a sleeze-ball. He tried to do well, but it never turned out well for him.

Then in elementary school, my friend Shannon C. and I would pretend on the playground we were animals in a world that had no humans and we had HUGE palaces of forests and houses in the sky, or tunnels far under ground. (this inspired parts in Pandorah Series)

We always made up the best stories together, we would pretend we were hawks and we had the most high pitch scream that would drive the campus security crazy. We would pretend we were Queens of the Sky's and run madly around the playground.

In 5th grade, I met my best friend, now my co-author and still my best friend. We got separated by going to two different schools and then met up again in high school and in Freshman year, she got the idea to write a book. At first she started plotting by herself then she felt I was a worthy enough friend to share her ideas with. She invited me to become her co-author and I just let my imagination barriers break, spouting ideas for the story.

With a little push from her bravery to write and the fact my relatives would write articles for newspapers, I started writing ideas that had been manifesting in my mind.

These are the events that had the biggest effect on my writing.