What Inspired Me to Write?

When I was growing up, to be honest, I didn’t like reading. My favorite book was The Plant that Ate the Dirty Socks. Yep, you got it! And I especially liked The Return of the Plant that Ate the Dirty Socks. Still love ‘em too. I read what I had to during school, but that was as far as it went. You may wonder how I am a writer if I never enjoyed reading while I grew up? Here’s your answer: I worked in the music department of a store all throughout high school. The book department manager encouraged me to read the Harry Potter books. At that time, the Goblet of Fire had just been released. I promised her I would read them and bought all four books.

Soon after the purchase, I started college. I don’t remember much of that first semester because my nose was stuck more in the Harry Potter books than my textbooks. I fell in love with the story and its characters.
Now you probably think that I gobbled up books from that point on. Wrong. I only read the 5th, 6th, and 7th HP books. The pivotal point of my writing life and steppingstone to my hopeful (crossing fingers) career as a writer occurred during the summer of 2007. I was bored and really needed something to do. While at Target, I walked passed the book section, and thought maybe I would get a book to read away my boredom. I remembered a book one of my old roommates had discussed with me a year prior—Twilight.

I purchased it, not really expecting much of it. I read the first three books within a couple weeks. I had to wait impatiently for Eclipse to come out, otherwise, I would have finished them in a week. From that moment on, I was a bookworm. I couldn’t get enough of them. Two and a half years later and a slew of books on my reading resume, I had a dream that was the catalyst for my novel. It stuck with me for weeks until one sleepless night I finally plotted out the book. The next day, I started typing away and have been ever since.
I wouldn’t be writing if it weren’t for the Harry Potter books opening up the world of reading to me, or Stephenie Meyer inspiring me to read. It was my love of reading that brought me from being a reader to a writer. I thank all you who write for inspiring me and helping me learn more about writing through reading your stories.
I love writing now and it is what I want to do for the rest of my life. My advice to anyone who desires to write is to read. A lot. And I hope that one day, my works will inspire others to read (or to write) as what happened to me.