Kickstart Monday - Here you go, Sparky!

                      * Sparkfest! *

It's Day one of the Spark Blogfest! Christine Tyler posed questions about what sparked us to write. What books and authors set us off? And did any of them effect our world view?

Thought provoking questions indeed. I'm sure some of you could answer right away, been reading fiends your whole life, knew from the moment you stuck your first touchy/feely block book in your mouth that you could be a great writer "this stuff writes itself!" I didn't like to be forced to read in school, but I did like to make stuff up. I wrote a good little story about the journey of a gumball from machine to happily ever after at the dump (gum is not very bio-degradable).

Then I started to enjoy reading. I read fantasy and YA (didn't know it was YA back then) and sci fi and on and on. My parents have a library of books, so they were happy to see me join their reading circle. But when my life picked up, I read less.

Until! Once I settled down with a family of my own, I turned to reading again. (I believe my cousin is at this point =) And that's when I thought to myself, I could do this! So two years ago I picked up a story that I outlined during my twenties - because that period of my life was so awesomely hilarious I had to write it down! I finished it and that is how I sparked into writing.

ONE LAST NIGHT

Can you guess which one is me? Yes, I was so excited I had to draw my own "cover." But then I found out you don't usually publish the first book you write. At least I got that out of the way. Sigh.

So it wasn't one particular book or author, there are so many to love! It was that feeling of being immersed in a story. The escape of dull reality into a thrilling, wonderful, moving experience! I wanted to share mine - or a simulated version of it. And once the writing bug bit, I was infected. No turning back now!

What's your story?