First!

Theme for March: Introduction
Tell us your writer’s story.

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It started with Digimon fanfiction.

I’d read a bit of mine to my third grade class (I didn’t know it was fanfiction back then, I thought I was being original), and when I was done… my teacher was aghast at what I had written. From that moment, when I saw my teacher’s terrified face in reaction to my bloody, gory Digimon story, I knew I wanted to continue to entertain/horrify people with more stories.

I suppose if you want to get technical, it started with a “what if?” I was trying to brainstorm ideas to journal about, but all I could think about was the last episode of Digimon I’d watched the previous night. What if, instead of digidestin, there were ninjas and faeries and witches? The eight year old me wanted to explore that “what if?” and make it something tangible. That eight year old me also thought I was the most cleverest thing that ever walked on this Earth.

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From that time until about junior year of high school, I dabbled. I wrote prefaces to stories I never finished. I penned emo poems that I thought were oh so insightful. In fifth grade, I found fanfiction.net and began posting there religiously. I discovered Ella Enchanted, adored it (still do!), and desperately wished I could pen something equally as amazing (still do!)

In middle school, I got another chance to horrify my teachers when I was recruited into the school newspaper as a serial story writer. The first section of the story started off with an epic car crash that resulted in a young girl orphaned at the mere age of seven who was forever scarred by the sight of her beheaded parents. Our sponsor loved it, but when she went to get it approved by principal he wouldn’t allow it to be published in fear that it was too gruesome. He thought that our sponsor had written it, not a student.

I still have the copy of the original newspaper. Where my story is, before they cut it out, there’s a sticky note where the principal wrote: “See me about this story.

It was the scandalous highlight of my prepubescent writing career.

The newspaper sponsor was really enthusiastic about my writing. She sent me a number youth magazines that would publish middle grade kids, but I was young and naïve and didn’t submit anything to them. I wish I had. I wish I could see just how much she was trying to help me, trying to support me. I think she was the first adult to really be enthusiastic for me, to want to help me improve my skills.

If you ever see this Mrs. Watkins, you’re pretty awesome!

I hit a rut once I started high school. I didn’t read as much; I didn’t write as much – and those two things come hand in hand. It’s not that I didn’t have enough time, just that I didn’t… feel like it, I suppose. I was too busy trying to blend in and not feel like such a fish out of water.

So thank goodness I stumbled upon The Mortal Instruments series.

A friend of mine suggested I read it, so I bought it after seeing it in a bookstore. That year was also the first time I took an English AP test, and my teacher had stressed that reading on your free time was essential to improving your scores. It took me a couple of weeks to finally crack it open and read, but once I started I was hooked. I was reminded why I loved reading, and now I had renewed ambition.

I devoured the series quickly, then began extorting book recommendations from my friends. I read hungrily, tearing through book after book after book. And since I practically live on the internet, I began googling authors to find out more about publishing. I read blogs, I scoured FAQs, I shamelessly stalked authors on twitter. I even started shooting book reviews on youtube.

I kept reading; I kept researching; I kept writing. For once, I actually managed to finish an original novel. And then another. And then another.

And now, I am here.

So, hey there everyone! My name is Sandy, and I’m going to be a writer when I grow up.