one writer's beginnings

I've just started reading The Faith of a Writer by Joyce Carol Oates. It's a collection of essays that reflect upon various aspects of writing. In one such essay, Oates revisits the one room schoolhouse she remembers so vividly, the same schoolhouse in which her mother was educated. In another, Oates recalls her first real book, Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and the impact that volume has had on her writing. Over and over, Oates examines the facets of her life that contributed to and helped create the writer she is today. Like Eudora Welty in One Writer's Beginnings, Oates acknowledges that her sense of herself as a writer seemed to begin even before she had ever committed a word to the page.

Think back to your own childhood. When did you begin to feel that urge to create? What was the first book or story that captivated you? Describe your own journey to becoming a writer.

posted by lit lover at 1:39 PM