I'm 18 but if you ever had to search my bag on a trip clothes shopping you'd find all three of the above.
I remember the very first days back at junior school after Christmas, Easter, summer breaks or half terms and the feeling of handling a pen for the first time in weeks. I would mould my fingers around it struggling to remember just how I used to grip the thing. Then I would make the first letter.
My first English class of year 3 after the Christmas holidays is a clear memory. I was sat at the back on an aisle holding this chewed and peeling HB pencil. I began writing: today and saw how the word that I wrote was nothing like English script but far closer to Chinese. I started to cry and leaned across the aisle to my friend, Francesca.
"I've forgotten how to write," I whispered.
"Me too," she replied. "How do I hold this?"
In that respect I've always been pernickety about how my hand writing looks. Even now as I go to University I fret over the height of my letters and the loops of the writing. I swear by Bic Medium pens and practice writing near on every day so that the first weeks back at college aren't spent re-writing the alphabet in uppercase and lower.
I've always been writing stories. The first that I can clearly remember was in year 3 ( it seems like that was the year that everything was happening!) My first 'boyfriend' was a boy called Ian - though this was a different concept of love. My romantic little eight-year old self decided that for valentine's day I'd write a story as a present. It was written and coloured by yours truly on 4 pieces of folded A4 paper. I remember details of it only vaguely but it was some cliché about him and I sailing a boat to a remote island. Nevertheless for an 8 year old it showed dedication to please and in light of the first attempt, I'm very proud to say that I have gotten better.
I've tried my hand at various types of fiction. In my early teens I was hooked on love stories and foster care having poured through the entire Jacqueline Wilson collection.
This was something else that spurred me on. I was about nine when I went to my first book signing to meet Jacqueline Wilson. I queued for 3 hours outside but the excitement made every hour dissipate rather quickly. Arriving at the table where Jacqueline Wilson was, I shook the hand of the assistant beside her rather than handing her my books and then eagerly asked Ms Wilson the question that had been bubbling on my lips for the entire day; Will there be another Tracy Beaker book? She told me no.
"I think we'll just have to stick to watching it on TV."
But low and behold, the next year, she had written Starring Me (the third instalment of the Tracy Beaker 'trilogy') and I can only hope that it was me who persuaded Jacqueline Wilson to do so.
Since those days of abandoned islands and cushy love stories, I've written other forms of fiction.
Year 12; our English coursework was to write a chapter of a dystopian novel. Settling into writing easily and stumbling on many of the finer details, I earned 100%. This was where my creative writing was rekindled.
I've always had a crisis of faith in myself. I don't know how many times I've cried when I've told myself that I wasn't any good at anything. It was hard growing up in a very talented family.
My brothers beat me at most things. I was the oldest so I always set the bar - a level they constantly seemed to override. I was the best at drawing until my oldest brother was better. I was always the trampolining champ of our household until my youngest brother was accepted into the trampoline squad - a team I was too old for. (He was soon doing graceful front somersaults and byranis at national competition level every other weekend.)
I always wanted to be a pop star - as I think everyone does - but when my mum howled at me when I showed off my supposed talent that dream went out the window. Besides we already had a singer in the extended family. Both her and her sister (my cousins) had been amazing tennis players too, challenging a current Wimbledon commentator. Sports was not on the cards for me. Nothing was. I reckon this is why I'm so in love with religion. The church is one of the first places that I felt worthy in. One of the only places I knew I didn't have to be somebody. I just had to be Laura.
Finally, when I had managed full marks in my coursework and people where taking time to read my work and praise me for it, I felt that this was it.
"This is what I'm good at."
And the best thing was that I could just let my mind run. I didn't have to conform to anything, be anyone, do anything the way it HAD to be done because nothing needed to be done that way. The world needs people who can break the constraints. Who can provide different perspectives and I was thrilled that I was one of them. In hindsight, I've always thought I was special that way. I, generally, have never felt my age. Always a lot younger. I've never been overtly girly or fashionable and spent AGES talking to my teddies right up until I was 13. Even nowadays, I still talk to someone. I don't know who they are but I find myself talking aloud and flash back to reality thinking,
"Who am I actually talking to?!"
I've always blamed that eccentricity on falling down a full flight of stairs when I was young but it seems to have done me good in some ways!
I went on this year to achieve in the 90% quartile for my English coursework on a chosen subject for fiction; Autism.
So now I've begun my first children's fiction novel. It's only something little and not entirely extravagant but I need that to begin with. Then I can attempt to build up to the splendour of Harry Potter. (That is hoping I have that much creative reserve).
The story is called 'Marbles' and can be found at movellas.com under my username Loomweaver32 by looking in My Movellas. It a story about two boys, one rich and the other poor, and a few competitions that they have in the search of what each other wants.
I don't think I'm really selling it that all that well but maybe check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. Create an account with movellas to publish a comment or to get involved or simply comment at the bottom of this post to share your thoughts.
Thanks for reading and happy writing! :D
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