Anastacia Kelley

Reading and writing weren't a big thing for me when I was younger. As an avid reader and author today, I hate to admit that I used to hate both as a child. I did start reading at four but I was learning but books didn't call to me like they do today. I know that a lot of people have that ONE book that make it all click instanly. I had to read 'The Boxcar Children' by Getrude Chandler Warner when I was 7 for a school assignment. "Oh, well," I thought. "I have to read it or fail." It took about two pages for me to do a complete 180. I wanted to know more about these children. I could actually see myself in the book. Right along with them, I stayed in that old boxcar. I pulled for Henry, Benny, Violet and Jessie. After I had finished reading, I wondered if books could all be like this one. I got to escape to many different worlds and times.  'The Boxcar Children' began my love affair with reading.

Of course, as we get older, tastes change. I loved 'The Babysitter's Club', 'Nancy Drew' and 'Sweet Valley High' when I was in Junior High. High school brought on a curiosity of romance novels. Not too long after high school, did I found a genre that was one of my favorites: Paranormal.

I never thought of writing anything until I was 15 years old. Again, I was tasked with a homework assignment in my English class. We had to either write an essay, poem or short story. We couldn't opt out. I really didn't like writing essays and I wasn't too fond of poetry at that time. I decided to do the short story.

Imagine my surprise when I won 3rd place. I've never written a story in my life yet my teacher saw something in me that I didn't at the time. She said I had potential to be a writer someday. She loved my characters, setting and plot. Shamefully, I really didn't know what she wasn't talking about. I didn't think of plot or settings; I just wrote from the 'movie' I saw in my head.

So, being bitten by the bug, I started writing for fun. Eventually, I started writing poetry and songs and found I was good at it.

Now, I have almost 10 books under my belt and I enjoy every minute of it.

I do often say that there are not enough hours in the day to do all the reading and writing I want. I don't even know if there are enough years for me to get to them all.

Some of my favorite authors are: Maggie Shayne, Diane Mott Davidson, Colleen Falkner, Anne Rice, Stephen King, James Patterson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Tricia Alexander, Janette Oke, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Candace McCarthy just to name a few.

Well, this is a little of my story.

I can't wait to hear about your experiences in reading and writing.