I distinctly remember that I could not write stories, nor could I spell. I had long since decided that I could not write by the time I left 6th grade!
When it came to creative writing, I remember sitting at my small desk in either 3rd or 4th grade, we had been asked to write a story. Spending most of the allotted time agonizing for ideas, and thinking about what to write, (Sometimes I still have this problem! You too?) I would look everywhere around the room to see something that would hopefully spark an idea. After wasting all my time, I would turn in a paper with, maybe, one line written on it.
As it turns out, it was discovered that I am dyslexic. It manifested most in my reading. Everything would get turned around in my brain, and I would read "saw" as "was" etc. Reading slowly trying to discern what I was seeing, I never really finished a book. Mostly I "improvised" on every book report that I was required to do, reading a little of the front and middle and then reading the ending to get by. I still experience a reversal of letters when I type fast, I have to check my writing carefully. Thank heaven for spell check!
Today, I write constantly, although I can't say that my mind is always full of stories, but I have acquired a system whereby the stories do flow, once I start. That's the way it happened, with my first novel, it sort of 'flowed' from my mind and, nearly, wrote itself! ;) (Of course you know, that is an over exaggeration, since writing is mostly hard work and discipline!)
