Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
There are two query elements we commonly see, but hope to never see again. They are:
#1
“I’ve been writing since the day I was born with a pencil in my hand.”
Or some such impressive statement about how long you’ve been writing. The corollary is: “I’ve loved writing ever since I can remember.”
The hard truth: It. Doesn’t. Help.
Yes, it tells me something about you. Go ahead and include it if you really feel it’s the most important thing I should know. But understand this: I’ll probably ignore it. It’s just not relevant to the question at hand, which is whether your book is something I should represent.
One of the reasons your lifelong penchant for writing is irrelevant is because plenty of wonderful, talented authors didn’t get published until later in life. Richard Adams published Watership Down in his fifties. Laura Ingalls Wilder published the Little House books in her sixties. Henry Miller was 44 when his first novel was published, Raymond Chandler 51. One of my favorites, Frank McCourt, didn’t publish Angela’s Ashes until he was 66. So really, who cares if you’ve been writing since you were a child? Either you have a saleable book or you don’t, whether you started writing at six or sixty.
#2
“My mother [best friend, husband, Great Aunt Matilda] told me I needed to write my story.”
“For years, all my friends have been telling me I should try to get my work published.”
“God told me to write this book.”
None of this is relevant in a query. It doesn’t help an agent make a decision. Our experience tells us that there is rarely a correlation between how many people told you to write your story, and how good or publishable that story is. And yes, this includes God.
Your friends and relatives might truly love your work. But they most likely don’t know publishing. They don’t understand how high the bar is to get published these days. They may be giving you some valuable and much-needed encouragement, but they are not giving you informed advice.
What about God? Most likely, if you’re feeling strongly called to write your story, and even if you feel God’s telling you to share the message with the world, it still doesn’t mean God has promised you a commercial publishing contract. In my humble opinion, if God truly intends for you to share your book through traditional publishing, he’ll also give you the talent and the persistence to become a good enough writer to make it happen. So letting us know God has called you doesn’t help your case. (Plus, there’s the fact that when we’re dealing with Christian writers, it’s a given that they believe they are called.)
Please, don’t tell agents that others are telling you to get your work published.
With both #1 and #2:
Too many people say these things in their queries, so they always sound cliché. No matter how true these statements are for you, they’ll only bring your query down. Leave them out.
***
Q#1: Since I don’t want to hear it in a query, go ahead and tell me now: How long have you been writing? Did you start when you were five, or fourteen, or were you a late bloomer?
Q#2: Have you played the “all my friends” or the “God” card? How’d that work for you? If you haven’t, go ahead and tell us here: What’s your experience with others or God telling you to seek publication?
I’ve been writing since 1st grade. I did really well in cursive 😉
I’ve been blogging since 2001, when I needed an outlet for my emotions and thoughts after a miscarriage. Including the ones hacked, I’ve written roughly 2000 entries. I’ve had journals since I was a child.
I remember being at a Larry Norman concert (ohhh, that’s how old she is!) and he was telling the story of a certain song. Then he laughed and said, in his ever so dry manner, “I’ve had people tell me that God gave them a song. Then they sang it, and I wanted to ask them why God would give them such a bad song. Was He mad at them?”
Unless the speaker in question is clearly a very Godly person with a true heart connection to the Father, I have always found “God told/gave me …” to be a rather manipulative way to try to curry the approval of something that is less than perfect…or even slightly close to below average. Needless to say, it drives me nuts!
If one feels that God has given them a gift, fine, it will be obvious and should not need announcing. If that person is asked “Where did you get your talent?” then it is fine, and Biblical, to give God the glory.
And it just screams “Un-professional!!”
I love the Larry Norman story 🙂
Q 1: Since I was 10.
Q 2: I’ve never used that card, although I do pray about my research materials, and God always provides, even the most obscure. I love receiving that affirmation.
Yes, I agree, the affirmation just gives so much confidence I don’t think we could get any other way.
1. I invented writing. And the Internet. I also assisted the transition from scrolls…
2. The God card hasn’t really worked for me. I’ve had much better success saying, “Michael Hyatt told me I just HAD to get this into print.”
#1-Ahahahaha!!! You had me believing you for a second!
#2-hmmm, worth a try!
*scrolls* LOL! And now I must clean up a dreadful coffee spit take!
Kathryn, I’m so clueless sometimes, I checked MY screen for coffee.
I know your type, Bill. And you can’t fool me!
😀 ahahhaaa!!! Especially at the first answer!
You’re too funny, Bill.
Thanks for the laugh, Bill. 🙂
I love #1. Thanks for the laugh.
I remember a story I concocted when I was four, complete with flannelgraph pieces. A little girl was looking all over for Jesus and couldn’t find him. Finally she found him in her heart. ‘
I look at my “calling” in a more generalized way than one book. Rather it’s a lifelong realization that God created me with a gift for using words, and we should do what he created us to do for his glory. While I am at last writing novels under traditional contracts,, I’ve done a lot of wordsmithing work in various forms for many years. Now I see I was getting ready all these years. (But, yes, my mother likes my books.)
One of the worst things I said (at my first writers’ conference was, “I have a book in me.” Cecil Murphey, who was at the table, was kind but an agent sitting nearby visibly cringed.
But it was the simple truth, wasn’t it? I guess that’s the sort of thing you tell your best friend and your mother, not a publishing professional, LOL.
1.Age 16 for love and 21 for income. Praying for the day those worlds coexist.
2.Never played the God card, but I have faith in the hand He’s dealt me.
1. Definitely a late bloomer! I’ve always wanted to write. In my younger years, I wrote poetry to express my feelings (never outside my journal, though!). I’ve journaled for years. My story began to take shape about two years ago. I’ve learns tons in that time. The biggest lesson I’ve grasped is that I have a lot more to learn when it comes to writing!
2. No, I’ve never used “the God/family/friend” card in a query. I learned that lesson early on. I do however, tell some people who ask that I believe God gave me the inspiration for my current story.
I was wondering though, can we use the phrase “will send chocolate upon request” in a query?
Exactly which line does that cross?
😉
There is no “requesting” the chocolate, Jennifer. Just send it. 😉
Milk, dark or white? Nuts/raisins?
This is great advice, Rachelle. It’s good to remember the point of a query: to get an agent interested in your book and you as an author now.
I’ve been inventing stories since I knew how to write, and I was always an avid reader. I loved it so much that I pursued degrees in journalism and English.
And as far as a calling, well, I see it as that, yes, but also as a job I’d love to have. I want to share God’s love with others, and if He’ll bless me enough to allow me to do that in such a tangible way, then I would be so privileged.
I think the reason why so many people put #1 in their queries is that they don’t know what else to put in their bio section if they are unpublished. It’s a tricky balance of looking like you have experience, when you don’t have any professional experience!
I’ve been writing stories since the second grade. To this day, my mother thinks my current writing is … well, “not the best I can do” … because I’ve changed genres from the second grade and no longer write short fairy tales. She thinks I’m being untrue to myself and where my true talents lie. I have a feeling if I were to show her one of my stories from the second grade, she’d prefer it over something I’ve written today. (Don’t worry, my writing has in fact gotten better with the years, I promise).
I totally agree with you! One of the things requested in a query letter is your publishing credentials, and when you don’t have any, you at least want them to know you didn’t just pick up the pen yesterday!
Yes, and sometimes certain agencies say in their query submission requirements “tell us when you first became interested in writing.” Well, if you became interested in it when you were seven…so it feels like a Catch 22.
#1. I’ve always been a bit intimidated by people who say, I was born with a silver pen in my hand.
When I was in third grade I entered a poetry contest and won. I wrote songs for my Grandma for a dime a piece. I journaled for the fun of it and never once considered writing a book until I was in my twenties. Even then it was just, huh, I read a lot, I bet I could write something.
I wrote a complete novel in three days. It stunk, made great bonfire material. Figured, that was fun, now I should do something I’m good at. LOL!
God has such a great sense of humor. I’ve been writing with the dream to get published for about eight years, more seriously for about five.
Every time I think of those who’ve been writing so long, I break out in hives. But becoming a writer is not measured in the quantity of years but in the quality of application.
#2. I so agree with early comments that using God for our platform is a complete confusion of roles. We should be the platform for His Glory, not the other way around.
Thanks for the great post, Rachelle!
Love your thoughts, Michelle! They resonate with me.
I found an entry from my 11yr old self that read ‘I’ve just started a book which I’m getting published…’ it was about talking mice and is currently disintegrating in my loft.
As for my mum liking it, she is my most brutal critic!
Thanks for the tips!
I was wondering if you were going to include something about comparing a book to a bestseller in its field. I edit nonfiction proposals, and I’ve lost track of the “Blue Like Jazz” comparisons. Thinking back to my first book proposal in 2007, I know I did the same thing! Ha!
Regarding question two, it has been immensely helpful to learn from my church what I need to write about. By talking with pastors, small group leaders, and small groups in general, I’ve gotten a much better handle on what I need to blog about and write about for my book projects. I firmly believe that God speaks through people, and as I explore a topic in the quiet, I’m often brought back to those conversations with friends in my church.
#1 Who knows? I sure don’t. I do remember insisting that my mother quiz me on learning how to spell “gerbil” because I wanted to write about gerbils. Hmm, never did.
#2. Because of life circumstances, I have heard a zillion times that God has called so-and-so to do such-and-such. ugh – seriously, can’t a person have an inspired thought, have fun doing it, and not feel like it has to be backed by the highest calling in the universe? Sorry 🙁 it’s just something that bugs me and that I am always hearing.
Oh, so my answer to #2 is “no”. But I do give way too much credit to various critters, which I’m sure agents have also heard way too often. I’m so glad I’m reading all this before ever sending out a first query letter!
Q1: I wrote and illustrated my first book for a class assignment in the 3rd grade “Vampires from Space” it wasn’t exactly what my teacher was looking for, but I still got an A.
Q2: The Devil made me do it!! (Just kidding, I’m a Buddhist, it was an evil demi-urge!) I haven’t started shopping for an agent or publisher, yet, but adding these two things never really crossed my mind. I thought it was about pitching the book, not the author. I figured if the book managed to attract interest then someone might want to know something about the author.
Am I wrong in this?
1) I’ve wanted to be an author since I was six. My first-grade teacher read a story I wrote to the class, and they all laughed in all the right places. I was hooked.
2) I have never played the “family loves it/God told me to write it” card. However, most of the people in my family do love most of my books and blog posts and articles.
Many people have told me to seek publication. But this gem came from…someone who shall remain unidentified.
Me: A publisher asked me to work with them exclusively on revisions, but I don’t want to commit until I get an agent. It’s a mid-sized publisher and I’ll be tying my work up with no guarantees of a contract. I’m just not sure I want to do that.
Unidentified Helpful Person: Stop messing around with agents. They don’t help you. They just take your money. Why don’t you send it to the people who published Harry Potter. They’ll publish it for sure. They’ll love it. Just do whatever JK Rowling did.
Me: Yeah. What a great idea. Thanks!
I really have to remember to say, “Great idea, thanks!” whenever anyone gives me obviously clueless advice. It makes them happy and saves a lot of time. 🙂
Glad to read that a person shouldn’t add in a query how long they’ve been writing because I often feel inferior when I read it. Ironically all my life I hated reading and frankly couldn’t understand how people could look at hundreds of pages of teMstygghvbbsixt and actually enjoy it. Wish I could’ve joined the band wagon in high school, it would’ve made my English class more enjoyable.
I decided to pick up and read a book…. *Major paradigm shift* Woah… What happened…i read the whole book and loved it! loved this new found hobby and became obsessed. Literally. I became obsessed with it. Just like that!
Toddler pressed send on my computer. Horribly embarrassing.
😀 aww
DELETE PREVIOUS POST
Starting over…
I’m so glad to read this post. It makes my laughably unimpressive writing journey acceptable in my own mind.
I love reading! Don’t we all?
….Actually we don’t. Which used to be the case for me (Don’t worry, I get to the writing part).
Ironically enough, I used to despise reading. Couldn’t see what the fuss was about reading some text on a page, thought it funny when people said they saw pictures beyond the text.
Until…. I decided to give it a shot and read a whole book.
***Major paradigm shift****
I loved it! So much so that I read anything I could get my hands on. So much that reading them wasn’t enough and I hate to try to write them. I’ve come to understand that reading text in books is like reading numbers in the matrix.
I studied and picked apart books learning the craft and trying it out first hand. Writing has become the balm to my over analytical brain, giving it something to study and explore.
I didn’t have a magical story burning inside me or a sudden inspiration to write, I worked hard to make one up. After several cockamame ideas that I will never tell to anyone out of sheer humiliation I have come up with something that has a real plot, makes sense, and best of all, I’m really into it. It’s like writing the book you’ve always wanted to read.
Win for me! =)
Melissa
My toddler got a hold of my computer on the first post before I’d had the chance to look it over or finish it =(
The first time I wrote was in the fourth grade.
When I read my story to the class, they responded
with “Ooohh!” and the teacher said, “We saved the best for last.” It’s too bad I didn’t get that much encouragement later on–I might’ve started
writing fiction sooner as an adult. My husband,
however, wanted me to write a book about my experiences at girls’ camps. I did.
Answer #1: As a child, I constantly told stories to siblings and friends, but it never crossed my mind to write them down. One day in the school library, a classmate mentioned she had written a story. Until that moment I hadn’t realized it was possible to write a story down, like in a book. Wow! Talk about a light-bulb moment! I immediately started writing a story about our cats, complete with illustrations.
Answer #2: None of my family or friends work in publishing, so while their opinions might be encouraging, I would never consider their praise something an agent needs to know.
As far as God goes, I have a natural suspicion of anyone claiming to be acting at His direction. It’s like they’re saying, “You have to do this, because God told me so.” That’s a far different thing from saying, “All that I have accomplished, I owe to God’s Grace.”
Short stories and poetry since elementary school, and stopped the poetry when my “poem book” I carried around was stolen from my locker in high school and copies started circulating… 🙂
Owned a bookstore in 2001 and got the fever then for novels.
As far as God’s calling…lol…the way I see it, he opened the way for me by giving me the drive and will, and when the time was right he put the perfect agent and editor in my path. I was blessed!
I started piddling around when I was 10 by writing what happened between Ariel being turned into a human at the end of the movie, and the wedding kiss. Disney’s The Little Mermaid, for those who may not recognize the name.
I’ve been writing seriously to pursue publication since 2007.
As for #2, I’ve never even wanted to say anything like that. Yes my mom tells me I’m that good, and my CP’s too. And I take a certain amount of twisted delight in my CP’s addiction to my current WIP. But I don’t go around broadcasting it and telling it to agents. It’s unprofessional.
Thanks for your honesty in this post.
Q1: I’ve been writing off and on since I was 4th grade (around 10 years old). I remember creating a hardcover book around a girl finding her Cherokee ancestry in 4th grade. Hah. I wrote quite a bit in college and now have been blogging, writing articles to submit, and attending conferences since 2010.
Q2: What you said here is why I don’t usually say “God told me to write this:” “Plus, there’s the fact that when we’re dealing with Christian writers, it’s a given that they believe they are called.” Exactly.
Proving, once again, that I must live in a box, I never considered putting either of those things in a query.
I began writing when I was a teenager to help me cope with the death of my mother. I didn’t pursue it as a career until 2004.
I’ve been writing since before I was born – was actually taking mental notes in my mother’s womb. And God’s definitely told me to write my book. I just wish He would tell me to finish it.
That’s the real calling…. Typing ‘The End’
ha ha
Hee-hee. So, have you heard the call to write those two words yet? 🙂
Still waiting for it to come from upon high.
I scribbled my first story in crayon while my mother worked on a soap opera script.
Neither of us received contract offers.
I was crushed.
I’ve been ‘professionally’ writing for five years, non-stop. Reading, writing, and studying the craft every waking moment. Trying to do everything I can to master my craft.
Hubby says I’m married to my laptop. What can I say? I’ve always loved learning and writing/reading since I was a little girl. Can’t help it.
I’ve never mentioned what you noted above but I hear A LOT of agents get those kinds of queries. It never even crossed my mind when I first started to query years ago. I’m really glad it didn’t cross my mind! LOL.
That’s almost like going on an interview and telling your could-be-boss, “Hey, my mom says I’d be a really great employee for you. She highly recommends me.”
Oy.
hahaha never thought of it that way!
Great analogy! Unless, the person doing the interviewing was your dad…then again.
I’ve been writing since before I could write. I got in SO much trouble for filling every blank sheet of paper with squiggles that kind of looked like writing to me.
I’ve never thought to pull the God card. I mean, isn’t it obvious? ; )
Me, too!
I wrote “cursive” on the fogged up window panes in my bedroom when I was four because I thought the letter my mom was writing to Grandma looked so pretty.
When I was three years old my mother told me I should be a song writer when I grew up because I was always making up rhyming jingles. She didn’t know about my imaginary friend, Georgie Porgie, who lived in an apartment like ours I could see through our windows at night but always told me I had too much imagination. A writer can’t possibly have too much imagination!
I never thought God told me to write anything in particular, though once I awoke with a poem in my mind that was the answer to a prayer I’d fallen asleep praying.
Q 1 — I’ve been writing since I was old enough to write sentences and have been telling stories since I was old enough to talk. I began studying how to write well at the age of fifteen. As you’re well aware, there’s a difference between writing and having a clue about how to do it.
Q 2 — I’ve never played the God card. I haven’t said the “my family / friends / teachers all think I have great talent and should be published” bit either, although I have heard it from my writing students.
Thank you for listing the ages of Laura Ingalls, Frank McCourt, et al. Although I’ve been writing all my life, I’ve only recently decided to pursue publication seriously. A few months ago, I read that anyone over thirty shouldn’t even try. It’s good to know that that statement was incorrect and that there’s hope for us old folks (I’m 51).
Hey, I first subscribed to Writer’s Digest when I was sixteen, so a step behind you. And I’m now 51, too. We are almost twins! 🙂
Almost — I wear glasses too. We may have been separated at birth! 🙂
WOW, you girls are OLD, like Bill’s scrolls!! I am clearly and obviously MUCH young.
I’m 49.
Yes, MUCH young-
…ger.
-er.
It’s sad when you start to lose your faculties. Oh well, you won’t know about that for another couple of years. 🙂
Hahaha! Well played Christine!
Who on Earth said such a horrible thing? Were they saying it sarcastically, just kind of making fun of how many college-age writers are publishing YA? Which by the way leaves me awestruck. I wrote CRAP as a teenager.
No, unfortunately he was serious. I wish I could remember who it was, but he’s probably worth forgetting.
And as for the teenage writing…absolutely! Not only have my writing skills improved exponentially, but my life experience and my more realistic understanding of who I am have enabled me to write more authentic plots and to create characters who are real people rather than idealized fantasy heroes.
God told me to write when I was still in utero. Still writing. Still waiting. Still wondering if it was God or Mom’s heartburn.
I started in kindergarten. Our school had a yearly writing contest, and the best entries would get published in some form or another.
I haven’t used the “all my friends” or “God” card yet. It’s more like, “I know I have writing talent and should just stop procrastinating and tackle a novel already”. Not that an agent would agree with me ;), but I know I could write a novel if I just sat down and did it already.
Thanks for asking! 😉
I had a “Green Eggs and Ham” beginning to writing. After twenty years of saying I couldn’t write and didn’t understand the many people I knew who wrote or wanted to write, I tried my hand at turning a daydream into a short story. After a taste, I was hooked.
I don’t know when I started writing. My mother tells me I started sounding out words when I was two, and she had to censor all the magazines.
I’m pretty sure God has pointed out terrible Christian writing to me, and said, “They heard Me call them to write, but they have trouble hearing me tell them to write _well_. ” I am equally sure He has paused and given me a significant look at that point.
Nope, I’m not slapping a “God-Approved!” label on anything I do unless it’s pretty obviously dadgum glorious.
😀 I love how you put that!
#1 I still have my first story (Grandma saved it). It’s dated 1978 so that would make me 9 years old, possibly 10, at the time.
#2 I can’t recall anyone telling me I should seek publication before I got the Big Idea in my early twenties.
Guess I’m strange because I’ve never used either one of those. I wrote my first “book” in first grade and sent in a lot of awful stuff to poor publishers when I was a teen. I kept interested in writing while I worked at a publishing house in the art dept. and got to be friends with some editors. One became a good friend and wasn’t afraid to cover my stories with red marks. That and taking the ICL course helped me get my first little sales.
Now you know the worst. : )
Yes, I was one of those kids who LOVED phonics and even phonetically marked “To: Mom, Love: Heather” on a plate to commemorate it for all time.
Won an essay contest in 5th grade with something I whipped off that morning. Won quite a few contests. Loved writing. Wrote bleak stuff in college, then wrote for newspapers. Then I got married. Then just wrote poems. Kids finally big enough, wrote my first NaNo and I realized I could do it, I could write a book.
I toy with quitting all the time, but just when I’m teetering on the “why am I wasting my time/energy/life” brink, God gives me an acceptance. Hoping my next big “YES” will come very soon.
But I don’t think I’ve brought any of this stuff up in queries. I’m more concerned w/getting all the “deets” on my MS in there!
Don’t you DARE quit!!!
I’ve written since I was about six or seven. Just wrote my first novel at 39. These comments are funny!
#1–Heck if I know. I remember asking my mom how to spell words because a prince needed to find a key to rescue a princess. Does that answer the question?
#2–No.
🙂 Loved the post!
I never attempted to write a novel until my husband bought me a laptop for my 40th birthday. Probably not something I should share in a query, either. I do have a degree in Journalism, so I was always a writer at heart, but I never believed I had a story in me until I started pouring words out on paper.
God might’ve told me to write a story, but until he tells an agent to represent it or an editor to pick it up, I assume the story is for me or someone close to me. The calling to write is not always the calling to be published. I pray I will be published someday, but not until my work is up to par. My biggest fear–that someday I’ll look at a book with my name on it and cringe.
Robin, you put into words what was in my heart. In trying to be brief, I didn’t know how to put words to those thoughts. Thanks. Glad I’m not the only one who began writing after forty. 🙂
EEEK!! Too old? My first book, a devotional gift book, was published by Harvest House in February just before I turned 72 in June. And it’s only the first, not the last.
#1 I penned my first poem for my grandfather when I was eight. Was first published in a magazine when I was fifty.
#2 God just tells me to write. The rest will take care of itself. But it generally happens in God’s timing.
Interesting comments thread…
I can answer #1 and #2 in the same sentence! My mom says she knew I would be a writer when she read a poem I wrote in first grade.
My career has been in non-fiction: journalism and Bible study. But then I completed my first NaNo a few years ago. Now I waver between Stewart Smalley affirmation and Matt Foley despair. Sometimes I know I’m good enough and people like me, other times I want to chuck it all and live in a van down by the river!
This makes me laugh–my hubby is constantly saying “live in a van down by the river” and no one gets the reference! Just want you to know that I do! Grin.
I agree about the van down by the river! Your husband too?!
And yet…
…don’t you want to know that the person whose book you are evaluating has a commitment to a writing career—not a person with a single manuscript? How do you convey that without saying something about the amount of time you’ve been writing? In my case, since I spent most of my adult life as a civil engineer, not trying to write creatively, I feel it’s important to let an agent or editor know I’ve now been writing creatively for X years (almost 12 now), and have produced Y number of pieces.
Maybe that’s why I’ve not had success through commercial publishing.
I started writing when I was six or so, but I didn’t write seriously until I was about 26. As for people telling me to try to get published… they’re well meaning, but my writing isn’t yet up to par!
I have been writing since I can remember, at least in my head. I told stories or perhaps lies to everyone I met. I kept weaving and weaving out these things, polished off a few novels before college (read: melodramatic, terrible, the stuff of MTV and Bravo) but it was in college at last that I took a hand to true, nonfiction. I still write short stories, but have found renewed stretching in narrative nonfiction, which I think has worked well for me after all those years of kindling.
The God card. More than once, I’m afraid, have I used it. With myself and with others. That said, it was when I finally shit up and told God that I didn’t think I was ready to be published that a few months later my current publisher contacted me. I don’t want to vulgarly say it was cause and effect or, moreover, that it happens to everyone, but for me, it was when I stopped trying to force the work to be God’s that I found, in the quiet, it always was.
Also re: #2, many (most?) agents are probably of a different religion or atheists. They probably wouldn’t see inspiration from an imaginary being as a good sign.
When I was thirteen I got caught passing notes during math class, but the teacher thought what I wrote was pretty stinking hilarious. Did it point to evidence of having birthed some kind of pre-teen embryonic talent as a future writer? Only time will tell, I guess.
I actually started writing about age 14, but stopped around 18. Got married, had kids, realized I had a life now, and didn’t start again until I was 26. I’m 29 and I haven’t stopped.
Regarding Q#1: I have always avoided stating how long I’ve been writing simply because I am 49 and write YA novels and I’ve always been concerned agents might feel I’m too old to relate to the YA base. Do you believe ageism exists in YA publishing?
I’ve been writing ever since I ca–
Just kidding. 😉
Actually, I have been writing for quite a “long” time. Around the age of 8, I remember my grandma was babysitting me and for some reason, I had it in my craw that I wanted to bathe our dog. My grandma told me that we were simply not going to do that. When I kept pushing her, she finally said that she didn’t know how to bathe a dog, so therefore we couldn’t bathe her. I immediately got a piece of paper and wrote my first piece, ‘How To Bathe a Dog’. Haha. Ever since then, I’ve found that writing is something I very, very much enjoy. Knowing what you want to do later in life really helps direct your vision in schooling!