Since I was little I've read and I've said many times that reading saved my life. What I really mean is that Reading made my life so much better. I remember when I was young, my family would go to the grocery store and I'd make a bee-line straight toward the comic book racks. Whereas most kids hated going to the grocery story- I loved it. I would get lost in the imaginary worlds that took me away as the shopping carts passed by me. Usually, I would lose track of time and my family would out to the car, realized I was missing and a brother would come yank me away, (not gently I might add) and I'd have to come back next time to finish what I'd been reading.
Time passed and I grew, as did my interests and soon I was reading books that appealed. My brothers had little interest in books and being the youngest, I was left alone to explore what worlds were available at the local library. Like most people, high school brought other interests but my love of reading has never waned and I honestly don't understand why other people don't enjoy it as I do. I know for some of my brothers, reading didn't come easy so for them it was a chore. For me, it's one of the great pleasures in life and truly can't imagine a life without books and the stories they hold.
So...what does all this mean? For me, it says that if you do something enough and enjoy it greatly, at some point you want to contribute to that field with your own stories to tell. I've always had fairly strong imagination but when my first story dropped into my head, it felt like it was time- that my own stories were ready to come to the surface and be told. So I began writing...not overly worried whether I could write well enough or not. That of course, came later but I've discovered I'm a writer, that I enjoy it as much as I do reading. The process can be tough, both psychologically and experientially, but over all, it's a joy.