I cannot remember a time when I couldn't read. Obviously I wasn't born knowing how to read, so there must have been one, but I really can't remember it. I remember my mom reading to me when I was very small. I remember being in Kindergarten and first grade and being bored out of my mind as we went over phonetics, because I could read and write. Tying my shoes was still a struggle, but I was way ahead of my classmates when it came to reading.
Reading was such a big deal to me that I have a very clear memory of getting my first library card. I was six. We went to the Aspen Hill library and I got my card and checked out a few books. I went home and sat down at the kitchen table in our 1970's yellow, orange and green kitchen, and read that book for three hours straight. It was a Nancy Drew book, The Hidden Staircase, and I was enthralled. I followed it up with a Hardy Boys book, Hunting for Hidden Gold. That was the beginning of my love of mysteries. My dad is a doctor, and his office was near a the hospital thrift shop. I'd go over there and pick up stacks of books for 10 cents a piece, and then sit up in a tree and read them after school. I had all the old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, plus the Bobbsey Twins and Dana Girls and Cherry Ames and Tom Swift. They all solved mysteries, and took trips all over the world. The Bobbsey Twins went to Hawaii, Nancy Drew to Peru, and Cherry Ames went to be a nurse in England to help bomber pilots during WWII. Of course, by doing so, she lost her doctor boyfriend to some girl who knew her place and stayed home, but I thought Cherry was better off with a dashing bomber pilot anyway. Hey, I never claimed to have been reading literary masterpieces, although I read plenty of those too. I was a very well rounded reader. Or, would read anything you put in front of me, take your pick.
I think I discovered fantasy around third grade. My dad gave me The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, no doubt hoping I'd absorb some Christianity through the C.S. Lewis books. I enjoyed the Narnia stories, but completely missed the Christian symbolism. I just thought Aslan was a cool talking lion. Sorry Dad. I also discovered Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising books around that time and I loved them. There was magic, true, but also ordinary kids who played a huge part in the stories. Then I found Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L'Engle, Andre Norton, Katherine Kurtz and Anne McCaffrey. There was a book called The Girl with the Silver Eyes that made a big impression on me. And there's no doubt that Star Wars and Empire Strikes back, while not books, had a huge influence on me loving SciFi/Fantasy stories.
Interestingly enough given how much I enjoy them now, I don't think I read much in the way of vampire stories when I was younger. I remember liking the Count on Sesame Street, but I also remember being terrified by the space vampire on Buck Rogers. Although that may have been related to my other fear of being trapped in small spaces, because they were trapped on a small space ship with the ugly green alien vampire and could not escape. I know I read Dracula in French class at one point (I know, weird right? Maybe we read a French version and an English version?) but that may have been in high school. I was a huge fan of The Hunger and The Lost Boys in high school, so by then I most definitely liked vampires. Of course, that was during my skulking around in black and listening to Bauhaus and the Sisters of Mercy period, so probably not so shocking. Oh! I know! It was in high school that I first read Interview with the Vampire. Maybe that started it.
But I digress. I was rambling on about books and how they've played such a huge role in my life. My point is, I've read all these wonderful stories over the years, and I think I have some stories of my own to tell. Signing up for a writing class is hopefully just the next step on a journey that I can't even remember starting.
