Creative Writing?

As a youth, my first memorable writing creation was a Thanksgiving poem. I was in second grade and our homework assignment was to write a poem over the weekend. I don't remember if the teacher told us how to write a poem, but I do remember the burden I felt knowing I would need to write a poem by the next Monday.

I tried and tried to come up with a poem but couldn't think of words that rhymed. My dad came to the rescue. He had written all kinds of stories and poems in his life (and still does). I remember, he told me about rhyming words.

It seemed like magic. And Monday morning, I had a poem to take back to school.

Sometimes, parents come in handy. (Thanks, Dad.) Sure it was probably more dad than daughter which  happens (in my experience as a parent) with 95% of homework projects, but it was a great poem.

I wish I had a copy of it.

The second thing I wrote was a play...actually several plays later in grade school. My classmates performed some of them as skits for the entire school.  That was fun.

That year, I wrote a three-act play about teenage love. (Thanks, Mom for keeping it for me--I think.) Never mind, that I hadn't experienced true love. Love to me at that age meant making sure I had a boyfriend, bossing him, and making sure he bought me things. (Don't be judging that tiny girl!) Never mind, that I wasn't a teenager. Never mind that the characters just happened to have the same names as my friends and myself.

Play title: Teen-agers of To-day

Act I Getting ready for the Ball
Act II Going to the Ball
Act III Going home from the Ball

First line: Ding Ding (phone ringing), second line: Hello. Last line:  Kenny says, Well let's get married.

Oh, and I might have been the star of that play or someone with the same name. It's a possibility.

I knew all the way in second grade that I loved writing. When did you fall in love with your creative side? What was the first thing you wrote, painted, crocheted, knitted or (fill in the blank).

Comments

I love your play!

I knew in second grade that I loved it, knew in 4th that I wanted to *be* a writer. I think the bug bites early!
CM said…
I remember writing stories just for fun when I was in 3rd and 4th grade.

Sounds like you got the writing gene from your dad!
Devon Ellington said…
I wrote my first piece at age 6. I always loved writing through school. In college, I got away from it and focused on production, and it took me awhile to circle around back.
Carol Kilgore said…
As far back as I can remember I made up stories. Mostly they lived inside my head. I liked to write, but it took me a long time to realize I should write the stories in my head. Maybe I was a little slow....
Laura S. said…
Yup, that's pretty how much how my stories went when I was younger, lol! Too funny. I love reading my old stuff from when I was little. It's a great ab workout from all the laughing I do!

I remember writing my first poems and stories when I was 7 or 8, but my mom said I was always telling stories to her and my dad and my siblings and our dogs. I don't really remember that, but apparently it was sweet and very comical!
Unknown said…
I can't remember. The first thing I remember writing was fanfic in high school. Good days.
CD
Mason Canyon said…
Great play. I remember entering a writing contest in grade school. But my love of reading started even younger. Have a great weekend.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Hart Johnson said…
Oh, you are TOO CUTE! I love it! My grade school self didn't quite have the umph to write. I fell in love with writing with letters and journals--I have a friend I met at camp and for a decade she and I wrote several letters a week--that extended into poems.

My first book idea was in Jr. High, but I didn't write it... just daydreamed about when it was written. An author was always my dream job, but I didn't have any idea how to go about it, so between age 13 and 25 I probably had a dozen single chapterish starts, but I just didn't have a clue. it's probably because at the time I loved books but in a 'passive, take me on a ride' way--I was always stressed out with any analysis and I hated the idea of plotting the ending from the start--I thought it seemed unnatural and inorganic... I wanted to be INSPIRED.

at 26 I was inspired through half a book, but I never DID get there until I fell in love with Harry Potter and started DISCUSSING all the components, and anticipating future books by looking at past books that I realized there was an underlying puzzle. It caused me to take up fan fiction where I finally learned what the heck went into a completed story.
I wrote some short stories and the rough draft for my book when I was a teen. Still have most of it, too.
Terri Tiffany said…
I think the first story I wrote was in Fourth Grade--a sci-fi one on tablet paper, from there I wrote articles and poems for the school newspaper and a poem for my mom in sixth grade that she gave me when I had my first child.
Jemi Fraser said…
Love it! :) I remember writing a 'tragic' story about a gypsy man mourning the death of his wife. Maybe grade 5 or so. Very dramatic stuff :)
Diane J. said…
LOL, love the play. Sounds like you have a wonderful inspiration in your dad.
Deb Shucka said…
Your play is so much fun! So full of that young girl's spirit. My first writing experiences were keeping a diary, then I moved to poems and short stories, none of which survive - which is probably a good thing. :-)
Tracy said…
JW,
Isn't it so fun to look over earlier writings and wonder whay you were thinking? or perhaps you knew exactly what you were thinking in some cases. Regardless it is fun to look back!
Gail said…
Oh, you have dredged up some memories!

I have never known a time I did not write.

I still remember my first poem:

I have a dog whose name is Shep
When I work he likes to help
And when I play
At my side is where he stays.

Shep was run over week before last
by a driver who was going mighty fast
Beneath the oak tree is where he now lays,
Ever since that mournful day.

True story! Second grade, no career for me.
Hi Teresa .. love the play .. gosh to be young again! I was hopeless at school and so never wrote til I started writing travel letters home from South Africa .. I suspect that's where it partly started.

The letters I write re my mother to family and friends, and the things we talk about are similar to my blog posts, which still amuse.

Quite honestly not sure where it all began - certainly down memory lane!! Amazing that most people started so young .. I did read a lot though .. but the creativity and imagination never came out ..

Cheers Hilary
Mary Aalgaard said…
I was writing and doing plays, too, when I was very young. I brought my sister in on it, and later our cousin.
Unknown said…
I'm not sure how old I was when I was bitten by the bug, but I do remember submitting a poem to a song publisher when I was in fifth grade. They put it to music and asked me for $500. to have it song on the radio. It still hasn't been sung. lol, but Mom played it and we sang it together. Mom's are like that, yeah, they are. :-)

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