No one inspired me to write, but writer Harlan Ellison terrified me into getting published.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Before I published anything, I dreamed of publication, but I didn't actually write for it. I imagined that writing for an audience was something for fancier people. I aspired, but mostly I wrote for myself. I wrote because it made me happy.
It took me a long time to even dare to envision myself as a writer. I was very uncertain and hesitant and afraid to pursue a creative life.
I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it and experiencing the challenge.
In all honesty, at that time, I never saw myself as an author... I was just a Mom in a state of panic, trying to enter a short story contest to win the prize money in order to keep the lights on in my home.
My great fear of being attacked or trivialized by my contemporaries made me concentrate on what I was trying to do as a writer. It forced me to draw some conclusions that were my own.
I think I became a writer because I didn't know of anything else to do. Maybe some incident from my childhood influenced me.
I've always wanted to have a book published - it was a dream of mine, but the thought of actually writing a book made me feel really sick.
I'm always inspired to write, and it's usually my own life experiences that inspire me.
I was inspired to become a writer by horror movies and science fiction.
I was always attracted and repelled by the idea of being a writer.