Inauspicious beginnings for an author!

Oh dear! Looking back at this I wonder why I ever wanted to write for a living.

I couldn't even fill in the details on the
cover of my English language school
book without a capitalisation error and
a spelling mistake! 

I've been clearing out my loft these past few weeks. I'm a total hoarder. I found my old Atari and Spektrum home computers from the 1980s, the skateboard I had as a child the decade before, even my battered old collection of marbles from my junior school days, still in the same denim pencil case I used to keep them in. I could go on and on. Needless to say, after much toil and deliberation (it's not easy for a hoarder to part with things) my loft has now been liberated, and I could almost feel the house sigh with relief after taking all that weight off its shoulders.

Somewhere amidst the decades of dust and memories, I came across a few of my old school books. Among them I found one for English literature, and two for English language. Naturally, I pulled them out of the pile to have a look, wondering if there might be some clue within the pages that would help me to understand why I've always wanted to write books. Apart from a keen interest in electronics, I don't recall being very good at anything in particular, or even interested in much other than the more practical studies such as pottery, woodwork and metalwork. Sadly my English grades bear this out with a D average for English literature, and a slightly more promising B- for English language during my third-form year. The literature grades came as no real surprise as even to this day I'm not a great reader, preferring to create my own stories instead, which flies in the face of the popular belief that all writers love to read.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share a few pages from my school books with you. I suppose I must have been about fourteen years old when I wrote in them. If they've shown me one thing, it's that they've compounded my belief that we can achieve just about anything if we try hard enough and keep going until we get there, no matter how inauspicious our beginnings.

It's a D for English literature...

But I loved reading Enid Blyton!
Ok, so I recall that I left it too late to
to write the book review I was supposed
to write and fell back on a quick review
of something I'd read many
times before and knew by heart.
Sorry Miss!

I still throw in random capital letters
when I'm writing by hand. I have to
concentrate and try really hard not to
for some reason.

I guess that told me!

Sound advice for any writer.
What's wrong with bear mats anyway?

A good story, well told...
Words I have held very dear, and which
I always keep in mind when plotting
and writing my books.

Things are looking up on the English language
front. Hurrah! I think I'll become an author! :o)