V Leigh’s love of writing is too great to fill the pages of this Xlibris Blog, but we have tried to contain them through this three-part blog contribution. Read on to learn more about her soft spot for writing.
Writing honed through love of books
By the time I entered kindergarten, my mother had been deceased about a year or so. My divorced father then assumed the sole responsibility of purchasing me Little Golden Books from the A&P. These story books became some of my best bedtime friends. I quickly memorized by heart, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldielocks. These two classics emerged as tying competitors as my top two favorites. What youngster wouldn’t relish the necessary voice inflections alone, to captivate his or her imagination. Much later I embraced Cinderella, her glass slipper and the prince. For some reason I seemed to be more attracted to glimpses of things on the spooky side, like the big, bad wolf and family of three burly bears.
By the time I’d matriculated my way to second grade, it was nothing for me to jot down short poems on a whim, tucking them away for later self analysis, or to present to an adult as a spur of the moment “thinking of you”. Prose was slow to grow on me, but I grew to accept the concept by 5th grade. I much admired the gifts of Edgar Allen Poe. His The Raven and Anna Belle Lee took first and second place inside both my head and heart.
As a 6th grader, I took my first stab at writing a play, but cloistered it away until the following year, at which time my new and encouraging 7th grade Homeroom/English teacher, Mrs. C. Mitchell, saw great hope and promise in her beaming student standing before her with a wide smile plastered across her exuberant, 12 year old face, mesmerized by the big, fat red A at the top center of the 1st page of “House of Haunted Bodies.” Imagine what a thrill it was for the novice writer, when slightly younger, neighboring playmates clamored over certain characters, wanting to depict specific parts.
Unlike many children my same age, I actually enjoyed writing letters to relatives for my grandmother, whose eye sight dimmed as she aged. I challenged myself to use an innovative vocabulary, and then dared to define those words when reading them back to her prior to mailing off the letter. How quirky was that?
College proved to be a brave new world for me; a far more level playing field. A lot, if not all of that cliquish, childhood rivalry fell to the way side. I felt like a beautiful butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, freely fluttering about, seeking out which aromatic flower’s intoxicating nectar suited my new needs. I signed up for one creative writing class each summer, but noticed little if any change in my unique writing style. I did run into several fellow students who surpassed me in required English courses, which always included conjugating the verb “to be”, in some form or fashion, my nemesis straight from the depths of Hades.
V Leigh expresses further her love of writing on the succeeding installment of her Xlibris Blog. Read the first and third sequels of her blog.
Discover other Xlibris authors who have expressed their love of writing by sharing their stories on the Xlibris Blog and the Xlibris Indie Authors Roundup. Free writing, editing, and book marketing tips are available on the Xlibris Writer’s Workshop.