When

Frequently when you ask people when did they start to write they will answer "As long as I remember I was always writing." This is true for me too. But when did I really start to write is probably a whole different answer.

The line is so elusive that it is almost like chasing something that is not really there.

Because "I was always writing" and the proof is little snippets of writings in my first grade notebooks, short scripts I plan with my friends, some heartbreaking poems about lost or dead pets smeared with tears and the big one, my diary that was started when I was ten years old.

When people moaned and groaned about school writing assignments I was content. For awhile I had a love affair with pens and needed to have 'just' the right one to write with. My handwriting, thanks to my second grade teacher was a source of many compliments and I loved, absolutely loved the feeling of the pen touching paper.

And then I wrote newspaper articles for everyone who would let me. School, town newsletter, professional opinions, you name it.

But all of that did not really amount to being a writer the way I see it today. That shift happened about 4-5 years ago when I joined my first creative writing class. Writing also took a whole different turn for me when I switched languages from Hebrew to English. Strange, I realize, but somehow this combination of writing in a  foreign language and writing to an audience opened something new and exciting.

I am thankful for that change, it brought many hours of pure joy and a new understanding of what does it mean to be writing.