Write Where You Are I caught the writing bug when I was ten, when I joined an essay writing contest. The topic was: "Where did you spend summer and what did you do?" I wrote about the summer I spent with my grandparents. I described how grandpa taught me to climb trees, and how soon after that, I discovered how scary it was to climb down from a branch ten feet above the ground. I described how my grandma brewed strong coffee, and how the aroma drifted and lingered throughout their little hut every morning. I described the long walks and spontaneous swims in the rivers I took with my aunts and uncles. It was a simple topic, but it had a tremendous impact on my life. I knew writing was what I wanted to do. And now, nearly 20 years later, I can still hear grandpa's laughter, still smell grandma's coffee, still shiver at the memory of how cold those rivers were. Their little hut is forever etched in my memory. I grew up; now I'm a writer.
Opening a Chapter of Inspiration Served with a Heavy Dose of Reality