Wednesday, January 8, 2020

POE, ET AL


It’s the
INSECURE WRITER’S SUPPORT GROUP
BLOG DAY

IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and is a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writing life.
The first Wednesday (2nd this month) of each month, a question is posted that members can answer in their blog post. These questions may prompt you to share insight or a personal experience or story. The question is optional.
January 8 question: what started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher, coach, spouse, friend, or parent? Or did you suddenly just “know” you wanted to write? It’s all about connecting

The awesome co-hosts for todays posting are T. Powell Coltrin, Victoria Marie Lees, Stephen Tremp, Renee Scattergood, and J.H. Moncrieff!

First...
Happy New Year! And congratulations to the winners of the DecemberWEP + IWSG Writing Challenge!

Now me...
My love of writing all started when I was ten...
Influenced by two men: Poe and Rathbone...
I often feigned being sick to stay home from school..
I did it so well...
That my mother believed me...
And, I got a free pass...
Well, not so free...
My mother insisted I stay in bed all day...
And I don’t know whether she wanted to teach me a lesson...
Entertain me...
Or scare me to keep me from doing it...
But no sooner had the school bell rung...
Out came the phonograph...
And a stack of 33 1/3 albums.
Often it was  Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain

And then Basil Rathbone narrating 
"The Raven".

I listened to Basil so many times...
That I knew every word of that poem...
And every inflection of his performance.
I actually performed “The Raven” in school one time for extra credit.
And oh, how I inflected.
I guess no one was surprised...
When doing voiceovers became one of my vocations. 
At ten I also started reading Poe...
I loved all his somber, foreboding literary tones:
 "Masque of the Red Death,"Annabel Lee," "The Telltale Heart", etc.
Years later...
I channeled all those dark stories into my teenage angst...
Writing dark poems and short stories.
Continuing on to adulthood...
Stephen King satisfied my need to be creeped out. 
(currently reading DOCTOR SLEEP. LOve it!!)
As for me and my writing?
I have written Supernatural Thrillers...
But...
Ten years ago...
Something in me shifted ...
And I moved on to writing  humorous women’s fiction... 
I know! Go figure, right?
If I had to choose just one genre I love to write...
Hmm?I couldn’t!
Love then both!
So?
How did your writing journey start?
And how many turns have you taken, if any?

Always,
Em-Musing