How old were you when you started writing stories?  Did you share them with others right away?  If so, what kind of feedback did you get?

I tried my hand at writing stories when I was a kid, I did not get very good feedback though.  Looking back I know my stories were not very good, not very original, and honestly, totally boring.  If I ever get a really good idea I'll try again, but I'm not sure if I have it in me now.

I wrote my first book series when I was six years old called,'The Teddy Bear Olympics,' and I made the covers out of cardboard and drew pictures for the covers. I cut up pieces of paper and stapled them together to make up the books. I think they maybe somewhere in my parent's attic. I did try to use my Petite typewriter, but I could never get all the type right and the pages were too small!

In adult life, I've always written stories then I moved onto travel articles and had a column on a website. I've started several books and never finished them, so I am trying to do that now. With the internet and laptops, things are a little easier, as before I had manuscripts (and still do) in my handwriting filed away.

I still prefer to physically write the first draft, before it gets transcribed. I love actually writing with a pen, there is something about it that I find liberating. My current book, the feedback so far is good as people are asking for the next one, but I am only giving it to people who understand the genre as feedback from people who don't understand the subject matter of the book is not constructive, even if they writers.

That is so cool that you started at 6.  I don't think the idea of writing a story had even entered my mind at that age.  I would love to read it.  It sounds like a very cute story.

I seem to remember starting to write stories when I was about 5th grade. We actually wrote a story in class, illustrated the pages, and sent them off to a publisher. Our stories became hard cover books, and I still have mine to this day. My son recently found it and thought it was neat that mommy made a real book.

My mom told me that I had a vivid imagination when I was young. Maybe I got it from her. However, the first story that I shared with other people was written when I was fourteen. It was a short story telling how the typhoon taught an old rich man a lesson of a lifetime. That time English was my favorite subject,  I even attempted to write a novel in English but I became busy studying. Hopefully, in the future I can publish my stories for real. 

I did creative writing at school but I only started to enjoy writing once I was out of school because I had more information to share. School projects were fantasy and I am not a good fantasy writer but a realist and this is why my novel has taken so long to write. I need all my information to be accurate and waiting for the story to unfold in reality can sometimes take a little long.