Shop Talk with Christina A.--My Background

By: Christina Adams

Is it a surprise when a writer says he/she loves to read? That is how it started for me. My arms were full every time I left the library and the next week I would do it again. It wasn't until I was twelve years old that I first started to write. I didn’t have many story ideas, but I would sit in my living room as my five younger siblings played (or fought) around me, writing down, as quickly as I could, everything they were saying. Most of it was dialogue, often several conversations mixed together. When the action had lulled, I would read what I recorded aloud to everyone and we would laugh at the things we said. It got to the point where I had to write incognito because they would start to act up whenever I had a blank piece of paper and a pen. But I loved the quick pace of dialogue and the more I wrote the more story ideas grew inside me until I had to write just to get them out.

Now, years later, I have written four manuscripts for children/young teens and have written short pieces in a variety of genres: adult, children, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, romance, sci-fi and fantasy. My current project is a sci-fi teen novel about a girl who has one week left to live or her whole planet will die. I’m in the editing phase of my first draft and I hope to be starting my second draft soon. When I am not posting here on “Dialogues,” I am posting on my blog Writing, Editing and Other Adventures.

Finding the time to write is always a challenge with my constantly changing schedule. But it all comes down to making the time to do what I love. At a writer’s conference I went to in 2008, Cynthia Lord (Author of Rules, a Newberry Honor Book) said she would get up at 4am so she could write for an hour before she had to get her kids ready for school. Talk about dedication! This has been a challenge for me and a goal I aim for, because no matter how busy I think I am, if I really love to write I could find the time.

So, what about you? When did you first start writing? You can answer either question or comment with one of your own. I love meeting fellow writers! Let's talk shop.