Writing 101: Your Origin Story

Is there a specific book or author who made you want to be a writer? For many who pursue this path, the answer is yes. Lots of authors today can tell you stories about their yesterdays, days filled with reading other people's words...until soon, those days became filled with writing their own. 
And my origin story, like this holiday weekend, begins with V. C. Andrews.

In the Beginning...

I was a bit of a precocious child. I was never much interested in children's books. And besides, I didn't have a whole lot of access to children's books anyway. When I was growing up, I was always the only kid around unless I was in school. Around any of my family members, I was the lone kid.

So it was perfectly natural for me to go off and do things by myself. What, was I going to hang around the adults? No way. And since being by yourself isn't always fun but reading is, I was a reader. 
That's how I discovered V.C. Andrews. It was Thanksgiving, and I was 9. Too early, I know, to read V.C. Andrews. Seriously, don't let your young kids read V.C. Andrews because they may turn out like me (and I'm terrible, quite). But I did read it, and it was Flowers in the Attic. And at the end of the first chapter, my mind was made up. 
I was going to be an author, too.


What inspired you to become an author? Feel free to share your story with me using the comments section. And don't forget to follow me tonight on Twitter, where I'll be live-tweeting the Petals on the Wind movie on Lifetime. It's the sequel to Flowers in the Attic, which of course holds a special place in my heart. 
So join me while I point out all the flaws and get very dramatic about it. Petals on the Wind weekend ends tonight, so nab your copy of The Full Deck while you still can!
Deck of Lies: The Full Deck