When Did You Know?

The other day I was thinking about my very first attempt at writing books. I'm glad i can remember the actual moment it hit me that I wanted to do this forever.

I think I was about 7. My mom had been running some errands one weekend and brought me home a book called Babysitters Club: Little Sister.

I'm pretty sure it was specifically this one:

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At first I was like

(okay, so maybe there were some black and white sketches every few chapters, but still. It was the first real book I could read all by myself.)

And I remember sitting at the kitchen table, opening to page one and devouring about half the book in one sitting. I was riveted.

I loved Karen, and how each book opened with her talking about how many "twos" she had in her life because of her mixed families. I loved how she had to learn to use her "indoor voice" and "outdoor voice." Overall, I loved being inside her world, and getting taken along on her adventures.

I knew in that moment that I would always love books.

I also knew I wanted to write them. So I immediately tried my hand at my very first book, complete with mispelled words, staples, and illustrations.

When did you know you were going to be a writer???