Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thoughts for Thursdays... On Wednesdays!

Okay, I'm still wrestling with the Wednesday title for this feature, so until I figure, it will be the above :D

Today's quote:

"When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer." Isaac Bashevis Singer

Well, in my case, it was when I was little girl, and it wasn't a so much a liar as it was, "well, she has a vivid imagination", and "I have no idea how she comes up with these things". ;)

I've always loved to spin stories, especially ghost/mystery stories, vampire stories, always involving teens or preteens, though these days the scary elements have disappeared. I used to love to scare my cousins at our sleepovers with grim, haunting stories that used to keep us up at night, shivering under the covers at 3 a.m., positive we were hearing someone slowly creaking up the stairs towards us, or seeing something peering in the window with glowing red eyes.

At the time, I didn't think of it as story telling, or even that I might want to be a writer someday (in fact, I was pretty sure I was going to be a lawyer). It was just natural to me. It was what I did, a part of who I was, and I thought everyone else did the same.

So when I was told that I had a vivid imagination, I wasn't sure if I was being insulted or not.

To this day, I guess I'm still telling myself these little made up tales, but it's good to know that the "vivid" imagination seems to be leading somewhere. "She's a writer" sounds much nicer than "she's a liar".

Now it's your turn. Were you the type to always tell yourself (and others) stories? Were you labelled as a "liar" (:D) or like me, told it was just an overactive imagination? Did you know you would one day be a writer?


18 comments:

Lindsay said...

I was always called the child with the vivid imagination. I think my family always knew I'd do something creative, since I used to like to dance and draw etc.
Maybe it was my vivid stories about my imaginary friend that tipped them off I'd write. lol.

Liza said...

I didn't always tell the stories, but I put myself to sleep at night while making them up.

Melissa Gill said...

Like Liza I made up stories for myself, to put myself to sleep, but I also day dreamed all day long and got really bad grades. Then I would tell stories to my friends and get in really bad trouble.

Jai Joshi said...

You made me smile. Being a writer is definitely better than being a liar.

My parents didn't even bother with the 'liar' or 'vivid imagination' deal. They just informed everyone who'd listen (and some who wouldn't) that I got A's in English.

Then later when I annouced I was going to be a writer my parents looked at each other, then looked at me, then said, "Ok". And that was that.

Jai

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I didn't tell stories but I did draw a lot as a kid. And yes, heard the vivid imagination comment often.

Kenda Turner said...

My first memory of telling a story was when I convinced my little brother that I was not really "me," I was the twin sister. Even gave the fake twin a name, Karen. It was so much fun to fool him--and I've loved telling stories ever since :-)

Southpaw said...

Vivid imagination here too.

Belle said...

I wrote and illustrated my first book when I was six. It was called Candyland, and it starred the adventures of Mint. I went on to write many, many sequels.

I really wish I still had a copy of that first book!

Elana Johnson said...

I have never wanted to be a writer, nor did I write when I was younger. It's just something that's become more appealing to me as an adult.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Not me. I was always a boring, prissy, brown-nosing, do-gooder. ;-)

Talei said...

Oh yes, storytelling was/is huge in my childhood and even now. I grew with lots of scary tales. :)

Funny, I also ignored the calls to the legal profession. ;)

Writing full-time is my long term goal - I working towards it now.

Jan Markley said...

I had a vivid imagination as a child and read a lot. I'm also insanely curious about all things and people!

Wendy Lu said...

I've always known that I wanted to be a writer. Ever since I knew the alphabet, I always had my eyes stuck in some book or other and would be scribbling down stories on napkins and in journals. :)

I just think I have a really wild imagination and like to dream big. :D

~TRA

http://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com

~Sia McKye~ said...

Yup, I was always making up stories. I'm part of a *litter* of 9 and I always told stories at night before we fell asleep. In fact, our parents would give us an extra half hour sometimes more before the inevitable, "okay, wrap it up in there, time for quiet and sleep."

As a kid, my brothers and I would think up stories to play pretend to the next day. Dad was also a storyteller and I have several published authors in his family. Oral storytelling was also a thing in our family. Hot summer nights, around the grill, we watch the stars and dad would tell stories or he'd start one and have us do round robin. Good memories.

I've toyed with writing for many years and wrote quite a few stories through those years. Just started to get serious about doing something with them the last 3 years.

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid, I'd get in trouble ALL THE TIME for lying, but it was always about stupid things! So stupid I can't remember any off the top of my head at the moment... :P

I've always been the daydreaming type but I never thought of being a writer until middle school. And I was a shy little kid (crazy once you got to know me) so you wouldn't have heard any stories from me. xD

Green Monkey said...

I like to say I "colorize" things...

when I was young, I had a vivid imagination that intermingled with colorful lies. lies that didn't make sense. for example.... to gain the friendship of one of the "cool" girls (she wore black and I wasn't allowed to, that made her cool in my eyes) - I told her I had a pony. I even brought her over my house, on more than one occasion, to see "my pony" - each time, the pony was off galavanting. funny, thing is....somehow we remained friends, and we're still friends. and we still joke about the pony....

notesfromnadir said...

Love that Singer quote.

You were obviously a story teller at a young age. You also livened up any sleepover or event!

Theresa Milstein said...

That's a great quote by Singer.

I think it's great for a child to be told s/he has a vivid imagination. I made up elaborate stories and even put on plays for my parents. But I thought someone had to tell me I should be a writer before I'd even consider it. So I didn't pursue it until many years later when the ideas became too much.