Why I Decided to Write

I didn't always want to be a writer. Oh, sure, those writing assignments in high school were always my favorite. Even now, all these years later, I can still remember in freshman English, Mr. Williams had a numbered list for setting, the character's occupation and a personality trait. We chose three numbers and then based our stories on what he told us. I ended up writing about a meticulous homeless person in an aerobics class. Oh, what fun I had writing that!

But I didn't want to be a writer. I was going to be a doctor and I did everything I possibly could do that related to science. And then it came time to register for classes as a freshman in college and I felt like it was the wrong path for me.

And so I floundered around a bit, changed majors far too many times, and eventually graduated. And then I had to find a job. I ended up getting hired to do dental research because I knew how to use a scanning electron microscope. (Hooray for the extra-curricular activities in high school!) One of my coworkers was also a voracious reader and I loaned her my copy of Die For Love by Elizabeth Peters.

In this novel, the main character (after solving a crime at a romance writers convention) decides she needs to write bodice rippers. My friend and I were discussing this as we washed dishes in her microbiology department (because being a scientist is almost as glamorous as being a stay-at-home mother) and somehow she came to the conclusion that my calling in life was to write bodice rippers. So to bug her, I started writing a romance novel where the main character had her name, which she found suitably appalling. Anyway, the joke was on me because I started writing and got hooked. I loved it and I didn't want to stop.

(And for the record, it was a very tame romance novel and nothing at all like a bodice ripper. The characters kissed. Three times, I think. Scandalous, I know.)

What about you? What led you to where you are in your life? What made you decide to become a writer?