When I Grow Up ...

 When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Who hurt you?

Brenda here

I think that I always wanted to write, but the idea of being an author didn't come about until after I had my two daughters and completed about fifteen years working as a teacher. 

In my early twenties, I earned an English literature degree, which included a full-year creative writing course. The course taught the basics of poetry and short story writing, and I just loved the creativity. However, I never considered writing as a career path and continued on to teachers' college to gain a marketable skill. Once I began working, my writing went from essays and assignments to lesson plans, reports, and more reports.

I stayed home and tutored at odd hours when my kids were young. One day, a girl in grade eight was reading a book aloud to me, a mystery that she'd brought with her. I remember thinking, I could write better than this. Around the same time, a friend told me about someone they knew having their book published. I felt such a wave of jealousy that it made me realize this was something I really craved doing. I decided to spend the second half of my working life as a writer. So, I wrote my first mystery novel for my daughters, who were nine and twelve at the time while I began getting contracts in the government as a writer-editor and later in communications. After a lot of searching, a small publisher in Toronto accepted that first novel and it turned into a four-book series.

Once I secured a permanent job in the government, I continued my creative writing in my spare time. As most writers know, it is extremely difficult to earn enough initially (and often ever) through penning books, short stories and poetry to live on. I wasn't wrong in my university years to realize making a living through creative writing alone would be difficult if not impossible.

I'm now fortunate enough to be able to write full-time, supported by my pension and other sources of income. Not having the pressure to make money really is freeing. I recently published my 25th book, 20 years after Running Scared was released.

As for 'who hurt me', I can't say that this has been the motivation for my writing journey. I've always been spurred on by my love of the written word, a good story that gets my imagination working, and a suspenseful mystery. Having people read and enjoy my stories is icing on the cake.

Website: www.brendachapman.ca

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