Why did I start writing? I think school had a great deal to do with it. They insisted that I learn to do it, and do it properly.
Personally, I thought the contents of the hat box were far more interesting than those 'pen' things. Messy little creatures too.
For the first few years of my school life I was taught to put pen to paper, copy what the teacher had written and pick up my gold stars. Then go to the hat box.
Sadly, somewhere between infant school and junior school, the hat box disappeared. I never figured out where it went, but that hat box was the only reason I went to school - we weren't allowed headgear at home.
It was at this time that I discovered books. Real books not those flimsy 'Tip and Mitten' ones. From that moment my parents really didn't see me again until puberty. A very trying time, I recall.
About this time I discovered Hunter S. Thompson. Fear and loathing in Las Vegas had me transfixed. Then Catcher in the Rye caught my attention.
This stuff was wonderful for a teenager at odds with the world and I absorbed every word through my starving eyeballs.
Rather than those 'stuffy' Bronte things I had to suffer in English Literature, these were authors who spoke to me.
These guys were brazen, bold, said what they thought. There was no cutting to waves crashing on the shores with these people. None of that Heathcliff matching the wildness of the moors. This was straight-talking. I loved it.
My greatest love though was this idea of Gonzo journalism. The writer putting himself in the news piece.
It fixed 'one foot in reality' while other thoughts could run wild.
Since then, that's the way I write.
But I do like to write with my hat on, for some reason. Can't think why.
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