How long have you been writing?
I've been writing since the First Grade, which means I've been writing for over 30 years.
What inspired you to start writing?
My First-Grade teacher, Mrs. Shirley Dotson (God rest her soul) was actually the catalyst to my writing career. First Grade was my first year at Sherwood Elementary in Memphis. For kindergarten, I attended Dunbar Elementary, but because I started reading in preschool at the age of three, I was ahead of the rest of the class. The principal and my teacher made arrangements with one of the first-grade teachers to allow me to participate in their classroom's reading time to attempt to meet my academic and intellectual needs.
Early in the First-Grade school year, Mrs. Dotson started raving about the stories I was turning in for our writing assignments. For one assignment in particular, I submitted an illustration for one of the scenes in the story as well. This story--which was about a pig with amazing jumping abilities who jumped so high one time, he hit his head on the moon--was so literarily advanced for a first grader in Mrs. Dotson's opinion that she kept that assignment. She then began keeping nearly every writing assignment I turned in and requested I include an illustration with the story. At the conclusion of the school year, unbeknownst to me, she compiled the stack of stories and their accompanying drawings into a handmade book. The covers were made of pink construction paper. The sheets were three-hole punched and tied together with yarn. She kept that book and read the stories to her classes every year.
At the end of my fifth-grade year, when I was preparing to leave elementary school, Mrs. Dotson requested my teacher send me to her classroom briefly. When I arrived, she presented me with the book, which, up until that point, I had known nothing about, and informed me that she had been reading them to her classes. She asked for permission to make copies of the stories, which I happily granted her, and a few years later, when I stopped by and visited her, she told me she had still be reading my stories to her classes every single year.
I don't know if Mrs. Dotson realized back then how she really steered the direction of my life, that she was the first and greatest influence in my writing career. I've learned so much over the years, had so many influences, but Mrs. Dotson was the person who saw something and said something. She was the person who recognized and encouraged my potential, my talent, my blessing.
Mrs. Dotson's been gone nearly 20 years now (she passed in 2007), but I don't think Alzheimer's or the worst case of dementia could make me ever forget her, her gorgeous smile, rosy cheeks, or her beautiful spirit. She was the first person to encourage me and inspire me to start writing, and she'll forever be my angel.
