[Forward]

Good Morning, Novelspotters! My name is Isabo Kelly and I'm here to chat with you a bit this week about writing and how I got started. One little note before I get to things--I'm pregnant and today is my official due date. No signs of labor yet, which is why I'm here blogging and not doing deep breathing exercises, but just in case I vanish mid-week, you'll understand why. In the meantime, I have to say, blogging here is a great way to keep my mind off said impending labor.

On to the early years...

I've always made up stories. My dolls enacted very complicated storylines that continued on for days, with beginnings, middles and, if I got bored, endings. I was always a pretty good liar too, because I could make up even elaborate stories and stick to them. Don't tell my mom (actually, she knows, but she's an artist so she understands). I didn't realize all this would translate into me being a writer. My mom's side of the family is filled with artists--painters, sculptors, musicians--so I thought I'd get all those stories out in picture form. Only one problem. I can't draw to save my life. I can do those abstract thingies that everyone says, "My kid could do that!"

But I needed an outlet for all those made-up worlds. And Barbie and Ken just weren't a big enough medium. I'm not entirely sure what made me start writing the stories down. I read a lot, I loved books (still do). But I loved movies as much and watched some over and over (still do that, too). I got to where I could repeat scenes word-for-word from some of my favorites. I'd even act them out in the privacy of my bedroom. This was how I played (actually, I still do that, too, but that's another story).

There was a time when I considered being an actress. I even got involved in theatre in high school and was pretty good at it--all that lying and pretending served me well. I still like acting. But that’s telling other people's stories. I needed to tell my own.

I think I must have started writing down my stories for the first time for school projects. That's all I can remember. From grade school, I had friends telling me that my stories were good, and I was the only one they listened too when we had to read our work out loud. But I was only really good at writing "made-up" stuff. Essays, not so much. By high school, even though I was making attempts at plays, song lyrics, and short stories, it never crossed my mind that I could really be a writer. This was despite working on the junior high school newspaper and more often than not publishing short fiction rather than articles.

I just didn't think I was very good at writing. I couldn't spell, my grammar sucked, and I had trouble with this whole non-fiction thing. My grades, while good, seemed to confirm this for me. I never did well on essays, not the way I thought a "real writer" should. Oh, occasionally I'd hit the mark, but for the most part, if it wasn't fiction, I was just average. I loved writing. I just didn't believe I'd ever be able to do anything with that love.

So by the time I hit my first year of college, I was a science major. I was great at biology, I had a scientist dad so I knew I could make a career in science, and I loved animals. I was going to make my living studying marine mammals. When I discovered there was an actual field for researching animal behavior--called ethology--I was set. That would be my career. I'd go off and watch dolphins in the wild. And in my spare time, I'd write down all that fiction crowding my head.

Little did I know...