But the writing thing has always been there. I did O.K. in Jr. High and High School on the writing part but not the literature ('reading') part of English. I didn't realize that I had such an aversion to reading things other than science fiction or teen romances. I didn't notice until I nearly flunked out of physics for a second time and only squeaked by in Higher Criticism class that I actually have a reading problem of some kind. Apparently I was too bright for it to show up and make much difference. I'd always just avoided classes that had big books and lots of reading. Funny someone would say I should write. I haven't heard that from anybody before except once. It was a close friend who told me that right after I disclosed to her some things about my life and family that somehow she hadn't known, after all these years of our friendship. My response? "Who would want to read it?"

That's always been the problem. I can write to friends, I can write to myself (though I don't usually like the results), and I have certainly had some success at technical writing if you don't look too close. But I just can't imagine how the things I write about are important enough to others that they'd even get past an editor's pen, let alone published.