My writing journey doesn't begin with a whimsical calling from somewhere, begging me to write. It was a very abrupt demand to be let out. I can remember the title of my very first poem. There I stood, in 3rd grade holding, proudly I might add, a poem I wrote called Alligator, Alligator. I didn't know then that I was an author. I knew I wrote some words that rhymed and people liked it.
As I got older, I scribbled short phrases on bits of paper, never bothering to keep them all together or...