Stephen King

It’s depressing that he’s that old now. Makes me sad. More on reddit.com

I used to read and write constantly between the ages of 4 and 14, but somewhere along the line, I just stopped. I resorted to watching TV, mindlessly scrolling through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The only things I wrote were creative writing assignments at school, and where I used to get 90%+ for every single assignment, I started getting 80s, and then 70s. Near the end of grade 12, my English teacher was handing out all remaining assignments from over the years. She had taught me in grade 8 and then gotten me in grade 12 again, so she saw the quality of my writing at the beginning of high school, as well as at the end. She placed two creative writing essays of mine, side by side, one which I wrote in grade 8 and another in grade 12. Aside from the latter being a bit longer and dealing with topics I hadn't even been exposed to in grade 8, there was no difference in the quality of writing. In five years, I hadn't progressed at all. This was utterly disheartening. Although my teacher hinted at it, it wasn't until a month ago, nearing the end of my second semester at university, that I realized the way to get back into writing IS TO START WRITING. And the way to get back into reading IS TO START READING. Really, it was as simple as that. The first book I read was Stephen King's "On Writing". This inspired me to start writing, and to start reading again. I'm now halfway through "It" and have bought copies of Misery, the Stand and the Shining. I've written 3 short stories, one of which I've just sent off to a magazine in the hope that it'll be considered for publication. I've written a few thousand words of a novel that has been floating (like Georgie) in my head for years. I've also started a blog, where I write weekly. Reading and writing is now a part of my life again. When I was younger, I always thought my eventual career would stem from reading and writing, in whatever form, and now this is starting to feel like a potential reality once more. All thanks to Stephen King. Happy birthday, Stephen King. More on reddit.com

I hope this man lives for as long as he wants to. More on reddit.com

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