I think it’s safe to say like most writers, I began writing when I was a child. I’ve loved books as long as I can remember. I owe my love of books to my mom who was an avid reader growing up, and my aunt who used to take my siblings and I to the library during the summer.
I was enamored by the small local library. It wasn’t anything fancy really, a handful of wooden bookshelves and a few round tables to sit at while reading. Outdated carpet and that used book smell in the air, but that’s what made it so perfect. Almost thirty years later and I still daydream about that library and what it meant to me as a child. Two years ago I visited my hometown and was devastated to discover that it is now a hardware store.
Creativity has always been a part of my life. Whether it was drawing, painting, embroidery, or music which I was unfortunately not very good at. But writing was always my first choice and the passion that called to me the most. The lyrics of my favorite bands or movies that displayed a poem or some kind of quote. I used to think, “I wish I could write like that.”
I gave it a few tries. I wrote some poems that were not very good, and I wrote some stories that were arguably even worse, but I never stopped trying and I never stopped writing. My journal entries became a sort of poetic escape, disguising my feelings with metaphors and visual imagery.
In the years since, I no longer draw or paint, and occasionally I’ll embroider, but writing is something I do every single day. This website/blog represents who I am and the poems, blogs, and eventually books inside will be filled with words that contain grief, nostalgia, depression, love, true stories from myself or family members, and whatever it may evolve into as time goes on.
I am a California native who moved to the southwest and traded the ocean for the desert. I quit my job and am now a full time writer when I’m not procrastinating or playing with my dogs. I hope the words I’ve created resonate with you somehow and I appreciate you stopping by.
-Renee Hargrave