I began writing in HS with extra credit projects to bring up an English grade and soon figured out that while I may never understand the diagram system or always the correct way to phrase things I did love to write. Scratching out my first fiction piece at 16, it's something I still have in a drawer as I think it's important to always look back on what came first. I have several pieces completed but need to update them from teen writer to the more modern words, phrases and things. Plus, they need put on floppy discs. My influences would be one of my high school tutors who piled the extra work on me just so I'd always have work to do. She also encouraged my imagination, as did my mother.  She's the biggest influence, especially since she has to sit through each piece and read it, listen to the complaints of writers block and so much more. I'm 34 years old, though I'll be 35 in 2 months. I live in rural Ohio with my mother and brother and can usually be found either reading or writing. I love to do both but bad eyes make it hard.