I've been an avid reader since the 3rd grade when I started reading comic books, science fiction and fantasy novels.  I was a big fan of Michael Cricthon's books as well as Peter David who wrote across many different science fiction series.

I wrote short stories as a child, and won a young authors contest in 3rd and 4th grade.  

One of the books I wrote back then was called "Mixed up world".  It was about a world where everything was mixed up.  The sky was the floor, people walked backwards, and so on.