Hello all! Today I’m launching a new blog post series called Writing Sparks (and Twitter #WritingSparks to go along with it) to capture the authors and books that sparked me into becoming a writer. I love the idea of sharing some details about the authors that shaped me, and hopefully this will lead other writers to similarly share their own stories of the works that sparked them into flame. But I want to do more than just list authors and titles. There are dozens of lists like that all over Twitter. I really want to hear the stories behind different writer’s favorite books. What were the thoughts and feelings that made them influential to you? So my plan is to present each of the authors that most powerfully affected me in a five-point post, then to dare other writers to follow suit.

1) The author (and a little bit about them if you’d like).

2) The books or series that most inspired you and when in your life you read them.

3) Thoughts: Critical comments on first read *and* when you look back on the books now.

4) Feelings: How each work made you feel when first read *and* how they make you feel in retrospect now

5) Sparks: What those thoughts and feelings sparked in your writing or your writing motivations.

This sounds like pure fun to me, and I look forward to reading other author’s posts or tweets about their favorites from the distant past to the nearly present. Of course, if this format (or the idea of having to separate thoughts and feelings) sounds like a drag to you, ignore all of that and just share what you’d like! I bet we find we have lots in common, and lots still to learn.

Thanks!

~Kevin