On Writing

      Today, I started reading On Writing, by Stephen King. I like King's style of writing because he speaks to you like he's in a simple conversation; it's colloquial and funny. I didn't realize that this was going to be a biography-like book. I thought it was a teaching book for how to write but, it's probably both once I read further. He's a really funny guy. He brought up one of his many babysitters,  Eula-Beulah, who used to, well....fart on him. That's mean and gross!!! I mean, he's just a helpless little kid, who couldn't do anything about it(at least she was fired). But the funny part was that he turned it into a positive by saying that she prepared him for literary criticism.
      And then there was that horrifying story of the ear doctor(or otiologist). When King was in the first grade, he missed a lot of the school year. He got a lot of health issues: measles, ear infections, fevers, and a lot of cases of strep throat. Once, he and his mother took a cab to the ear doctor, who did something to solve his ear infection. He poked his ear drum with a sterilized needle!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! I can't imagine the pain. I can't even begin to imagine it. It happened more than once, too. Of course, the doctor said, "it's not gonna hurt." But it does. Another mishap when he was young was his case of poison ivy. When he was with his brother, Dave, one day, he had to use the bathroom. Dave told him to do it in the wild, like the cowboys. He did, and used leaves to clean up; it turned out to be poison ivy that he used. Isn't that terrible?
      I think King's mom inspired him to be a writer. When he was little, he made a little book(using the words of another comic book) and showed it to her. She seemed shocked and amazed that he had been smart enough to make that but soon realized that it wasn't all his work. She told him to make another one, because she believed he could make one better than the actual comic book. He want to work, making another 4. They were about 4 magic animals who helped people. Their leader was Mr.Rabbit Trick(pretty cute). He kept submitting his unique stories to magazines, but they were all soon rejected. One day at age 16, he rewrote "The Night of the Tiger", his own original. The magazine bought it. The moral of my blog is "never give up". Well, I like this book a lot, so far. I'll return soon!