"I've always wanted to be a writer."

Just because I have this itch to say, "I've always wanted to be a writer," to everyone who wants to know something about my career doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Everyone wants to be a writer. At this point it's almost like writing a book is something you do as part of a coming-into-happiness ritual, like some modern alchemy that will make other people think, "Wow, that person is successful and intelligent."

And yeah, if you exaggerate how long you've had the itch, so what? Nobody can prove anything, unless they call your mom and ask.

What I should really say is this: "I've been practicing the skill of writing fiction since I was very young." That's different; that means I've written a lot.

Guys, seriously, you have no idea. A lot. For every short story I bring blinking into the light for people to gawk at, there are ten infinitely more grotesque and malformed hiding away in the dark, rubbing their fingers and drooling. An illustrative anecdote: I learned how to touch-type by writing. These days my fingers are faster than my nitpicky writer-brain.

Please bear in mind that when I say "practice", I mean "actively attempt to improve everything I have ever written until it is beyond my current ability to improve it any more without scrapping it entirely", not "write because it is fun". I mean, it is fun. Demure, methodical fun.

Background information is next, I think.