Writing

Writing has been part of human history ever since we learned to scratch into clay and stone. I'm no different. It's still mostly just scratching - some on my head, some under my chin, some behind the ears of a dog. In the end there may be a poem or a book, but that’s just the result of all the preliminary scratching.

I wrote ever since I was a kid (some of it on this typewriter!). Notes, poems, stories and eventually my first really bad teenage novel. It was a novel, though. I collected 430 pages of my scribbles when I was 14 years old. So, naturally most of my early writing ended up in the trash at some point. But one thing I remember from those days is the unspoiled and pure creative stream. My characters lived in my head and until I put them on the paper, they were with me. Sweet daydreaming - because when you are a teenager, there is time for such luxuries.

I also remember my first fans - my friends. Big thanks for early encouragement go to Paja and Jarka from the summer-house, Marie from school and my buddy Daniel. It was really exciting to have other kids come back and ask for the next chapter. Paja sometimes read my work, literally as I finished each page, which may qualify her as my first editor. On occasion, she giggled over my mistakes, but she was definitely a cheerleader. Together with my husband, the same people are still on my list of those who provide feedback.

Then the luxury of having time and peace for daydreaming disappeared, as I entered my 20's I became "an occasional writer" - writing for occasions such as friends' birthdays. At the same time, I switched my creative-tool and began writing in English. The English language opened many horizons for me and this is yet another one. I'm able to do my book-research in English, with a much wider pool of information and I'm able to write in a flexible and concise language.

I returned to writing on a professional level when I began to copy-write for websites I built, as well as many promotional materials. This work naturally blended with my translation and web design projects, but in many cases it morphed into writing magazine articles or professional documentation. Through my animal-therapy work I became an author quoted in the media and medical and university circles, which I find quite entertaining, given that I don’t have the sufficient academic titles to go with it. But it taught me to be really careful about what I publish.

I currently work as a copy-writer for several projects and as an author on multiple open-ended projects of my own. They are as diverse as a text-book for university students and health-care professionals, a screenplay for a historic film, romantic stories and a collection of poems. I’m not a full-time writer yet, but that’s on a horizon I already recognize.