Hi everyone. I just found the Ray Bradbury site and this forum and wanted to stick my head in and say hello. I read Farenheit 451 in high school and that was my first taste of his work. I think I was like 14 or so and it scared the heck out of me! It was one of those stories that I kept trying to forget for years, but it never really left my mind. I found my way back to Mr. Bradbury's stories in 1998 when I was like 28, and that time I read the one about a boy whose dead grandparents live in the attic. (I can't remember the name right now)That one blew me away; scared me, delighted me, freaked me out and gave me a really good time. That's when it finally hit me that his work wasn't just required school reading, there was some serious FUN in his stories too! lol Soon after that I read Something Wicked this way Comes and fell in love with that too, wishing I were in the story with the boys myself. But what really grabbed me and has never let go was Zen in the Art of Writing. I've been writing since I was 13 years old, and it's always been my first love. But, I was always an "odd" kid who liked to read and write about horror and/or fantasy and I used to feel like no one would ever really "get" my stuff or the way that I thought. This book changed that for me forever and I finally felt like I was somewhat normal for the first time in my life. After a young life of not having much self-confidence, I also felt a jolt of real belief in myself as a writer, and that was incredible to feel after being unsure of myself and my writing for such a long time. About two years later I gathered up the courage to write a few short horror stories and actually had two of them published in an online magazine. That was something I'd dreamed about of course, but never really thought would happen, and I know that if I hadn't read Mr. Bradbury's works I never would've had the guts to put myself and my writing out there. I'm so grateful to him to this day for inspiring me that way, and whenever I get discouraged or lose hope about my current writing, I pick up "Zen" and have a field day falling in love with the language and the process all over again.

Thanks Mr. Bradbury. If you're reading this I just want you to know I think you're amazing.

Tracy

Welcome Tracy

Thanks for the story, Tracy. He touched me that way, too (back in 1969) and his influence has stayed with me. His Zen book on writing is fantastic and exciting. I'm recharged everytime I read it.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Dark:
His Zen book on writing is fantastic and exciting. I'm recharged everytime I read it.

When he signed my copy, he wrote:

"John! Read Zen and change!"

Now that I think about it, exactly what was he suggesting?

Well John, one thing is for sure. You are changing locations ! The nice thing is that we will still have you on the board from across the nation.