My Talking House

I was in second grade when I wrote my first short story. It was a project assigned by my teacher, Mrs. Mayhall. She had everyone write and illustrate a story and read it to the class.

I don't remember much about the process or how I came up with the idea, but it was about a talking house, and I think I vaguely remember the tooth fairy having something to do with the story. (I was in second grade, don't just me based on the stories I wrote.) But all that is a bit irrelevant at this point.

What I remember most is finishing the story and running downstairs to my mom's bathroom for her to read my masterpiece. I was sure that it was one of the best things a second grader had ever written. And as Mom read my words, my brain filled with other story ideas that would lead to my great next work. I even considered a sequel to my talking house story.

I look back on that moment as one of the first times in my life I can remember being that excited about something – and a school project at that. But it's also a moment I think back on as a time when my first calling as a writer came. I was too young to notice it then – being just seven, maybe eight years old – but now I can say that moment was when the idea was planted in the depths of subconscious, slowly biding its time until I was old enough and ready to pursue a future as a writer.

Now, I'm blessed enough to do it as a living, and to have an actual employer pay me to put words on a page for people to read. My seven-year-old self would think I was crazy and run off to play on the monkey bars if I could visit him now.

Which leads me to this. I created this blog to not just help elevate my writing to the next level, but also because I believe that us writers have the power to change lives, to change the world, and to make an all-around difference.

Sure there are those who abuse that power, it's an ongoing battle of good vs. evil, but as it's been said, "the bad writers have a way of being weeded out."

I want this blog to be more than just about me – Matt Keyser, writer – but about the billions of people that populate the earth. I want to tell their stories so that you, the reader, can maybe learn something about yourself, your life or the world around you.

With that, I want to invite you to enter a new threshold, into a world of words and truth. Pain and tears. Happiness and triumph.

Strap in. It's going to be one helluva journey.