I’ve been trawling through old writings I did when I was 14, inspired by a #WriteFightGifClub post on Twitter. I found some real doozies, but I also found some old sketches I made when I was convinced I would be an author someday.
Somewhere along the way I lost both the belief that I would be a writer, and the belief that I could draw.
I’ve reconnected with my writing soul, but my drawing soul is still very much under the debris of adult skepticism.
When you’re a child, you don’t question your ability to create. You just do it. I love watching kids draw and then be overtly and happily proud of the result. It broke my heart when my son stopped drawing because what was on the page didn’t match what was in his head because the same thing happened to me.
So these are to remind me that maybe, like the melodramatic and half baked pieces of writing that I unearthed and smiled over, these too are a part of my creative side that could be fostered and dusted off and maybe, just maybe, I can believe again.
I was quite influenced by Larry Elmore’s drawings.
This ‘wise warrior’ kind of looks like my dad.
I’ve never been great with portraits. They all look the same.
This is a very 80s looking witch i believe.
and my princess about to rescue herself.
I had fun looking at these old pictures and wondering about the girl I had been, who believed so strongly that she could write, and draw, and do well at both.
I think I’m going to try and recapture that.
How about you? what did you love doing when you were young that you just stopped doing?
Clementine Fraser - Author 