Forgotten Memories

I’m always amazed when memories that had been packed away for decades suddenly resurface. It happened to me during my flight to my writing retreat.

Many of the articles I read about being a writer talk about how the authors had been writing all their lives. I’d always just brushed that aside since it didn’t apply to me. My high school row story taught me to keep to the non-fiction side of things.

Recently, however, I was reading an issue of Writer’s Digest and there was a mention of writing a prequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, which his 10-year-old self never heard back about. That’s when a light bulb clicked on for me.

I must have 12 or 13 and a huge Silver Spoons fan, when I wrote a screenplay for an episode of the show.

I even got brave and mailed it to the show.

Unlike the Writer’s Digest guy, about a month later I received a thick envelope in the mail from the production studio. I made myself wait until I walked home from the mailbox before opening it.

It was my script along with a single page letter that said something along the lines of not being able to accept unsolicited scripts. It was being returned unread. They didn’t want to be accused of stealing an idea, and they were sure I would understand their position. They did give the address where my agent could send a pitch.

I don’t remember considering it be a huge heartbreak, but I know time skews perceptions.  I really wish I’d kept my handwritten fan fiction .

Wow. How had I forgotten about that … or my love for Ricky Schroder?

So I guess my writing bug goes back much further than I give myself credit for. What long-forgotten memories have resurfaced for you lately/?