My colleague and friend Nick U (see dedication) challenged me to do this one, the premise being this:

"Using just one part, try and tell everyone how you came to write and how you ended up on Wattpad of all places to do that writing. Let's see where our inspiration came from and what our history as writers looks like, together. After you're done, spread the word, challenge your friends, and tag in anyone you want to see how they came here."

okay, so I'll bite =] 

Writing was never my strong point particularly as a kid, and I finished my formal English education at sixteen. I never really sat down and wrote stories, although my Nan was convinced I could write poetry. She was the only one though, but twenty odd years after she died I proved her right, much to my surprise, although I still don't consider my self much of a poet. 

So, how did it kick off?

Satire.

Prior to joining the Wattpad team I used to work for a massive American (previously Scottish) multidisciplinary engineering consultancy. I was a speck on the cog in the machine. But I worked in an office considered to be somewhat at the arse end of anywhere, and when I first started there the people were are wonderful mix of eccentrics and nutters which made it a joy to begin with.

I fitted in far too well, and a few years after I started I suggested to the Office Director that we should have an office magazine. He agreed, but it very quickly changed from the normal round of births, deaths, marriages and leavers / joiners, to something that alternated between outright farce and anti management cynicism, with heavy doses of satire thrown in. Happily, the three office directors I wore out over the course of six years were as sarcastic as I was (sometimes more), and they always signed off my strange pages of oddity with a shake of the head, and a wry smile. We did articles on implanting one of the CEOs with radar (to detect awkward questions they didn't want to answer), holding up Mount Rushmore with giant brassieres (in my imagination we'd merged with an underwear company), working with Mulder and Scully (the secretive List X section located on a hidden 13th floor), and using hot air from meetings to grow tomatoes as a cash crop. We did it for six years or so, with monthly issues going out at first to just our office, but eventually going as far as the US. I'm not sure it did my promotional prospects much good, but it was great fun and no-one ever complained oddly enough. 

However, like all good things, it needed to come to a halt as I was in danger, particularly when we got taken over by a larger and far more corporate firm, of doing my so called career some damage and by that time I had a wife and kids to feed. 

Around about the same time, my father published a book on Farming, called That Farming Thing, as a guide for rural clergy trying to minister to their often incomprehensible flock. Many clergy found it difficult when they knew nothing about farming, and which end of a cow the milk comes out. The fact my father had produced this rather neat little book, and sitting down with a colleague at the time who'd just won an award for a short film got me thinking seriously about trying my hand at writing.

And then I read The Price by Neil Gaiman. 

I've probably read one to two books a week since I was about seven. I've always loved odd stuff whether it be Fantasy, Science Fiction, Paranormal or old legends. The Price knocked me sideways. I'd read and loved some other short stories before, things like Inconstant Moon by Larry Niven, or The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke, but Gaiman's short works, together with some by Terry Pratchett, fired off all sorts of ideas, and with prompting from my film maker friend I jotted a few ideas down. From that came my first batch of short stories, and one of them, A Gift in the Dark, was entered into a short story competition on a website called Spinetinglers (it also later received an Honourable Mention on the Writers of the Future Website). 

On Spinetinglers I won £100, which surprised me hugely, and so I started looking for other competitions to enter, and came across The Wattys. 

And that's how I found Wattpad. In 2010, The Wattys had just kicked off and I entered six stories in three different genres, and all six ended up in the final (the rules were different first time around). The community was a lot smaller back then, and I got to know the then head of Community who later became a friend, and then my boss.

Not long after joining, I was also asked to become an Ambassador, and then Moderator, and it was this step which really changed my life and led to more and more involvement with the team at Wattpad HQ. 

About eight months after joining I decided that perhaps it was time to try my hand at something longer and a little different from my normal Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. So Merlin's Gold came into being and once I'd finished it I was Featured, which was wonderful. 

A couple of years later, and in the middle of the recession, I was becoming ever more cycnical about construction and our new corporate overlords, and decided to look for a new job. I checked the job pages on Wattpad and applied for a job. I was turned down. But, it did lead to other things eventually, and after doing some part time work for them for several years I joined the team this year full time. 

Wattpad has done many things for me. It's given me a creative edge I never really appreciated I had, made me a great groups of friends (many of whom I hope to meet in the flesh one day, and some I've already met) given me feedback that has enabled me to have several pieces published in various ezines and magazines, and has changed my life utterly. The Community of Wattpad is a truly unique entity and should be treasured, as it can lead to some truly unexpected things happening both on Wattpad and outside in the 'real' world. 

I've lost track of how many short stories and other pieces I've written on Wattpad, and virtually everything I've ever done has been put on here for people to comment on, teach me, and discuss. I will never stop writing, or reading, or learning, and Wattpad has been an amazing part of my life for four and a half years now. I've met some amazing people, many of whom I now work with, and it has utterly changed my life. 

Let's see where the next four and a half years takes us. If it's half the ride the last few year has been, then I'm going to smiling like an idiot for some time to come.