Jeanne Betancourt

1 posts categorized "Writing"

Posted on October 04 2005 | Categories: Writing

Many authors know from an early age that they want to be writers. Not me. I am dyslexic so learning how to write was difficult. Reading was slow going for me, too. But I still loved books. I just never thought that I'd be able to write one.

As an English teacher I taught other people how to read and write and spent many hours a week correcting their work. But I didn't try writing stories myself until I had been teaching for many years. This is how it happened. I was taking a course in screenwriting so I could teach high school kids how to write screenplays. My homework in the course was to write one myself. While doing the assignment I discovered that I liked making up stories and writing them down. Even though it was hard work, I liked doing it. Since that first script I have written fifteen screenplays and over sixty novels for children and young adults.