My reading/writing career took off because I was a jealous little girl.
I grew up in a small town in South Africa - so small that my mom and my new first-grade teacher, Mrs. Van Niekerk, where firends.
Mrs. van Niekerk was adamantly opposed to her future students learning to read and write by themselves. She felt that they will learn it the "wrong way".
So when as a a five-year old, I asked my mom to teach me to read and write she replied that her friend said no. In a few months' time I will go to school and then my teacher will teach me. Properly .
I tried copying words from my children books by myself and asked my big sister to read them. My five-year old penmanship was not very clear (obviously) and she couldn't read my words...
Finally the summer ended and I started first grade. And guess what?
There was a boy there that could already read! Not only could he read but Mrs.van Niekerk would sometimes ask him to read to the rest of us when she needed some time for other things.
Can you believe it!!
I learned to read and write as quickly as possible and soon finished all the books in the first-grade class. Then I got access to the school's library and later our town's library. I don't remember what happened to that boy that could already read but I am pretty sure that I quickly outread him.
Just like Stephan King I believe that you cannot be a writer without being a reader. And I am convinced it works the other way around too. Readers become writers because we love words in all their forms.
Printed in books and websites and on cornflake cartons. Milling around our heads like stones at the bottom of a restless river. Running along the neural networks to our fingers and then taking a leap to a keyboard or into the green ink of a Pilot pen.
Since I can remember, I have been in love with words. And the stories they tell and the books that they live in. Words shove each other aside in my head, fighting for attention.
Creating slogans when I am eating hummus with pita bread:
"Have you swiped at your food today?"
Getting dramatic when I am swimming in the sea:
"The sea is at it best just before sundown. The water is still warm from the day but smooth as silk, seducing the handful bathers to stay just a little bit longer. Then they have to quickly struggle home because the sun slipped behind the horizon, turning the beach into an unknown and dark place."
I am still a voracious reader and (apart from work) I write:
I grew up in South Africa but have lived in Israel for about twenty-two years now. I am married and we have two daughters.
At the moment I am working at an e-commerce company based in the Israeli Diamond Exchange where I work as a webmaster and marketing writer.
Previously I worked in the technical writing department at Intelitek, an e-learning company. I worked as a content creator and administrator.
I have a BSc degree in Genetics from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Other education includes a coding bootcamp diploma from Elevation Academy and various online certificates (I am a bit of a learning addict).