People Who Inspired Me To Be A Writer: Ruby Lee Spencer

When I was a little kid, one of my mother's favorite forms of punishment was making me and my sisters write phrases over and over again until she felt like we had written enough. At the time I thought "man this woman is crazy". That woman is my mother, Ruby Lee Spencer, and she is my biggest influence for wanting to be a writer.

My mother Ruby had a profound love for reading and writing. If you entered her bedroom the first thing you would have seen was a stack of books lined up against a wall that nearly covered that same wall. If you were a friend or family member who lived a long distance away, then you probably received a lot of handwritten letters from her. My mother also loved to keep any handwritten letters that were given to her in her own personal folders and would keep them filed away to go back and read from time to time.

Sometimes when my mom would get ready write letters that she was planning on sending out to family and friends who lived far from us she would allow me and my sisters to write letters of our own to send to them as well. At the time I actually did realize how fun writing these letters were, but what I never thought about was how fun writing these letters must have been for my mom as well.

Reading and writing were important principles of life to my mom and she always made sure to pass the importance of these principles on to me and my sisters. On a monthly basis she would make me and my older sister bring home books to read in front of the family after dinner and before bedtime, if you didn't comply with this rule there was a hardcore spanking that followed, so naturally me and my sister never disobeyed this rule. Something interesting about my mom is at the times that she would make me and my sister read aloud to the family, she herself would be reading a book of her own, while listening to us read at the same time.

At the time I was a kid I thought these reading sessions were boring and annoying, but when I look back on life and these reading sessions growing up, I realize that these reading sessions shaped me into a creative writer because of how much reading my mother made me do. When I brought home books to read like Goosebumps from R.L. Stine and Holes from Louis Sachar I wasn't just learning how to read a story, but also how to tell a story and it was all because of my mother's discipline. These readings she had us doing really were some of the best times of my life and some of my favorite memories growing up.

My mother Ruby Lee died in a car accident in 2010 when I was 17 years old and when she died she left behind a scrapbook with a lot of pictures and handwritten letters that she wrote to loved ones, as well as letters that loved ones had written to her. In the decade plus time since she passed away it has been my greatest ambition to be a great writer and make her proud as she looks down on me from above. Regardless of where I do or do not end up in the future, I will always be a writer at heart, and I am forever thankful to my amazing mother Ruby Lee Spencer for putting me on the path to being what I am: a writer.

-- Dedicated to my amazing mother, Ruby Lee Spencer. I will write to your amazing soul everyday.