Skeletons (and Mancandy) in the Attic

For the past week and a half, kidlet and I have been staying with my parents in New Orleans. I'm happy to be home and back to my routine (and hubs) today, but I did have a lot of fun hanging out back home. And one of the things I had the chance to do while I was there was dig through my parents' attic (I use the term "dig" loosely because its actually perfectly organized up there. My mom's organization skills are like a page out of Real Simple magazine.) And what I discovered was that a) My mom doesn't get rid of anything, b) I'm thankful for that, and c) you can tell a lot about a life going through a few childhood boxes.

So in case you didn't catch my live #tweetsFromTheAttic session on Twitter, I'll share some of what I found up there.

See, I've always been into mancandy. My mom has folders and folders filled with all the Big Bopper and Teen Beat pages I used to have on my wall.

Signs of my New Kids on the Block obsession. The bottom pic is trading cards. And no, I didn't really have backstage passes (above). I'm sure I ordered those from some magazine at some point.

The book that made me want to be a writer

Some of my favorite middle grade books

The first sex scene I ever read. It left quite an impression. I remember being shocked they could actually write that stuff in books. (I was 13.)

Where I first learned I loved a good horror story.

Yes, they made books. Of course I had them. (And can you believe in the first one, Baby was Francis Kellerman not Houseman. They actually set it up that her dad owned the resort. *shocked face* What were they thinking?)

Proof that vampires existed before Twilight ;)

Found a notebook where me and my stepsister filled out answers to questions. This is "What would you like to do for a living?" My answer is #1 - "writer/editor" and hers is "pharmasist". (She may have needed a bit of an editor there on spelling, but she was 10 so we'll give her a pass.) So at 14, I had a plan. I probably didn't realize it'd take another 18 years to reach that goal. :)  (And for those wondering, my stepsister is an accountant, not a pharmacist.)

And look, I told y'all I was really serious at 15 about querying that first novel (the New Kids fan fiction.) Luckily, I never got further than buying the 1995 Writer's Market book. :)

Look, my natural haircolor. Haven't seen that in a while...

Alright, so that's what I found in the attic. It's kind of scary how much you can distill about a person from a few boxes. But it's also kind of cool to see that my journey to becoming a writer started all the way back then. I was always preparing for this career, even when I didn't realize it.

So what would you find in your childhood boxes? What do you wish you would've kept? Would people be able to figure out who you are now based on what was in those old boxes?