How long have you been writing?

Hmm, tough question. My first attempt was about the time I was able to read, about 8 years old (yeah, I was a late bloomer on the reading front). I dabbled in writing during high school and college, and finished my first really awful novel in grad school. I started writing with a serious eye for publishing in 2007. It's certainly not gone as rapidly or with as much success as I had hoped, but I'm giving it my best shot at doing it right.

Since I was five. So about twenty-five years. Although the first thing I "wrote" was a version of Peter Pan for which I actually did the drawings and told my mom the words to write down. Is that cheating? I wrote mostly poetry and short stories in elementary school, began trying to write novels in junior high, and sold my first story at twenty-six. Man, I miss writing as a kid. All the fun, none of the stress.

I've been writing for twenty years, although I started focusing on academic/scholarly work about fifteen years ago and stopped writing fiction. Now I'm back to fiction again and it feels great.

4 years.

All my adult life in the sense that I've had to write things for my jobs (these days I teach college biology, which means writing things for labs and lectures, but I used to do research, which meant writing papers and proposals). Fiction writing is something I've been doing off and on since I was a kid too, but there have been gaps (like when I was in grad school, I never finished any creative project I started save one short story that now languishes on the hard drive of a long-dead computer). I didn't finish my first novel draft or try submitting short stories to magazines until fairly recently, though. Likewise for studying the craft of writing fiction outside of a creative writing class or being involved in any writing communities.

So maybe I should say I've been writing fiction seriously for 2-3 years now.

Writing? Since first grade.

Telling stories? Since I could talk, according to my mother.

I started writing at about 9 years old. I'd enjoyed writing assignments beforehand, but didn't ever try to write on my own away from school. Kept writing through my teens, never finished anything, majored in Creative Writing in college. Still going at it.

Good question.
I've had the itch to be a writer since...*pauses to think*...I don't even remember when, but it's been quite a bit of my life, and I always stored away in my brain every piece of good writing advice I ever heard.

A few years ago I had starting trying to write a couple of things just for the sake of writing but lost interest after only a few sentences because I was trying to write stuff I thought other people would like, not what I, personally was interested in. Then, during the summer last year I discovered fantasy and it sparked my imagination so much, I finally started creating my own stories in my head. Still, I didn't start writing until December after I had had the opportunity to communicate with another writer close to my age who really inspires me. She gave me a lot of good advice on how to start (mostly "Just do it!") and after arguing with myself for a whole month about whether or not I was even capable of developing my little snippets of ideas into a full story, I realized I'd never know if I didn't try to write them down. So I did. On January 8, 2014 to be exact. Now I'm having lots of fun writing about things that I like and discovering the depths of my own imagination. I hope I never tire of it either.

I'm taking Deleyan's route...

Writing? Since age 3-4.

Storytelling? Since age 6-7.

Focusing my writing on storytelling? About 9 years ago.

Focusing on actually writing something good? About 4 years.

I wrote stories as a kid, too. And I wrote stories through high school and college. But it wasn't until after college that I tried submitting stories and querying agents. That's when things took on a different context; it was still a hobby, but I was taking the same steps as professionals: writing as well as I could and submitting to markets in hopes of getting sales. That was 15 years ago.

Maybe since fourth grade or so.

I was in middle school when I read the book that made me want to be an actual writer, the kind who got published as opposed to the kind whose stories might get stuck to a relative's refrigerator for a week or two.

As for for-realsies, let's-do-this-right-and-stop-dithering-around writing... maybe since I started doing NaNoWriMo five years ago.

I've written for my own amusement for as long as I've been able to form two words into a sentence, but only recently have I considered that I may be able to turn my amusement into something more meaningful.

I've been a professional portrait painter for 25 years. Many times I've felt that I couldn't deal with painting "a little more hair" on another balding judge or "a little less double chin" on another overweight matron. Rather than voicing my opinion (and losing my commission) I turn to my pen and paper and write some deliciously scathing stories involving said judge or matron... then go on to happily add the hair and shave off the double chin...

I can't say enough about the therapeutic effects of writing!

As long as I can remember. My dad has drawers full of stories I wrote as a kid. I have always loved to write (and read).

I've been writing for money for nine years, I think. Making a serious go of it particularly in the past four years.

I got hooked in first grade and only stopped for a few years after the death of my father. I've been writing 'seriously' for five years, and novels for three.

What a thought.

I believe I've been seriously writing for about 6 months, attempting to write for 3 years, and learning to write for about 10 years.

I spent a great deal of my upbringing in The Netherlands learning a different language, so my English vocabulary and grammar is not as polished as it could be. I am still improving everyday. :}

Depends on your definition of "serious writing" really, since I've taken writing and storytelling serious from the start. And I'm another one of those that started writing as soon as I could scribble words on paper. So then we're left with a focus on improving craft or the pursuit of publication?

Focus on craft - Since 4th grade. (I had a good teacher who saw my strength and knew to challenge me instead of letting me coast.) So ... 20 years?

Pursuit of publication - Eh ... I'm not there yet. It's a personal thing and not something I want to rush. But I've had an eye to making myself market-worthy for about the last 4 years.

I started writing stories in school for my friends, then when I had kids I switched to telling stories to help pass the time while we waited for their father to 'just look in on' his staff on his days off. (Usually turned out to be at least a 45 minute wait.) I didn't begin writing seriously with a view to publication until the late '90s.

13 years

I'm going to win this one unless someone older than me comes along...

56 years.

Since I was about five so 43 years. The catholic school I went to required us to write stories starting at age five/first grade (started kindergarten at age 4). My first story was about being left in a store what would you do??? I have it here somewhere in my scrapbook my mom kept for me.

Probably over 10 years at this point...what a strange thought!

I was definitely not one of those precocious 6 year old novelists. My oldest memory is of crying with frustration when I was learning to read. Thankfully I had a fantastic 3rd grade teacher who saved my reading (and therefore, future writing) career!

Jaksen wins so far. But I may be close.

Telling stories? Forty-four years.Writing, as in completing a coherent story? Twenty-seven years. Paid writing? Fourteen years. Years since my first novel was published? Two.

It's a sliding scale of accomplishment. There were a couple of art careers in that mix, or I'd have been published a bit sooner. Maybe.

How long have I been writing, or how long have I been a writer? The answer to the first is pretty much the same as anyone in this country, which is since I was a little kid in school. Actually, a couple of years before I started school.

The answer to the second is thirty-five years. other than working as an editor now and then, mostly to keep my fingers in the business end, it's all I've done for a living since 1979.