Rebooting my writing past

One regret that I have is not continuing writing from when I was younger.

To be honest, I was a bit of a messed up kid. Angry, not openly friendly, awkward in social situations...which changed when I was about 18. Up until then, I would use writing as a form of escape. This was before access to the internet was available to me, so I had plenty of time to create small works from ideas that I had. Out of all the subjects I took in high school, I performed very well in English and Literature.

I worked on different writing projects mostly for myself and rarely ever shared. Sometimes it was a short story, or lyrics, or possibly poems. Other times it may have been something that had been lingering in my mind and just needed to be written down. Like a scene in a story that never had any context, but I would hope to go back to it later to see if I could give it a beginning and an ending. Flesh it out. Give it some meaning, instead of a fanciful thought.

As I grew out of that angry phase I was in, I found I was writing less and less. I was getting older (between 18 and 22) and I was losing some of that inspiration that I had so much of at one time. It seems that my creative drive was disappearing slowly, as the urge to write degenerated. It is not like I did not want to write anymore. It feels like the busier my life got with schooling and work and an expanding circle of friends...the less I needed to put down my thoughts.

Is this an exercise in maturity? To become so busy, that you do not have time for personal projects like writing? I see others still able to write.

I lost a lot of my work over the years. Some of the notebooks that I had and never transcribed to an electronic medium will never return. Lost in moves, or destroyed by water or mice. About 20 years have passed since I took it seriously.

I read here and there about creative writing. I do have the want to get back into writing. I am just not sure how to proceed. I have programs like Scrivener to help me work. But...how do I rekindle my creativity?

As I mentioned, I do regret not continuing, but I am not sure it was a conscious choice to stop.

Maybe this is a beginning.