I realized the other day that my first novel turns 10 this year.
I had written other things
before, of course—I’ve been a storyteller for as long as I can remember—but Elliot’s story
was the first that I wrote trying to be a true author. Then titled Take Me
As I Am, after the FM Static song, I began it on November
14th, 2011, smack in the middle of NaNo season, after my mom stumbled
across the NaNoWriMo Young Writers’ website and mentioned it to me. With
no other plans for November, I set my goal at 5,000 words (mostly because I had
no idea what word count was 😄) and shocked
myself by making it to 14,000 within two weeks and finishing the first
draft of the book. It was the first story I’d written seriously, my first
complete start-to-finish piece, and the one that set me on my path, aiming to
become a traditionally published author. We haven’t quite made it there yet for
my scarred and sassy bae, but I’m incredibly proud of the story and of the
things we have done together. It was his story that allowed me to discover and
engage in the online writing community, his story that won me a YoungArts award, and his story that
allowed me to meet different industry professionals who have critiqued and read
my work. Perhaps most importantly, it was his story that revealed to me what I want to do with my life: to dissect the dichotomies, which may only be miscommunications,
in our everyday life; to explore and empathize with good characters who struggle to see good choices
when the going gets rough; to display how many things in life can go
from shattered to stunning in a second—or be both at the exact same time; to see for
myself where God’s power and God’s plan can and will still show up strong even
in the midst of otherwise impossible situations. The lessons I “taught” Elliot
and learned while writing his story have been bulwarks that I have returned to as
everything has gone up and down and topsy-turvy as human existence is prone to
do.
I don’t know how the
story will end up, or where we’ll go from here, but we have come a long way,
Elliot, my dear, from that first draft. Whether your story is ever
traditionally published or not, I’m glad you’ve been my bestie since the
beginning, and I can’t wait to see where we go together next. 😊
Happy birthday, dear boy.
Do you remember the first story you wrote seriously? How has
it developed since you first put pen to paper (or fingers on keyboard 😉). Always love hearing from you, and I will
see you in the comment section!
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