Writing has always been a passion of mine since I was thirteen and I read my first book, which was Twilight. Yeah, I know, some of you are probably cringing and some of you are nodding your heads like that’s pretty neat. Twilight was my peek behind the curtains—my first step toward becoming a writer and, later, an author. So, I have to give credit where it’s due.

That single peek behind the curtains led me to write a book of my own about dragons living in the real world, and let me tell you, thirteen-year-old me was extremely proud of the 80k-100k novel I wrote. Twenty-four-year-old me cringes every time my mom brings it up or mentions it because I realize now just how terrible it was. There were cliches, horrible grammar mistakes, and so much inconsistencies that I can’t even read it.

And that’s okay. Because that book was a learning experience, a part of my journey to become the writer I am today. It’s okay that I may never return to that book and rewrite it.

Twilight and that first book became a stepping stone and opened my eyes toward what I wanted to do for my dream job. After that day, whenever teachers would ask us, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would always answer, “I want to be an author.” My classmates were skeptical at first and my English teachers were proud, and I was determined to achieve that dream. As I grew older and wrote and dreamed and brainstormed, I honed my craft until my classmates wanted to know what I was writing or wanted to read what I wrote in class. Which, I was too embarrassed to let anyone read what I was writing because I didn’t think I was any good, plus I was writing fanfiction at the time about books and shows that they hadn’t read or watched. I was scared of them making fun of me or telling me that I sucked. A common fear, I’m sure, and though I was improving in my writing, I was still shy to talk about it.

When I was in college, I grew more confident in my writing and shared what I wrote to roommates and classmates. I have to say that exchanging essay papers to peer review and critique really helped build my confidence. Not to mention the writing workshops I attended at Delta State University. Those years may have been stressful because of the class work load that came with being an English Lit major, but I’m grateful for those classes I took.

Now, writing has become such a deep part of my life that I don’t know what I would do without it.