I never once thought I’d write a book, let alone multiple. What started out as a dream turned daytime distraction, quickly spiraled out of control and changed the course of my life forever. In the last few weeks of my senior year of high-school, i was struggling to pass most of my classes due to mental health struggles. I was always a C student with little interest or motivation in and out of the classroom, and i had fallen into a particularly suffocating rut. Hopeless, i had almost succumb to the idea that i would either drop out, get my G.E.D or face the shame and embarrassment of repeating 12th grade. But then i had a dream. From that dream, came a crappy little drawing of a nameless girl with hr mouth sewn shut. Innocuous at a glance, but inside, a kernel of an idea was forming. Over the next week or two when i should have been focusing on what school work remained of the year, i started writing a short story; something i hadn’t ever done outside of writing projects for a grade. In a short time, i put together a 40-page, hand-bound book and showed an assistant teacher of mine, a teacher who had been pushing me to complete my assignments. He read it over the weekend, and came back to me with a proposal. He would use this short story to make up some of my missed work, but only if i did the other half. Together, we were able to get my grades back afloat, and i was able to graduate with my class.

That summer, i spent a lot of time ruminating on the characters i had thrown together from a silly dream and mediocre sketch. From 2012-2015, i expanded that book from 40 pages to 400 pages, and the seed that had been planted during my senior year, was blooming. Writing became more than a hyper-fixation, it became a passion of mine; something i had to see through to the very end. Now, over 10 years later, that 40 page short story has ballooned into almost 3000 pages across multiple sequels and prequels. I’ve made a card game, made music, and drawn my characters in full detail. But most importantly, I’ve reached a lot of like-minded people who felt seen by my story.

I never once thought I’d write a book, but i did. No AI, no ghostwriters, no other mind except for my own. If I can do that, you can too. Never give up.