Everybody has their own activity that brings them a borderline therapeutic sense of peace. Some people choose to be active by taking yoga classes or getting involved in their local churches. Others channel their minds towards creative activities like painting or gardening. I lean more towards the creative side. As well as being my future career, writing is my own version of therapy because I can channel my imagination into something positive.

I have been captivated by the idea of creative writing since I was in the third grade. Being in a family full of teachers, I spent my elementary afternoons doing homework in my uncle Monte's classroom. One day, I went into my third-grade classroom and started writing a silly short story to give to my teacher. It's still funny to think my first creative story idea was about me being a secret agent with "The Simpsons." Of course, my childhood mind couldn't comprehend what kind of copyright issues my stories would have been if published, but it was my first taste of freedom.

As I got older, writing became less cartoonish and my scatter-brained self acquired many journals to broadcast my ideas. Some were just for silly fun at the time, but my real original ideas all gradually evolved into serious ideas for me. I remember countless Saturday afternoons spent typing away in utter bliss.

I don't remember the exact day, but it was December when I started writing my first book. I was sixteen and three months away from turning seventeen, and I finally finished it in January when I was eighteen. While that is a long time for just one book, I completed my milestone to prove to myself that I could.

The most liberating part of my writing is that I control every element of it for my reasons. I didn't finish writing my first (of many) books because I needed to brag about it to people. I did it to prove to myself that I am a true writer who pushes forward and has what it takes to get the work done. I feel at best when I write because my inner emotions and life experiences are best explained in words on paper and screen rather than spoken out loud. Hopefully, there is something out there in the world that brings you as much peace and bliss as writing does for me.