I've been a writer for over thirteen years now. I never thought I would be telling my story, since no one asked and I believed no one really cared. However, I think it would be good for me to recall how I have grown as a writer and to look back on where I began. That means I am about to name some titles and characters that I have kept secret for a very long time. I am proud of where I am now and I wouldn't change a thing about the path I took to get this far. As the years go on, I will never stop writing and I will never be ashamed of what I write.

I started in 3rd grade writing short picture books. My first story was a modern day Cinderella, but I also flat out copied a friend of mine who did the same thing. However, as kids, we just compared our stories and bounced off each other's ideas.

Come 5th grade, I was writing books every other weekend. I had an entire series of picture books that ended up having 15 stories. I still have them tucked away and laugh at how simple a fifth grader's humor could be. My characters were Alex and Emma, named after my older brother and younger sister. It was just the simple adventures of two elementary students getting through their "oh, so difficult lives". From dealing with a bully, to romance, to know-it-alls, they just made it through life one day at a time. I don't remember my inspiration for these stories. I just remembered wanting to find a way to express my writing outside of essays or reading assignments for school. Not to be egotistical, they were popular with my classmates when I finally decided to share them. I had a sign-out sheet and everything so people could read them and I always knew where they were. I would stay in from recess to write, something my teacher often teased me about, but he never stopped me.

From there, I moved on to a spin-off of the series. It was one book about the bully, Bobby, and his diary, that he apparently had. Short and sweet, I realized how simplistic I was, again, when it came to humor. The books, since then, have become smudged as they were written on paper and in pencil, but they're still readable. I have yet to decide whether to keep them in storage or give them to my sisters.

Fast forward to 7th grade, I wrote my first "novel", more like novella. What I remember was that is was about a prince who meets an outlaw and quickly befriends her. A love story, but it definitely wasn't my best work. I also remember that I began another story that same year that was so cool, but stupid at the same time! For gaming fans, everyone knows what Fallout 3 is. Well, having played it a billion times and getting almost every ending possible and finishing almost every mission, I decided to write my experience in novel format. It was first person point of view, something very new for me, but it was working for a time. The main character was a girl, since that's what I made her in the game, and her name was Catherine. Taking the "good karma" route, I made her kind, caring, and quick to protect those around her. However, hand writing a story like that was a bit difficult. I got about 80-ish pages in, which was at the part where the ghoul city was discovered, and then stopped. I've considered continuing it almost seven years later, but I hardly remember anything of the game I, personally, played, and I don't want to hand write it. However, I still have it stowed away.

Yet, during all that, I had a tiny notebook that fit in my pocket with original characters I had yet to write about. I watched a lot of the classic cartoons as a kid, like “Teen Titans,” “Spongebob Squarepants,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” so on and so forth. My first character was inspired by Teen Titans. I wanted a super hero character, specifically one like Starfire, cause she was my favorite. Looking back, I realized I was writing fan-fiction (judge me if you want, I don't care)! However, she never had a fully written out story more than she had a bio. Yet. That’s when a new trend of mine started.

This notebook went from having only three characters to five to more! I had to get a new notebook for more space; a typical spiral notebook. I had about ten characters by the end of 7th grade, but none had their own stories. The notebook was filled with potential bios, character descriptions, and how they were inspired. That notebook has since become a binder, only to become an even bigger binder. Today, it has 42 characters that I have written extensively about, but have yet to share with many people. People who know me fairly well can see me carrying around this binder almost everywhere I go. This in case I have an idea and need to write it down ASAP. These characters are very dear to me and very few know about them because I keep the majority private for my own reasons. The only character a lot of people know about it 'Maria Sinclair', as she was one of my first, but has become my favorite. Her story is complex and has gone through hundreds of edits, but I have put the most time into her. As one of my few redheaded characters, she is also a bit unique in that department.

Junior year of high school was when I wrote my first novel! I was so proud of this novel and only recently shared it online (2 years ago). I may publish it, but I have yet to decide. It's titled "None is Fair" and it takes place during the Civil War from the point of view of a slave owner who hated slavery. It, more or less, is about him trying to make life better for the slaves on his plantation. For the few who did read it, I was amazed they liked it. A few even said they cried. As a writer who was so scared for people to read her stuff, I was surprised to the point of tears that people actually liked it! I started taking my writing more seriously and started tossing around "professional names" to sign my stories with. I have since settled on the simple name of "Savannah Taylor." Sounds like a famous person, right?

Few months after that, I moved on to my next novel called 'The Sacrificial System'. Reaching 75,000 words, I was so proud, but hardly anyone read it, because I rarely shared it. It was published on Ebooks a few months later just for kicks and giggles, but I had little money to promote it or go through an actual editor. When people finally read it, and liked it, I decided to go on with the sequel. I finished it in about two months, but time got away from me and I have yet to fully edit it. During all this, I have written numerous excerpts from books that will never be written, finished two novelizations of movies (just to kill time really), written out some fanfiction (go ahead, judge me!) and gone through too many notebooks with plans for future writings.

In the last month, my newest novel has reached 99000 words, soon to reach 100000 after editing, which is longer than the first Harry Potter book...just saying. The main character, Iris Gail, is modeled after myself in personality, thus I had a special connection with her since day one. While this story was a fanfiction I decided to finally write I am going back and using the characters I created to rewrite a completely new story. This book may actually go through an editor and be formally published, but I haven't decided yet. Once finished, I will go and finish the novella I started, but put on hold for the sake of this novel. That is where I am today.

I am aware that this is long and took a lot of time to read, but I'm a writer. What else do you expect? I am proud of how far I have come and what I have accomplished as a writer. I hope to become more comfortable in sharing my work as time goes on, but I will never stop writing. No matter how many unwritten novels sit in my journals or how many characters never see the light of day, I will never stop planning or writing stories, even if they remain for my eyes only. Thank you for reading my story as a writer.