Every year in November, I take part in an online writing event known by many as NanoWriMo, which stands for national novel writing month. NaNoWriMo is something that I was first introduced to by my cousin, who is an extremely talented writer. When she first told me about it and what I would have to do, I told myself over and over again that I could never write 50,000 words in one month.

Upon starting writing for my first time, I realized that 50,000 words was impossible to get to unless I wrote a couple thousand words every single day. At first, I thought that I could skip a couple days and then just pick up the extra words on a different day, making my goal word count for that day about three times as much as usual. That did not happen.

In fact, my first time participating in NaNoWriMo, I didn't make the word count. I didn't even get close. The next three years after that I participated again, but actually won! "Winning" is just defined as making the word count and validating it.

I've always had the dream of one day becoming a published author. YA fiction has always been something that I knew I could write. I love stories of far off places with magic and monsters where characters go on amazing adventures.

Last year in November, I created a story that I think may be the first novel that I try to get published. I knew this because I felt something when writing this story that I've never felt before. I became my own character in this world that I created and felt like I knew the characters better than I knew myself. That's something amazing that happens when writing.

At some point, you stop telling the characters what to do and they start telling you. Now, if you're not a writer you may not know what I mean. Well let me tell you. When writing, you try to think ahead to scenarios that haven't happened yet. You try to plan out the entire book so that you can write things in the present that will affect the future. If you don't do this, you may end up having plot holes or information that doesn't quite match what you wrote in the beginning.

Before writing, I tried to plan out every event, every fight, and every place that my characters would go. Halfway into writing, I realized that I had strayed from my intended path quite a bit. What I found was that the personality traits I had given my characters had changed the story. The choices they made changed because they had their own minds. I stopped listening to what I wanted them to do, and started focusing on what they really would do.

This is the reason I write. I get to make friends with people who don't exist. They stop being just characters from a story and become separate little parts of me that get to go on the adventures I only dream of. I get to see places in my mind that no one else has seen and I get to meet people that come from all sorts of backgrounds.

If by now you're thinking I'm crazy and need to be committed somewhere, just know that writing is something that has saved me. Every time I feel sad, or nervous, or angry, I remind myself that there is a world of magic and adventure just waiting for me on my computer.

Another reason I write is because I can go anywhere in the world and have no repercussions. You can hardly walk 20 feet in any direction anymore without ending up on private property. That's always something that has aggravated me. I would love to explore the woods around my house but the second I get far enough to not see my house anymore, I am trespassing on someone else's land.

We live in a world of boundaries and writing makes me feel free. I can roam across canyons or climb up a volcano. I can explore a forest or canoe down a stream and no one is going to charge me money, tell me it's too dangerous, or remove me from their property.

Writing is something that I will never stop doing, even if my dream of becoming published never happens. The most important thing you need to remember as a writer is that you have to write for you, not anyone else.

Also, don't think you need to control everything in your story. Sometimes, your mind will just run away and you will be frantically typing—sometimes typing things that don't even make sense. Don't stop these bursts of inspiration. You can always go back and change it but don't halt your mind from being creative, not ever. I encourage everyone to write, even if you aren't good at it; and who knows, maybe your words out into the world one day.