My Future

At the beginning of 8th grade, my old teacher ms. Staff told me I was going to change the world. So as I departed for high school, that’s what I set out to do.

My years at high tech high flew by. In the whorl of events that were my high school years, one event I can still picture clearly, my first day at high tech. Going from 8th grade to 9th was hard but as I stepped through the doors of my new school, I knew that it was all worth it. All the new faces were intimidating, but with the friends I had I survived. I made new friends as the year wore on, some I kept in touch with even though we went to college in different parts of the country. My old friends were with me too though, we stayed after school and saw each other on weekends. We still talk on the phone today!!

All throughout high school I worked on writing. My poetry and stories grew longer and better and my notebooks filled more with each passing year. I took from these to complete my first attempt at publishing my work. I sent several poems and creative writing pieces to magazines and newspapers, hoping to get something off of it. The magazines liked my writing and offered to pay me for more samples. Also some non-profit organizations approached me on more writing on the environment, since that is what I wrote about sometimes. It was my first actual job, I was a sophomore.

The rest of high school passed quickly. Between writing, my social life and school work my days were full. And so I graduated from high tech high and was accepted into Harvard University and graduated with a master’s degree and double majored in creative writing and English. During my college years I worked on my first novel. A year after I graduated I finished it and sent it to random house publishers. They really liked but had a few suggestions to change it to make it better. Six months later my book got published, and within the year became one of the most popular books for teens and adults alike. It won a Newberry honor award, and then they asked me to go on the tour.

The book tour was the most important time in my life so far. I traveled around the world for 3 months selling my book and promoting it. The first month I spent in the U.S. going from state to state meeting with middle schools and high schools, doing book signings and the like. Then I went to Europe, France, England, and Italy doing the same thing, and enjoying myself just a bit more since i'd never been to Europe before.....

To Be Continued