I love what writing has done for me. As a kid, I never thought anyone would be interested in the worlds and the characters I was creating. But then my older brother started to help me, we wrote a few chapters to a book together and he was my biggest support as a child. Eventually, my skills grew and my best friend sat me down one day. She told me if I wanted to be an author, I needed to really start writing. She wanted me to pick a project and stay with it. I listened to her and started writing the biggest story I'd ever thought of. I started the project in the eigth grade. I was able to take all the different characters I had thought of over the years and turn them into tangible creations. Since I started writing this project, I have finished the first draft. I've been meticulously working to edit the story and build it to be better. The world I created there is unique and holds a special place in my heart. Writing is my safe place. It's the only place I can really tell my story to the world. Everything I've ever written feels like a piece of me, and I'll forever be thankful to have built this thing with the support of my family and friends. Writing is difficult. That's a fact I've learned in the last four years. Staying focused is a serious problem, and writer's block is even worse. There have been days when I didn't want to keep writing. I'm fortunate enough to have had a best friend and a family that kept me going even when it was difficult. I have applied to the University of Kansas and have been accepted. I plan to major in English with a subplan in Creative Writing. Words tell every story, and even though a picture is worth a thousand words, I think you can paint a picture with just a few words. I plan to continue working on my book until it's done. Until I can get it published and out to the world. I'll keep writing in college and keep up my efforts, because writing is my life. The characters are my life. I don't know where I would be if I hadn't taken up the pencil as a kid and decided this was the life for me. In August of 2024, I fell into a deep well of depression. There were times when I struggled to believe that it would be worth it to continue anything at all. Writing helped to pull me out of it. I was able to get better and continued my passion for writing. I love writing. There's nothing I would rather do in my life than create a space for people who have struggled the way I have. I want teenagers who don't think they have anywhere else to go to be inspired by my work and learn that they can make it too. Writing isn't my life. I'm more complex than that, but writing is one of the many things about me that has always been a constant. That's not going to change. I can't wait to focus on writing in college so that I can create the world I needed as a kid.