A story about a story

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Let me tell you a story about a story.

It was the summer before the last year of elementary school, and I was afraid. The day summer break started, I began to fear going back to school. It was only one year, but I wasn't sure if I could survive that. I wasn't severely bullied, but enough to make me dread every day. I hated that place.

Without books, I'd probably still be depressed and stuck, not sure where to go or what to do with my life. Stories are just silly lies to some people, but they became my entire life.

I devoured books in such a pace that my mind constantly buzzed with ideas and concepts of my own. I've always written, until I felt I had to stop because it was nerdy and pointless. Even as a little kid I knew writing could never be my job. But that summer I wrote about a red-haired girl escaping her orphanage.

Discrimination is often a thing in fantasy, because the genre involves many races and magical abilities and stuff. But still I felt like it didn't deal with the subject enough. All I wanted was to escape my fears, but instead I ended up facing them with Emery, crying with her and learning from her. I loved her so much. She was my hero, and she's been in my brain ever since. She changed my life. Emery's story demanded to be written. I tried to make other stories work, but this one just wouldn't let me go.

It's so personal and difficult to write sometimes, but I can't let it go. So I wrote and wrote.

I started my instagram account because I felt so alone, and you people have brought me so much joy in these three years. I survived school and this spring I'm graduating from a special arts high school (which I wouldn't have gone to if I hadn't started writing again). Emery's story changed my life.

It's still tough, and I struggle a lot, but I know my purpose. Telling stories gives my life meaning, and right now I'm working toward making my life all I dream it to be. Don't silence the voice in your head. Don't forget your stories. Don't ever give up on yourself or your story. It demands to be written, and writing it is your mission.

Imagine a world where nobody finished stories. Nobody--even those who doubt us--would want to live in that world.

Love, Em.