I wrote my first story in first grade about a girl who could become invisible. You might think I wrote this because I wanted to become invisible. Actually, it was quite the opposite. I’ve always been the person in class who likes to talk (but not out of turn) and answer questions. I wrote the story because it was fun to imagine what another person’s life might be like. There’s mirrors (writing that stems or reflects the self) and windows (writing that lets you see into others). I started with writing window stories.
When I was in 5th grade, things changed. I was on crutches and in a wheelchair for a while. I missed out on s
ome of my favorite things, like playing basketball. In October of that year, I got appendicitis and had to have emergency sur
gery. The worse part about that year, though, was the discovery of a life-threatening peanut allergy that spun my world into a danger zone. My life was in the hands of the people around me, people who couldn’t understand or just didn’t care.
I started writing to escape. I wrote mirror stories and window stories, both for the freedom of it. 5th grade was when I started the first draft of my novel, One Chance, and I’ve kept writing novels ever since.
It’s really easy to get lost in the same world over and over. So I did, and that’s how I got my series.
