Let's take a break from all the seriousness of my writing journey and travel back to another time when all being published took was a laminator. My very first book was not only written by me but also illustrated. It features a terrifying castle, a curious princess who dares to visit it and is captured, and a brave prince who comes to the rescue. I remember being very proud. I am certain my 2nd Grade teacher knew I would be destined for greatness!
Okay, so the book never went up for sale, but my parents dutifully kept it in their closet for over 25 years, and that must say something.

 We all start somewhere. My imagination has been running wild for as long as I can remember. I wish I had kept that giant laminated monstrosity, but I think I read it one final time and allowed my mom to let it go.

 Here is a summary: Princess is watering her garden when she suddenly notices a very creepy man going into the very scary castle next door. She decides she needs to visit this man, so she goes and puts on a new dress (Why not, princesses must always look nice. She can't just show up in her gardening clothes). She knocks on the door, and oh no! The man locks her inside. He tells her she can never leave. The princess does not allow her capture to dampen her spirits and just starts taking care of the palace (just because it's creepy doesn't mean it can't be clean, too). Several days go by, and the handsome prince discovers the princess is missing. He immediately knows she must be at the scary castle. He swordfights with the creepy man (does not kill him) and saves the princess. Once she is returned to her castle, they get married. I forgot to mention, the prince is the princess's cousin. (Yay for historical accuracy?) The end.

Oh! I remember now, that gem was called, "The Dark Castle." I also wrote another book in elementary school called, "The Dark Rose," I'm sensing a theme. I don't remember as much about that one, though.

 When I got to middle school, that was when I started writing "movie scripts." These scripts were typed in size 20 font, one-sided, and usually about 15-20 pages long. The scripts were mostly dialog with minimal actions writing in parenthesis.
 
Miranda - (Ring flashes) Hang on, I need to take this call. (Twists diamond, and a screen appears, John looks angry.)
John - How could you do this to me?! (John cries.)

God bless my writer's heart. I have kept ALL of my grade school notebooks with all of my un-typed "scripts." I like to read them from time to time. I have a good laugh; I cringe a lot, but sometimes... SOMETIMES, I come across an old gem. Don't get me wrong, nothing in that old stack is worthy of being shared as is, but the raw idea was pretty cool. The 50 Deaths of Annabelle Joy was one such story. All I had written was a one-paragraph synopsis back in like 9th grade. I found it in 2012 and used it to win my very first NaNoWriMo.

I briefly published the 52,000-word novel because I was so excited to have completed it. Unfortunately, I poorly edited it myself and removed it from Amazon. I fully intend to do it better; the third time is the charm, right? So, keep an eye out in the coming years for that. But, please, do not try to search for the original, unless maybe you're hoping I'll reach J.K. Rowling status and my sad first edition will be worth money one day, HAHA!

Anyways, cheers to our younger selves who helped us to get to where we are today. If anything, I would tell younger me to write more, but she did. She wrote every spare minute she could. In fact, young me would probably be appalled I own so many blank notebooks, whoops!

Keep on writing.

For any of you who'd like to share— please, what was your very first story. Comment with the good, the cringe-inducing, the bad, and the hilarious.