My name is Megan, and I am an aspiring fiction writer/book editor. I am 17 and a senior in a Connecticut high school.

Like everyone that has been going to school since a young age, I started “writing” when I was five. In third grade, I clearly remember our writing prompts being narratives, but I never caught on to those. In fact, I hated writing them!

Writing for fun caught on in the fifth grade, when I began to use my never-ending imagination to jot down little stories here and there (one being about Guiding Light, the Soap Opera my grandmother and I watched, another being about a geese problem we had at my church and someone’s quest to solve the problem, and the only mystery I’ve ever written - a story that entailed one of my mother’s rats going missing).

My first major piece of fictitious writing was done when I was in the fifth grade. They were a set of “episodes” for the television show 7th Heaven. I still have the files, and I keep them in a well-hidden folder on my computer; I’m not ashamed of them, per se, but I know that I’m capable of much better and I would prefer not to share them with anyone. They were written in computer talk (because I thought it was cool at the time), and they were formatted in error-filled script form. Example:

Bill: Come here!
Johnny: *walks over to* What?
Bill: I have a secret.
Johnny: *whispers* What is it?
Bill: I can’t tell you.

It’s been seven years since I wrote those, and I’ve learned a lot about the writing process (including proper format for a script, though I’m not sure if using Celtx is considered cheating); I’m happy to report that my writing has improved greatly since then.

I have been a member of my school’s creative writing club since I was a sophomore; this year, I have been appointed as the editor of our literary magazine. I am also the president of our school’s faculty/student book club, which I have been a member of since I was a sophomore. Last year, I was inducted into the National Honor Society, an achievement I am extremely proud of.

My favorite books are anything in the Harry Potter series. I can’t pick just one, but I find them all to be equally as amazing as the others.

I’m not going to lie. I am a fan of Twilight. I read all the books. This does not mean that I’m a fan of Stephenie Meyer. The idea was there, but the plot was weak, and there was a lot of room for improvement.

I’m also a very big fan of Lurlene McDaniel’s work. Though the story lines are mostly depressing, her writing style is wonderful. I encourage everyone to pick up any of her books. They’re quick reads (usually between 100-200 small pages), and you honestly won’t be able to put them down.

Every November, I participate in National Novel Writing Month. My goal this year is to post links throughout the months of October and November to help participants plan and write their stories. I hope to do the same in April, when I participate in Script Frenzy.

I’m currently in the process of applying to colleges, and my plans include majoring in creative writing. In order to become a book editor, I’d like to find a college that also offers courses in editing and publishing. So far, my top two choices are Colby-Sawyer College and Emerson College.

I do almost all of my writing while listening to music because I feel it helps me get my ideas out easier than when I’m writing without anything. Any background noise is better than nothing because if you’re swamped with ideas like I am, it seems almost easier to sort through them all.

Some people would describe me as a loner because I would prefer to be by myself than with people. Others would describe me as a freak because I’m almost always writing. But those are false statements. I do like to be alone, but being in a place filled with people is much more interesting for people watching; so many story and character ideas can be generated while people watching, and I recommend it to everyone.

As for those that say people that write a lot are “freaks,” I’d direct them to people like Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, even Barack Obama. Maybe their opinions were unpopular, or their ideas weren’t accepted by many, but the fact that they put themselves out there through their writing really inspires me.

People can form whatever opinions they want about me, because what matters is that I’m happy at the end of the day, and what makes me happy is writing.