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"Saltwater" - The Story

 As you know, my flash fiction "Saltwater" was accepted for publication into Tiny Seed Literary Journal (yay!). This particular piece has a lot of history to it, so I wanted to share "the story behind the story," as it were. This story was inspired by a sample TAKS writing prompt my junior year of high school. The prompt was, more or less, Write about how home can be more than a place. It just got me thinking, and before long, the original form of "Saltwater" was born, simply titled "Home" (for lack of a better title). For years afterward, that original short story sat on my desktop, untouched and mostly forgotten. Until I was flying home from my first year of college, and the song "Home" by Daughtry came over my headphones. I remembered that short story, and decided I wanted to do more with it. Over the next several years, the short story expanded into a full-length novel, which underwent many, many drafts and a point-of-view change be...
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The First Step

For those who, from these first two titles, think this is going to be a chronological, well-organized documentation of exactly how I "became" a writer, let me stop you here. That's for my autobiography, if I ever write one. This is, instead, a collection of moments that define me as a writer, in whatever order they become relevant. Today's "moment"  happened...well, today. But first, a bit of background. This year, one of my New Year's resolutions and, in fact, a longstanding goal of mine--in fact, of any writer--was to get published. My self-published novel on Amazon doesn't count (and that's another story). So I subscribed to a website known as Literistic that, each month, sends me a list of contests and publications that are currently accepting submissions. In March, I finally sat down and made it a point to take the necessary time to read and research the various publications and contests Literistic sent me to and start getting my work out th...
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The Journey Begins

 My journey as a writer started (officially) in 7th grade. One of my good friends was writing a story, and she asked me to read it and give her feedback. Her story was great, and the thought occured to me: if she can write like this, maybe I can, too. So a few days later, I sat in front of the computer in the library before school, opened a blank Word document, and just...started writing. I felt so powerful. I was in charge of this world, these characters. I thought, I can make them do whatever I want! I can give them magic powers! I can make them fall in love! I can have them explore ancient ruins, get kidnapped, or go through a portal into another world! I can even let them live perfectly boring, ordinary lives! I was addicted. I kept writing after that. My first "published" story was a short story I typed, printed out, and stapled together myself. I even drew a cover for it! I was so proud. I also started carrying a notebook with me everywhere. I even got that notebook con...
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