Back in the Day

 No matter how arduous, painful, and disappointing writing might seem, I will always love it. When I was a little girl I didn't think I had a dream that would take me into adulthood. I never proclaimed to want a particular profession, and sometimes I would cry in despair for lack of a real "hobby". Little did I know, it was there. I just didn't see it, because I was having so much fun.

 From the time I started reading seriously in first grade, I made the decision to be a writer. Why? Because I couldn't stand when stories ended in a way contrary to the way I imagined them ending.

 My first ever story was about my cat Scout and scrawled in a spiral-bound book with a kitten on the front. Far from a masterpiece, but a story from my heart all the same. People (mainly teachers and adults) didn't like my stories, but I tried not to care because I was writing the stories that I wanted to tell.

The Queen Cat by Jessica Verve, age 8

It was hard, though. Not many people had faith in my work, and most writing advice includes the warning "there's a 99 percent chance you won't be very good or successful". For the past few years I have been afraid of writing. I'm no Shakespeare or Austen, so I should probably find some sort of "real job", right? But looking back at where I came from, and how I took something I didn't even consider a hobby and worked at it and worked at it and improved and anguished and enjoyed... well suddenly I don't feel so scared anymore. Coming up with stories and exploring people's reasoning is my oxygen, not my job or a servitude.

 That's how I know I'm a writer.