Hello...it's me.

Hello, everyone! I still can't believe I'm actually going to do this: attempt (key word) to get my novel published. Shout out to my roommate who gave me the final push to pursue my dreams of writing. When I was little, I was always writing. My head was stuffed full of ideas; my imagination was endless. I wrote tons of little stories when I was in elementary school, from "Locker 216" in fourth grade to a mystery book in fifth grade (I lost the notebook right after I wrote it! I'm still sad about losing that one). I remember my elementary school teachers berating my unique interpretations of how I thought my name should look in cursive. They told me, "You can write your name like that when you're an author, but for right now, you have to write it like this."

Ah, the good old days of elementary school!

As the years progressed, I seemed to forget just how much I loved writing as I began to write less and less. Eventually, the only pieces I wrote were grudgingly typed school papers or hurriedly scrawled dreams in my dream journal. I seemed to forget to do what I always loved. I pushed writing aside; it was soon replaced with film, painting, dance, and piano. I thought nothing of it. 

But then one summer, the summer of 2014, I found a website filled with hundreds of writing prompts. But they weren't boring writing prompts, like the ones we were forced to write in school; they were fiction writing prompts. A good number of them involved aliens, secret agents, superheroes, mermaids--everything by which I am fascinated. I started writing them right away, and once again, fell in love with writing. I wrote these prompts for the rest of the summer, even trying my hand at some of my own stories. None of them really took off, so I just stowed them in the abyss of my computer, forgotten. 

But then came the fateful day, December 20, 2015, the birthday of the idea for my novel. I was driving home from college for winter break when I passed an old gas station in the middle of nowhere. Instantly, I was struck with a random scenario: what if I drove up to that gas station right now and, as I was filling my tank, some guy ran out and hijacked my car? It was ridiculous and came out of nowhere, but that's what went through my mind. For the rest of the drive, I played around with the imagined scenario in my head. Before I knew it, I had a fully formed idea for a novel. As soon as I got home, I immediately typed up the synopsis and plunged right into writing. 

Now, in July, I'm still plugging away and am almost to writing the end. Of course, I'll still have to edit the entire thing, come up with a title, and lots more, but I've actually stuck by this story. It hasn't gotten shoved back into the folder of forgotten ideas. I've become engulfed in this new world of mine, and, most of the time, my book is all I can think about. Whenever I have a spare moment, I think about what could happen next or study every single word I've typed to make sure there are no plot holes. I feel as though I've poured my heart into this novel; it not only deals with the exciting topics of corruption and rebellion, but also the difficult, and somewhat personal, topic of grief.  

My family and I lost my grandmother, or Lola, my cousin, Maddy,
 and my Aunt Terry (not pictured) within the past few years.

I am beyond ecstatic to finish my novel and have everyone read it. I've worked relentlessly on it so far, and I know I have a long way to go, but I am so excited to have so many supporters already. Most of you have no idea what my book is really about (I plan to keep it that way for a little while longer too; sorry!), but I can't wait to embark on this journey with all of you! This blog is going to provide updates regarding my progress and other little ramblings (I tend to have a lot sometimes), so keep checking back here! I plan to post every Friday, so be sure to subscribe via email using the box below! Thank you so much for all your support thus far! Feel free to email me at emiliana.maye@gmail.com or message me via my Facebook page “Emiliana Maye”. I can also receive messages through my newly created website (click on the link!)! I’d love to hear from you! Until next time!

-Emiliana Maye