Like most people, Emily Gaines (10) began reading and writing at a young age. Gaines taught herself these skills at the age of three, and ever since then she has been writing her own stories. So far, she has completed three books and has two more in the making.

“Books were my inspiration. I liked stories, so as soon as I knew how to write, I made some of my own,” Gaines said.

Gaines likes to write fiction books that are aimed towards young adults. She makes her stories personal. Many of them relate to her thoughts, experiences and problems. She turns all these aspects of her life into stories.    

“I feel like it is most representative of real life, but keeping an aspect of a personal connection to myself. I write about things that I personally deal with but from a different perspective, and [then] I try to tie it all back into a big beautiful bow,” Gaines said.

Gaines plans to keep writing in the future. She hopes to attend Kenyon College, her dream school. Kenyon is a liberal arts school with an advanced writing program. If she is accepted into the school, Gaines wants to prove to others that she can make writing a successful career.

“A lot of people try and tell me [writing] can’t be a career. They say I should just write on the side and do something else. I want to write. My writing has always been on the side, and I want to pull it into a more center stage point in my life,” Gaines said.

Writing has influenced Gaines’ life. It made her think and look at things much differently. Now her whole world revolves around writing.

“[Writing] influences the way I think about things and the way I see things. I don’t look at things and just see them any more. As soon as I see something, I’m already putting it into words in my head. It can’t just exist. It has to be in words. I look for stories in everything. I see inspiration in everything. Everything revolves around writing,”  Gaines said.

Writing isn’t always easy. Every now and then Gaines experiences a mental block, which makes it difficult to write. The biggest thing that keeps her from writing is motivation, but she always finds a way to continue her stories.

“I read somewhere once that there is going to be a story that just grabs you and won’t let you not write it. So once you find that story, you will hit that rough patch and maybe put it back for a week or two. But then it just grabs you, and you can’t stop writing it. You keep putting the words down one at a time and eventually they start coming a little easier and you find your rhythm again,” Gaines said.