New Story Contest: On the Job - Emma H. - 07/07/20

Contest: Winners

New Story Contest: On the Job

Submitted by: Emma H., age 8, Bronx, NY

Little Blue Book

“Ugh!” I slammed my pen down and stared down at the blank piece of paper in front of me. All I wanted to do was write at least a mediocre story. Though an avid reader, I had never thought about how hard it was for the writers to write my favorite stories. And when you are a seven-year-old girl, it must be even harder to write, seeing that I couldn’t even find an idea in that wretched brain of mine. I realized that I was writing all this down. It could be an amazing idea for a story. Yeah right, who wants to read about my life?

I looked up and saw my grandma reading over my shoulder. “You ain’t have a wretched brain,” she said. “And I’d like to read about your life. I want to see how you put it down on paper.”

After that I brought a journal everywhere. In my messy handwriting I would scribble down notes. Sometimes teachers would say things like “Selina, this is math class, not writing class. Put the journal away.”

Then I would write notes under the desk, where no one could see me. My grades dropped, but I didn’t care. Everyone else did, though. My friends would say, “Hey, Selina, you wanna study for the math test?”

My grandma would say, “You ain’t never gonna get into a good college or any college whatsoever with those grades.”

But all I cared about was my little blue notebook with my life written inside it.

I grew older, and there were more and more things to write about. Mean kids who teased me about my writing, high school, and having to put away my little blue notebook for hours at a time. That was the hardest. But by the time I reached college (which I did get into, thank you, Grandma) there were only a few blank pages left.

I became a writer once I finished my fourth year. And it didn’t matter if I had bad grades throughout school, because all I cared about was my little blue notebook.


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