Young Book Woman Writes: The First Story I Ever Completed!

As Book Woman, I love love love to read. But my bookishness extends beyond just reading the written word; I equally love to write! I have notes in my phone, a Word doc on my computer, and random slips of paper in my bags with ideas for stories, books, and novels I plan to write! Some of these stories have outlines, a few beginning chapters, killer titles, or catchy first sentences written out, but I've only ever finished one story, which I titled, "The Camera."  Please read on to encounter the perfection that was my 10-year-old literary imagination.

Ross, the amazing cameraman.

This story was about a 12 year old girl who finds a fancy studio video camera and decides to pretend she's running for President with her two friends. I believe the names I gave to my characters were as follows: Riley is the main character, the one who is "running." Ross is the camera guy, who is naturally super nerdy and tech smart. And Lily is Riley's publicist, speech writer, and fashion expert. They are a fierce trio to contend with, and write politically moving speeches.
Ross flawlessly photoshops Riley's interviews and debates into real videos of Presidential candidates speaking. Riley's speaking skills are on par with the greatest of all time, and Lily's marketing skills produce pristine commercials on the issues without going negative on the other candidates.

The amazingly mature Riley,
thanks to Lily.

Unbeknownst to the politically savvy preteens, the camera they found was left behind from a presidential rally in their city, and as they recorded their campaign, it was broadcasting their interviews and debates on to live television!
Lily's makeup and fashion skills are so great that not even Riley's parent's notice that it's their daughter making the news as the nation searches to find this amazing independent candidate so they can all write in her name on their ballots. Riley is winning in all the polls, but Riley, Ross, and Lily innocently continue their campaign as a fun game, never watching the news to find out they are changing the race. (Note: this was before the time of Facebook!)

About the same time that their teacher shows a clip in class about the Presidential race uproar occurring, the CIA shows up at Riley's house. They finally tracked her down, and it's all revealed that this girl is NOT 35 or older and has no political experience, and there is a national uproar over the event! She obviously cannot be president because she has schoolwork to do, but she, Lily, and Ross are offered special summer experiences at the Whitehouse, and American politics are changed forever.

The lesson of the story was that "anyone can be president" and that children will be the ones to finally bridge the political gap between parties. I was 10ish when I came up with this genius, totally plausible concept, and as I grew a bit older I realized how crazy such a plot was. It's stuffed in a folder somewhere in my parent's house now. Or maybe I got bitter enough about what I perceived as a stupid childhood story and tossed my hard work in the trash. If so, no worries, I've still got it all in my noggin!

Now that I remember this story, I'm realizing that my 10 year old self was perhaps a genius indeed. Compared to the election we're in the middle of right now, my 10 year old ideas don't seem so crazy anymore. RILEY FOR PRESIDENT!

Maybe I'll go ahead and officially write this story now, or maybe I should start writing one of the billion other ideas I've got. I will, I promise. And when I do, I'll dedicate that first book to Riley, Lily, and Ross.
In the mean time, I'll be stressing about who to vote for, wishing that I had Riley to write in on my ballot.

P.S. I now remember two other very short stories I wrote and technically finished when I was in elementary school: "The Fat Prince" and "A Message in the Clouds." Those are great and interesting looks into my young mind that I can analyze in another blog post. Until then, adieu!