Seventeen-year-old Elara Bloom had always been different. While her classmates dreamt of fame, fortune, or escape from their sleepy seaside town, Elara dreamed of words. Not just any words—her words. Bound in the pages of a book, nestled on a shelf where someone, somewhere, might find them and feel seen.
She wrote in secret, mostly. In the attic with dust-speckled light and a typewriter she'd rescued from a thrift store. Her stories were worlds of magic, sorrow, and stars—reflections of everything she felt but couldn’t say aloud.
Her parents wanted her to be practical. “Writing isn’t a career, it’s a hobby,” her mother would say, glancing at her over the rim of her coffee cup. Elara smiled politely, then slipped back upstairs to write another chapter anyway.
The turning point came in the form of a writing contest—The Orion Fellowship, a prestigious competition for young writers. Elara almost didn’t enter. What were her quiet stories compared to polished, perfect voices from big cities? But her best friend, Mika, wouldn’t let her give up.
“Submit it,” Mika said, handing her a flash drive like it was a sword. “You’ve got something real. Let them see it.”
Elara submitted her manuscript the night before the deadline. Then she tried to forget about it.
Weeks passed.
And then, the letter came.
She didn’t win.
But she was a finalist. And an editor at a small publishing house had written a note at the bottom of the email: “We loved your voice. If you’re interested, we’d love to talk.”
Elara stared at those words, her heart pounding. It wasn’t a bestseller. It wasn’t fame. But it was a door.
And sometimes, all a dreamer needs is one open door.
AUTHOR/ ELISHA: "Hey there!!! I already created a novel about this and it's now being published (it'll be published at May 14)!! It's only at chapter 9 tho! So if you're interested please read 'Ink in Her Veins'!! 🐤
