Congratulations to our One Book One Town Writing and Mixed Media contest winner: Emily.

 When times get tough, I sometimes let my pencil explain. I take out my pencil, and write. The overflowing feeling caused by the situation spills onto my paper. I write and write and write. The words form into sentences, sentences to paragraphs, paragraphs in a story. The story of my emotions. I write how I feel, in a story. I can write a story about someone else, someone else in the same place as me. I write about that person’s adventures and how they comprehend and deal with things.
 This person overcomes obstacles with the help of people who love her. Even when she feels alone, she’s not. She takes the wisdom and strength given to her and marches forward. She has the love of her friends to get back up again. She has courage to take the next step, but not alone. She has bravery to face the season she is in. And she has the love of the important individuals in her life to help her through it all.
 But at times, she is blind to it all. The storm blinds her from the solution, and circles around her like the middle of a hurricane. She is so focused on the hurricane circling around that she forgets to look up at the sun shining above her. The clouds try to block the sun but the clouds fail, for love never fails.
 At times, I begin to draw. Draw what’s happening. The girl has friends and family beside her to comfort her through it all. She is happy and not alone, even when she feels like it inside. Then I draw her in the middle of the storm. The different shades of blue go around her. But the storm is overlapped by the sun. The streaks of yellow shine above the girl, and comfort her. She cries in the arms of the light, not in defeat of the storm. She cries and talks to her family and friends. She cries and talks about what she has been facing. And her family hugs her, and tells her that it will be okay. 
 She gets back up and walks home. The situation is still there, but the feeling is smaller. There is a new feeling, a feeling that reassures her that it will be okay. Over time, the negative feelings get smaller, and she is okay. She is strong. I sit back and look at what I have written. This girl is me, and look at what the girl has accomplished. If she can do it, so can I. The overflowing negative feelings turn into overflowing hope. Hope that it will be okay.
 I put the pencil down, and lift my head up. I walk to my loved ones and tell them my troubles. A tear runs down my cheek, and they hug me tight. They tell me that it will be alright. I get love and encouragement from the people I love, just like my character does. I do the things I have to do.
 I look back at my past adventure a certain amount of time later, and I see the story I wrote. The stories and pictures. I remember the girl, the girl who went through the same thing as me. I remember how she solved the problem. How I solved the problem. I look back on the girl and her situation. Then I look at it now. I notice how I was helped and loved, still loved. I see the path from then to now. I now see how things are different, but in a good way. I am thankful.
 Another storm hits and it knocks me down. But I do not shatter. Tears run down my cheeks. I don’t know what to do for a while. But then I think of the girl. The girl who was in the middle of a storm. And she says, “ It will be okay, you can do it!” Everyone else says it too. The light is there to comfort me. I get back up. And I am reassured by those who love me, “ I am here, you can do this!” I know what to do. The storms in my life can come, and I may not be ready at first. It may be overwhelming at first. I may not get it right at first. But I do know this, I will have the people who love me to guide me. To help me. So I can get back up again.