Blog: OG Stories of my Childhood: My First Novel (Sorta)

Several months ago, I did a series on here called “OG Stories of my Childhood” where I basically just found old stories that I had written in grade school (ages 7 to 10 I think) and shared them with all of you, chronicling my early days as a writer. I thought I had ended that series with my last post about the creation of the Pet-Bots, but nope. As I was going through my room, I found an old manuscript that I wrote called The Spotlight, which was my first attempt at writing a novel. I went through and read it, which brought back a ton of memories of 10-year-old me thinking that she was the greatest author ever for writing that book and it would be a New York Times Best Seller in no time (it clearly wasn’t as it was never published). Since there are chapters in this story (10 to be exact), I’m going to be posting this and making it a series within a series on here over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that. Now, let’s get into the Prolouge and Chapter 1.

Prologue

“Hey, Rebeca, look what Santa got you!” yelled Briana. She was a 10-year-old girl with brown eyes and brown hair.

“Coming!” yelled Rebeca groggily, as she swung her legs off the bed and into her slippers. Rebeca was 9 years old with green eyes and black hair, just like her mother, Mrs. Richardson.

As she ran down the stairs and into the living room, she noticed that she had many box-shaped presents, all waiting to be opened with uncontrollable joy. “Here you go, my sweet Rebeca. It’s from Santa,” said her father, Mr. Richardson, as he handed her one of the box-shaped presents. Rebeca slowly tore open the present. With growing anticipation, her mind was reeling with ideas of what might be inside the box. Could there be a doll? A box full of nail polishes? No. Her parents knew her too well. Instead, got her a… “*Gasp* My first designer fashion heels?” Rebeca gasped, breathless. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She had asked for some but had thought that she wouldn’t get them. But now she had them. Soon, Rebeca couldn’t contain her joy and had to let out a scream of happiness. “Merry Christmas!” exclaimed her mother.

And that’s how Rebeca’s dream of becoming a fashion designer/model started.

[Author’s Note: With a few minimal changes to punctuation and spelling, this is actually what I wrote. I actually wrote the word “gasp” to indicate that she was excited to receive her designer shoes and then proceeded to write the phrase “She gasped.” If you’re cringing right now, just know that we are suffering together.

Also, let’s not forget that designer heels can cost anywhere from $500 to several thousand dollars. The Richardsons are loaded and are either really stupid or really trust their 9-year-old to give her those super expensive heels. Even if they were heels that looked age appropriate, I’ve still seen designer kids’ shoes that cost hundreds of dollars.]

Chapter 1: The Job Interview

“Rebeca! REBECA! Come on down. I’ve been yelling at you for ten minutes!” yelled Mrs. Richardson.

“Mmmph,” groaned Rebeca as she reluctantly sat up in bed. It had been 2 months since she had graduated college. Now, her mom was looking for a job for her daughter to take part in…and today happened to be the day that she had the job interview. It would all determine whether she would get her job.

[Author’s Note: At least our suffering can be tempered with laughter here. Though I would like to know why Mrs. Richardson is the one mainly looking for her daughter’s job. I mean, Rebeca just graduated college. She should already know how to find a job, right?]

After getting dressed, eating breakfast, and saying goodbye to her family, Rebeca left for the job interview.

The inside of the office was very dill and drafty. Rebeca was forced to sit down on a rock-hard bench and wait for the interview to start. How do these people work here? It’s so cold, thought Rebeca.

After about two hours of waiting, it was finally Rebeca’s turn. As she walked towards the job interviewer’s office, a sick feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. But she kept walking towards the doors. “Welcome, Rebeca!” said the hearty interviewer. He was a very fat man with blue eyes and blonde hair. “Now, let’s get to business. What are you good at? What have your intentions been? Just kidding about that one. We give people jobs based on what their talents are.”

[Author’s Note: As someone who is currently looking for a job, I can tell you that that is not accurate. Employers do look for what your intentions are as that can indicate whether or not you will be a good investment. While talent does take a bigger role here, intentions can go a long way in telling your employer whether you will stay or leave after a few years.]

“Well…” started Rebeca, “I’m good at singing, took singing lessons when I was 8 years old. Oh, and I’m good at dancing with a good memory.”

“Then I think that you belong in the acting department.”

“What?!”

“Yes! It’s a very good ‘What?!’ situation. And besides, you have all the qualities of a good actor. And did I mention that the Belview Theater is hosting a musical and is hiring actors and actresses. In fact, I’ll get them on the phone right now!”

“WHAT?!”

“Be quiet! I’m waiting for the director to respond. He put me on hold. Oh…wait…ah, now you respond,” the interviewer said, shifting his attention to talking to the director.

[Author’s Note: Is this dude a job interviewer or an agent?]

“WA wa wa wawa wa.”

[Author’s Note: Apparently all people on the phone in this universe sound like Charlie Brown.]

“Oh is that so? Well then perfect!” – Bleep – “Rebeca, the director wants you to attend rehearsal at 9:30 A.M. tomorrow. DON’T miss it. This is the chance of a lifetime.”

After those few words, Rebeca left, feeling ignored and upset at the same time.

“Hello sweetie. How was the interview?” asked Mrs. Richardson as Rebeca came through the door and into the living room.

“It was fine, I guess,” replied Rebeca.

“Oh, let me guess. You didn’t get the job you wanted.”

“Yep. I wanted to become a fashion designer/model. But apparently it wasn’t one of those job companies that listen to what you want to do and decide what job you get.”

“Well life’s like that dear. Get used to it. It’s going to be like that for the rest of your life.”

[Author’s Note: How do job interviews work in this world?! Do you just call them, go into the waiting room for several hours, and then give them your random qualifications so they can just assign you a random job? This sounds more like an in-person, really dumb version of Zip Recruiter or Indeed.

Ignoring my 10-year-old naivety about how to get a job, this story is very cringey right now and it doesn’t get much better. While I’ll give myself points for trying, I’m still laughing my butt off as characters are just doing and saying things that are either repetitive or choppy. At the very least, it has the redeeming quality of being funny.]

Until next time,

M.J.