Brooke Dorsch

The email should've gone to my spam folder, but it didn't. I took that as a sign. The Bridge Literary Journal, which published near my hometown, sent out a call for submissions. I had just the story for them-my childhood growing up in rural western Pennsylvania. It took a few months to hear that my short essay had been accepted. I would be published in the annual journal, my first one. I was invited to read my work in front of a crowd in Oil City, among them some of the best

I tried, and failed, at blogging...twice. However, I didn't give up on writing. I took one of the posts from my deleted blog and made it prettier. I entered the Writer's Digest Writing Competition. It was the first time I really put my writing out there. I kept my fingers crossed for eight months. Alas, I didn't win a free trip to New York City or the $5000 prize. I did win an Honorable Mention in my category, personal essay, which meant almost as much as a first place