When I was around eleven years old I decided I hated reading. School had forced me to read books I was uninterested in or had a hard time understanding. I wondered what had gone wrong, as I had loved books as a younger child, and decided I just needed books I was interested in. I whipped out my brand-new Kindle Fire and opened the bookstore. After a moment of pondering, I searched a subject I was passionate about: Minecraft. Most of the books were quick, easy to understand, engaging, and quite frankly painless. After reading a few of them I decided it was within my capacity to write my own. So I did. I wrote my first book at age 13 on my mom's laptop. It was published later that year and became available for worldwide electronic distribution shortly after I turned fourteen. Today that same book had sold upwards of 600 copies. For a time, it was even among the top ranks of its category. Since then I have continued to create and publish work (poems, short stories, and novels) throughout my middle and high school career. At age 15 I began taking college classes at a local university and graduated with my associate degree before I ever graduated high school. Now I am going on to study English at a private school in Salt Lake City. My message to the youth, those who aspire to greater things: never forget to have diligence in the pursuit of excellence, and if you want it then by all means go get it. Arete, fellows!