My name is S.P. Kumar. I am twelve years old, and I live in San Diego, California with my mom, dad, and little sister.
Ever since I was little, I have always loved reading more than anything else in my whole life. Books were a way of escaping boring, normal life, and going into new worlds. My favorite books were the ones that opened doors into new worlds, always, and I loved visiting these imaginary places in my head. When I came into fourth grade, I discovered a new love - a love of writing. I started off telling my sister my stories. I made up dozens of new worlds we explored together: Candyland, Stewed Vegetable Land, Funland, Fairyland, Giantland, and more. Eventually, I began to write down the stories on paper.
After many failed attempts, in sixth grade, I came up with the idea for the Cave of Mystic Dreams after school on one of the last days of school. The ideas flowed: two sisters, warrior queens, and three tests. The characters came first to me, starting Jason, Claire, and Zac, moving on to Leianara and Deimada and ending with Jackson, Jessica and Marguerite. Later, the setting began to flow, and with it, a million other details. A world called Zairon, people called Zaira, who could take to the air as easily as birds. Mondens, goisli, hair that dyed and curled up by itself.
For the past eight months, my book has been a very big part of my life. Creating it was one of the most fun, incredible experiences of my entire life. The reason that writing is so incredible is that it's completely yours, and you have complete control over anything that happens.
I think the biggest thing that this experience has taught me is to always believe in myself and go for what I want. No one ever believed I could write a book except for me.
Now I know and believe with all my heart that I can do anything, as long as I believe in myself.
-S.P. Kumar
