Write This Down by Claudia Mills

to know that the only reviewer at the gig thought his song was wonderful? If I had written a song and he had heard it performed and called it a “haunting ballad,” I’d be delirious with joy.
    Cameron’s eyes meet mine but reveal nothing.
    To my relief, Tyler focuses our group’s discussion back on the substance of what I wrote. “It’s an okay line, but I’d like the review better if it was a hundred-percent hating on the band.”
    â€œBut then it wouldn’t be true,” I put in, even though another one of Ms. Archer’s rules for the groups is that the author isn’t supposed to say anything except in reply to a direct question.
    â€œAutumn,” Olivia reprimands me.
    As if she’s never defended herself when a comment is unfair, which she does all the time .
    â€œAnything else?” Olivia asks.
    Tyler and Max shake their heads.
    â€œMaybe…” Olivia begins. “It’s just … when you’re writing a review? Sometimes funny can come out sounding just … mean.”
    So Olivia isn’t critiquing my review. She’s critiquing me .
    As always, Olivia looks over at Ms. Archer for her approval.
    Maybe Ms. Archer will tell her, Now, Olivia, remember, we’re here to discuss the writing. It’s not our job to comment on the character of the writer as a person.
    She doesn’t.
    She smiles and says, “Thanks for letting me sit in for a while.” Not that we had any choice.
    Then she heads over to another group.
    Did she like my review? Or not?
    After all, she’s the one who told us that the pen is mightier than the sword. That has to mean that it’s okay to use the pen sometimes as a sword.
    Doesn’t it?

 
    16
    Olivia’s snide comments burn a hole in my heart all morning. But at lunch, when I tell Kylee what Olivia said about my review, she says, “Oh, come on . It wouldn’t be funny if it was all nicey-nice.”
    After school Kylee and I get a ride from my mom to the public library. We’re supposed to be finding books on the Cherokee Trail of Tears (Kylee) and the Iroquois Confederacy (me) for reports due next week for multicultural history. But first we’re looking at the fiction in the YA nook to see if there are any new Creekside Clique books for Kylee or Princess of Paragonia books for me. Even though Kylee is the nicest person at Southern Peaks Middle School, she adores books about mean girls. Even though I’m the daughter of an orthodontist and a homemaker living in suburban sprawl, I devour books about heroic quests and tragic love. Maybe that’s not surprising. Readers love to read not only about themselves but also about characters who are as different from them as anyone could be.
    Half an hour later we’re checking out our books when Kylee says, “Autumn, look.”
    She points to a poster on the bulletin board by the circulation desk, which publicizes upcoming library events. I scan past flyers for a harpsichord concert, a Russian film festival, and a new lap-sit storytime for babies six to twelve months, and then I see it.
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    CALLING ALL AUTHORS!
    Do you have a novel in progress?
    Are you interested in finding out how to get published?
    Literary agents Nannerl Keith and Marcy Duhota will share their combined eighteen years of experience: what they are dying to see in a submission, what will make them say “Thanks but no thanks.” Come learn how to draw in—or turn off—an agent or editor on your very first page.
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    The event is on Saturday, November 12 (two and a half weeks away), from one to four in the afternoon. It’s free and open to the public. And—this is the part that makes me clutch Kylee’s hand—you can bring the first page of your novel for their review. They’ll review as many “as time permits.” Manuscript pages should be in 12-point Times New Roman type; they should contain no