How I Became a Published Author

I met my editor at an SCBWI conference. He mentioned having never turned down a choose-your-own-adventure story, so I made it my mission to learn how to write one. He had offered to send story samples to attendees, and I took him up on the offer. After receiving story samples, I cut them apart and taped them up on the living-room wall so that I could see the flow of the choices. Then I wrote my own, taping each part up on the wall in a flowchart as I went, just like the other stories. After I finished the story and I was sure it worked well, I gave it to three different high-school English teachers I knew from church. They kindly edited my story. Then I made all the grammatical changes suggested, and I only changed the other things if I agreed with them or if two or more people had mentioned the same thing. Then, I sent the story to the editor. And, believe it or not, is how I got my first contract!