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About Me — Missy Crystal
Jumping on the bio bandwagon to share a bit about myself
Hello, and thanks for stopping by! I’m Missy, as you may have guessed by the title. I’ve spent the last couple years writing for Medium, but I’ve been a published writer since 2002. Gosh, I’m aging myself.
My first piece was published in Teen Ink when I was a pregnant teen. I entered the What Matters essay contest with a piece about getting my GED and turning my life around. Much to my surprise, I won $100 along with some other goodies from the company. It’s been a long time, but I still remember the excitement of receiving the notepad, magazine, and pen in the mail. I also received a Teen Ink book with an invitation to publish my story in a future book, but I declined.
Okay, I lied. I actually lost the contract and forgot about it until my daughter was a toddler. Life gets crazy when you’re a parent, and having ADHD doesn’t help. I did, however, find time to get another piece published in Teen Ink, though I wasn’t paid for it. I wrote a haiku about the weather, and it was featured a few months after my essay:
The grass sways in time
To the melodies that play
Inside of your head
