Abigail, a bright yellow Acara woke up to the yelling
of other Neopets outside her window.
“Abigail, come out and play with us! We are going
to the beach,” said Harrison and Josie, two friendly Techos.
Abigail walked to her window and looked out.
“I need to stay home today,” she answered, “I have lots of work to do!”
Harrison and Josie just gave each other a look
and walked away. They hadn’t seen Abigail for weeks. She always seemed to be
busy with work to do.
Meanwhile, Abigail ran straight to her desk,
hopped in her chair, and began typing on her typewriter. Several months beforehand,
Abigail received a typewriter as a gift. Ever since then, Abigail spent almost
every waking hour writing. She was determined to become the greatest writer
in Neopia. She wanted to be a Neopian Times writer.
The Neopian Times never had pets for writers,
it was mostly their owners. Abigail wondered why pets were never in the Times.
She asked her friends and most laughed at her. She was told that pets just don’t
write. Abigail, however, thought differently. She was determined to make it
in no matter how much work it would take. She would sacrifice everything for
her dream, and she did.
After receiving her typewriter, Abigail spent
less and less time with her friends. She woke up in the morning and typed. She
went through the whole day and skipped lunch. She ate only when she had to,
only to get right back to work. She never had any fun anymore because she was
writing.
Today was no different. Abigail did not have
time to go to the beach with Harrison and Josie; she had to finish. Her first
piece was almost complete! She had written an Encyclopedia all about Neopia,
and A-Z guide. Finally, she finished her last item:
Zen
Desk: A desk consisting of many different compartments…
As Abigail typed her last sentence, she felt
relieved. She gathered up her pages, all 2463 of them. She could not wait for
this to get into the Times! The first pet ever, in The Neopian Times… wow!
She quickly ran as fast as she could to the Editor’s
office. Halfway there, she was stopped by Harrison and Josie. They were on their
way home from the beach, when they eyed her huge stack of papers.
“What is THAT?” Josie, a green Techo, now with
a red tint asked.
“This is the article that’s going to make me
the FIRST neopet to ever get into the Times,” responded Abigail.
“Ummm, how long IS The Neopian Times usually?”
asked Harrison.
Abigail just froze. He’s right! There can’t be
an encyclopedia in the times! No one would go through 2463 pages of one article.
The whole Neopian Times isn’t this large! And it would take up so much ink,
and cost so many Neopoints just to produce. It would never work. Months of typing
for nothing! Tears starting coming to Abigail’s blue eyes and all she could
do was run.
Abigail left her friends and ran until she could
run no longer. She ended up right outside the editor’s office when she collapsed.
Tears came freely and would not stop. Suddenly, she felt a soft hand touch her
shoulder. She looked behind her to see a lady in a white dress.
“There, there, what seems to be the trouble?”
asked this nice lady.
“I… I… I just spent mo.. MO… months trying to
get into the Neo… pian Times only to find out it was for no… nothing,” replied
Abigail.
“Awww, I’m sure it wasn’t for nothing,” answered
the lady, “I’m Snowflake, the editor of The Neopian Times, why don’t we take
a look at your work and we’ll see.”
Abigail was shocked and embarrassed to be crying
in front of the wonderful Snowflake. She tried to dry her tears and replied,
“You see, I wrote an encyclopedia, but it’s too long. It’s 2463 pages.” Abigail
motioned toward the big stack of papers laying next to her to, showing that
she was serious.
Snowflake responded, “Well, that most certainly
could be a problem. Let’s see here, this is very complete, but I am afraid you
are right, it is too long. You know, why don’t you take one of these terms and
turn it into an article. You could interview people and make it really great!
It only needs to be a few pages long, but you seem like you could become a wonderful
reporter! Or perhaps turn one of these topics into a short story. Create your
own plot and everything! But don’t worry, you write very well. You just need
to focus on something smaller.”
Abigail’s crushed dream didn’t seem so crushed
anymore. “You mean, I can still get into the Times?” she asked.
Snowflake smiled and responded, “Of course! You
are very talented, and I’d love to publish something shorter of yours. It sometimes
takes authors several attempts to get published, that is just how writing goes.
If something doesn’t quite work, don’t give up! You’re too talented for that!”
“Thanks!” exclaimed Abigail. She felt a lot better
after Snowflake’s encouragement and stood up to go back home, more motivated
then ever.
“Good luck,” encouraged Snowflake, “I look forward
to seeing your work again!”
Abigail raced back home. Once she arrived home,
she looked through her encyclopedia to pick a topic. She decided to do an article,
but this time she wasn’t going to exclude herself from the rest of Neopia. Her
article was titled, “Things To Do In Neopia” and she was going to have her best
friends Josie and Harrison show her around!
***
That next day, Abigail was woken up to yelling.
“Abigail, let’s go, we have a full day ahead
of us!” shouted Josie, who was also with Harrison, Wesley, and Phillip. Wesley
was a green Acara and Phillip was a purple Mynci. They all came to show Abigail
what fun Neopia could be.
Abigail hopped out of bed and ran outside, ready
to start the day. They were going to explore the many different worlds of Neopia.
They played games, ate interesting food, and saw things that Abigail had never
seen before. Abigail had never visited Coltzan’s Shrine before, or took a chance
at the Wheel of Excitement in Faerieland. She loved sneaking in to see the Snowager,
and counting potatoes in Meridell. This trip was giving her great inspiration
on future articles.
Once Abigail arrived back at her NeoHome, however,
she remembered she had not taken any notes. She realized she didn’t need the
notes however, because what she had was better, she had memories.
As part of her article, Abigail decided to take
Snowflake’s advice and do interviews. In her article, Abigail for described
twenty fun things to do in Neopia. Following this description, she decided to
interview her friends on what they liked most. She arranged to meet them all
at the same time to conduct the interview.
First, Abigail asked for favorite moments. Harrison
was the first to respond, recalling the Space Station, where his owner had adopted
Harrison’s new brother, a Grundo named Edmund.
Philip also responded, stating how much fun it
was to escape from the Snowager with a negg!
With that, Wesley stated how that almost scared
him. He was afraid of the Snowager and didn’t want to get blasted. The others
just laughed as the group continued to share memories.
After the long night of sharing was over, Abigail
went to her typewriter to type the article. She mixed in quotes from her interview
with the many things to do in Neopia. Abigail wrote excitedly for a few hours
that night. Once she finished, she compiled her pages and ran to the Editor’s
office.
Once she arrived, she realized that no one was
there, so she slept outside the building. She was determined to have her article
submitted on time. She was determined to become the first pet to ever get into
the Times. With these thoughts, she fell asleep right outside the Editor’s door.
She awoke to a voice, this time she could recognize
it. It was Snowflake.
“What are you doing sleeping out here?” asked
Snowflake in a worried voice.
“What? Oh, I finished my article, and wanted
to get it in first thing, so I came here last night and waited. I must have
fallen asleep,” responded Abigail.
“Oh wow, you must be excited then. Tell you what,
I can’t make any promises about this week’s issue, but if you give it to me,
I’ll be sure to look over it and see what can be done.”
“Sure,” responded Abigail who handed Snowflake
her article. “Thanks.”
Abigail walked home in pure excitement. She could
not wait until The Neopian Times came out. She spent the next few days in anticipation,
when Friday finally came.
Much to her disappointment, Abigail’s article
was not in The Neopian Times that week. Abigail was crushed and in tears. She
could not get out of bed and could not move. She thought she had a sure spot,
but when she didn’t see her article, she panicked.
Abigail spent the whole week crying, deciding
that maybe she couldn’t be a writer. She was so upset, that she didn’t even
notice that a week had passed and the new Neopian Times was out.
The next day, Abigail happened to glance at the
Times to see her article on the front page! She could not believe it! She thought
she didn’t get in because she couldn’t write, but it turns out they were saving
her article for the next week when she could be featured!
Abigail was the only neopet who had written anything
for the times. She received a lot of fan mail, from Neopets and neopet owners.
Abigail was happier than she had ever been. That day, Abigail enjoyed spending
time with her friends, while getting new inspiration for her future articles.
The End
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