Personal Narrative: If I Stay

Dear Gayle Forman,

People often ask young musicians what inspired them to work hard. Most respond by giving a name, or a recording, but I respond with the name of a book. It's a novel called If I Stay, and without it, I wouldn't be the person I am now.

Since I was young, I have been told that I am extremely talented in music. I have been playing violin since I was 6, and now that I'm 13, it's safe to say that I owe over half of my life to the thrill of it. Music is in my family; my grandmother was a touring opera singer, my mother was a violinist, and my father plays bass in a band called Drood. I grew up loving music, soaring, enjoying it…But when it came down to practicing, I always hit the ground. It was excruciating. I was gifted, but I felt like I was being pushed to do something I didn't want to do. As a little kid, my mother would have to yell at me, as I grew older, I got punished. Nobody could truthfully say that I had any motivation.
I was hooked immediately. I related tremendously to the main character; we both came from musical families, we both were normal adolescent girls who happened to have a passion for music, we both were somewhat shy, and we both felt deep love for everyone around us. The only thing different about us was that she, Mia, had dreams – she wanted to successfully audition and get into The Julliard School, she wanted to perform, she wanted to love – and I had no music related dreams whatsoever at the