Not many people can say they’ve nearly written a novel, but Myriah Hacker can. A freshman at Waldorf, Myriah is originally from Denison, Iowa and has successfully completed the National Novel Writing Month challenge. Also known as Nanowrimo, this challenge requires a writer to commit to writing a 50,000 word novel within the month of November. This can be a daunting task and requires a great deal of focus.

“There were days when I was like, ‘I’m not going to make it,’ but then I would think, ‘but it’s 2 a.m. and I’ve got coffee, so I can do this,” Myriah said.

Myriah completed her first Nanowrimo in 2014 and is currently working on completing the challenge a second time this year.

“It’s difficult because I have to do it all alone. I have to force myself,” Myriah said. “I get a great deal of self-satisfaction from the challenge though.”

Myriah fell in love with reading when she was in third grade and ran across J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series. Ever since she has been an avid reader which has contributed to her love of writing. Because of her diligence in her literary pursuits she was awarded a Cooley scholarship in creative writing at Waldorf.

In her spare time she enjoys reading poetry by Emery Allen and her favorite authors are Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, and Haruki Murakami, author of 1Q84. She also enjoys participating in theatre and speech programs.

Here are some of Hacker’s works

Sorry

I am a slur of open­ended apologies
The words “I’m sorry”
Often slipping from my lips and sliding down the walls
Unreceived
These words that taste too familiar
Directly compromise me

As if
If I apologize enough
Every star in the broad curtain of sky will forgive me for existing
As if
If I make amends for everything I do
Write, love, breathe
The universe will understand that
I am as vulnerable as a bleeding comet
Fire eating my insides as I slam into the Earth
Burying myself

And I’m so sorry
That the iron in my blood
And the silver on my tongue
Makes you afraid

I’m so sorry
That by being myself
I challenged your cosmic importance
I made you wonder if your constellations were still fixed
Made you wonder if your suns are smoldering with their last breaths
Dying, suspended in void

I’m so sorry
That your view of the night sky is so limited
I understand that you blame me
For Orion’s Belt dipping out of your sight
But your ignorance is your own

I’m so sorry
That I have contained my nebulas
In order for you to feel comfortable

I am so sorry
But I am done apologizing

 

A Series of Unbelievable What Ifs

What if planes were as lightweight as pens
And we could rage old wars with the flourish of a hand?

What if all the pages of every book were drowned in the oceans
Would we hear the labored breaths of dead poets
As their living ink turned the water black?

What if words piled up
A truck stuck in your throat
Whenever you tried to say, “goodbye”?
Would conversations never end
Just stretch into it’s last pause?

What if when the time came
Our brains stalled like nervous engines
And you stared at your someone
Like you had the world on your tongue
And you swallowed your sentiments
Like empty calories
And bit down for the sake of pride
Mouths clamped shut for the last time?

What if you found that your best memory had already passed by?
What if you didn’t realize it
Until it was too late?
Would your hands forever grasp a fistful of regrets?
Or would it be enough to relive it like liquid clockwork
Every morning until
You had no mornings left?

What if the cost of intoxication
Our emotional effervescence
Was that every person we ever loved
Love us back?
How long would it take us to realize that every time our hearts break
We grow
Just a little?

What if math didn’t completely suck ass?

Yeah, wouldn’t that be something?