While some students would moan at the thought of writing an essay or short story for school, aspiring novelist Jazmyne Saltus couldn’t think of a better way to spend her time.The 15-year-old spends most of her waking moments perfecting her craft and admitted English and drama were her favourite subjects at The Berkeley Institute. English, because it helps to improve her writing style, and drama, as it helps her think of different scenarios for her stories.Her hard work and passion recently paid off and she was awarded first place for under 18s in The Royal Gazette’s annual Christmas short story competition.She said of the win: “At first I couldn’t believe it and then I was really excited.”Her story entitled ‘Home for the Holidays’ was an emotive piece about a police officer who, while driving home one night, came across a young, homeless lady and offered her shelter for the holidays.Jazmyne said she was inspired by a real-life situation. “I got the idea from a police officer one day on the bus. There was this guy who catches my bus to school who told me about this.”The S2 student said she’s wanted to be a writer since the age of 11 after getting some positive feedback from friends about her talent. Since then she said putting pen to paper has been her “way of expressing myself”.“I want to be a journalist, but I also want to publish my own book. I have started some stuff, but I can never finish it.“Sometimes the hardest part is thinking of the characters, to think of how a character should act or how they should be is hard.”She said winning this newspaper’s competition has reaffirmed her path in writing. “When I found out I have won I thought that since I won I might actually be good at it.“My mom was really proud of me. She called everyone that we know.”In addition to being an avid writer, Jazmyne is a candy striper at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH), honour role student and takes part in weekly creative writing classes at the Centre for Talented Youth.She started volunteering at the hospital to get community service hours, but said she has enjoyed the experience.“It makes me happy because it’s nice to know I am doing something for others. I usually spend my time working on wards or taking menus and sometimes we work in the cafe, either [making] sandwiches or taking orders.”She said she is inspired by local author Nadia Aguiar who wrote fantasy novel ‘The Lost Island of Tamarind’. The teenager hopes to one day complete a fiction story of her own aimed at the teenage market.In the meantime, she posts many of her short stories on website www.fanfiction.net to get input from other readers about her work. She said: “It’s nice to get feedback from people from around the world and hear what they think of my stories.”She encouraged young people to follow their dreams and work hard in which ever career path they choose. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make it,” she added.