“Are you going before or after work?” Her mother asked her. “Before.” She quickly answered. She knew she would have to register for the drawing before work for two reasons. The first being the wait time. She knew that if she waited until afterwards that she would be in line for hours. Because most people are going to want to sleep in a little and register later. But also because she knows that if she has all day to think about doing it she will likely talk herself out of it. That and she would t be able to concentrate on anything else that day. “I’m going to stop by on my way in this morning” she explained. Also explaining the reasons why. “Do you think this is real though?” She pondered. “I mean, they can’t tell us that they are picking one person to be the president and then not actually do it, right?” She half chuckled to herself after hearing the sentence come out in her own voice. “In keeping with the time honored tradition of selecting our next leader on the first Tuesday in November, we will be holding a drawing. One person, aged 18-40 will be chosen at random to be the next president of the United States of America.” The radio had been anouncing it once an hour, at the top of every hour, for a month straight. I remember when my Mom heard the announcement for the first time the only comment she made was something about the ages. “18-40 year olds, no previous felonies and must pass a basic knowledge test!” “That’s all!?” She screamed! “Well it’s about time they have some young blood in there!” She exclaimed. The radio hosts had explained that the reason for the difference in age requirements that apply now versus what the used to be were because it is as different age makeup in this country. It used to be that you had to be at least thirty five when you became president. But the majority of the people I. This country are under thae age of 40. So having an 80 year old presidents no longer applies to us. We need fresh blood. We need people who understand the needs and desires of the majority, not people who are close to death.

The 3 words that best describe Avery’s (my protagonist) personality are 1.Fair/unbiased (she truly embodies innocent until proven guilty) 2.selfless. Even in her fashion choices she chooses drab colors to the money for bright colors could be spent on her little sister. After she becomes the leader she still gardens for some of her own food. So as to not ever completely rely on someone else to take care of her. Also she still helps to take care of her family members with disabilities. 3. Curious. She has a natural curiosity to her. Wanting to always know more. Enjoying activities like trivia and reading because she gets to indulge her curiosity.

My target Audience would be 14-30 year old YA readers. People with an interest is post apocalyptic dystopian worlds with a focus on political issues. People who see our country currently going in the wrong direction. Especially when it comes to modern politics. Especially because our largest age range is 18-44 which makes up 36% of our country’s people, but our government is made up of an average age is nearly 60 years old. Clearly we are being misrepresented.

After a failed election nearly 50 years ago, and a second civil war that lasted almost a decade, The United States of America is about to collapse. Not since the failure of the USSR has another nation state failed in such a way. But no one candidate received the required 270 electoral votes from the electoral college. For the first time ever there were viable candidates from three separate parties. So when a consensus could’t be achieved, and a peaceful transfer of power couldn’t happen, all hell broke loose. 2 years later a civil war broke out. The country was very divided. With the electricity failing and the internet becoming very difficult to receive, other countries started vowing to invade and bring America back to the glory it once knew. The only solution that everyone could agree on is to essentially take America back to a Monarchy. By crowning one winner of a random drawing. One person who would lead them all. Someone between the ages of 18-40, since most people in the country fell into that age category. They would need to pass a basic knowledge exam and have no felony convictions. But could it work? Could this one person rescue the country that many aspired to be?

Avery is an average girl. She is five feet 8 inches. She is slightly underweight, but most people were. She has brown curly hair that has been lightened naturally by spending hours in the sun everyday. Which also has aged her a bit more than her nineteen years. But she doesn’t mind. Because she loves working outdoors in the garden. She has bright green eyes, a color that has always been rare but is even more rare now, in this post 2nd civil war era. Before the 2nd civil war there were at least more people immigrating from places like Scotland and Ireland, keeping the green eye color alive and well. Since no one immigrates to America anymore, green eyes have all but been bred out. She has a splattering of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Again, the sun made them more prominent than not. She wore mostly drab, neutral colors of browns and grays and black. Simply because brightly colored fabrics or fabric dyes cost more money and her little sister, Ava, loves fashion much more than Avery ever would. But also because she couldn’t manage to stay clean for a whole day. Try as she might, Avery was a messy girl

Nearly half a century after a failed election and a civil war that lasted ten years, The United States of America is failing. With no clear Head of State or leader of the armed forces, other countries are vowing to soon invade . As a final resort, one person will be chosen at random to be the President. Essentially taking the country back to a Monarchy. The only qualifications are to be between the ages of 18-40, have no felonies and pass a basic knowledge exam.
When Avery Black is chosen it comes as a shock to her and everyone who knows her. The nineteen year old goes from being unknown to the most famous and most protected person in the world. But what does she know about running a country? Where does she even start? All she knows is that she can’t make it any worse, or can she? Will she be able to take a country on the brink of dissolution and transform it back into a successful and prosperous nation-state?

She was walking in the store, completely prepared to buy everything she would need. Some items at this store and the rest from another one across town. So she wouldn’t make the cashier nervous about selling her items that were clearly being used to clean up a crime scene. The store smells like sawdust and top soil. She noted the music that plays faintly in the background before it is interrupted by an employee paging someone to help in the paint department. She gathers the trash bags and two bottles of bleach from aisle four. Then she places them on the counter before grabbing some disposable gloves that were hanging on a hook with the other impulse buy items. My total was $17.42 and then I drove 20 minutes across town to the other home improvement store. There I purchase the shovel and black zip ties. This store smells, unmistakably, like manure. Coincidentally it is playing the same song that played at the first store. The look on the cashier’s face made it evident that he noticed that the two items could be used for crime scene clean up, but he didn’t say anything. Just slightly raised his bushy eyebrows as he scanned them. My total here was $25.99. Making the grand total $43.41. Pretty inexpensive for all the items I need to clean up my mess. Little did I know that the first store called the police…