Marissa Belle Smith
Yampa River, Steamboat, CO
My Story…
English has always been my favorite class. In elementary school, I was the horse girl who actually looked forward to grammar worksheets. Yes, I was bullied for both. But I also knew I was good at writing—and more importantly, I loved it. I took every chance I could to turn assignments into stories about my horse.
As I’ve grown, my writing subjects have changed, but I still feel connected to that version of me—the horse girl who saw writing and stories everywhere.
I’ve always been drawn to stories because they helped me make sense of people, and honestly, of myself too. Long before magazine bylines or graduate workshops, I was the kid who romanticized everything. Bad day? I wrote about it. Fell off my horse? I wrote about it. Lost a tennis match? I wrote about it. Writing wasn’t just something I did—it was how I processed my life.I didn’t realize it then, but I was already becoming a writer.Years later, I earned my master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Denver, where I learned not just how to perfect my craft, but how to trust my voice. Since then, my work has appeared in Denver Life Magazine and Home & Garden Colorado — opportunities that still feel surreal to the younger version of myself who once scribbled story ideas into half-filled notebooks.