Being a Teen Writer

This post is a little different. Today, I'm going to talk to you about being a teen writer.

The first thing that must have come up in your mind might have been: "She's not a writer because she's not published!". And my answer to that? Wrong. I may never be published but I will always consider myself a writer. When you're sixteen, writing your second novel and know that you want to dedicate your life to writing for teens, it is hard to keep realistic expectations. A few weeks back I would have told you that my ultimate goal is to be published by the time I'm 18.

I'm sixteen now and I have had myself a rude awakening. I know that some teens are published by this age already, what can possible keep me from being the same? In one part, I feel like I'm too young and vulnerable, I've not developed that hard back I need for the publishing industry. It is a business, after all. Second, my writing, as much as I think it's amazing and some of my friends may think so as well, is not amazing. It needs work and experience. In the 16 years of my life I've been beautifully blessed, I have not faced the real world yet, I think. I need that to create experiences from which I can feed my writing, from which I can nurture and better it.

I am confident in what I write today. It might never be published and it might be but I know that these are all milestones I need (have) to take in order to one day accomplish my dream, which, put simply, is to be a writer. I want to be the writer that touches hearts and make people laugh/cry/get mad because it's that kind of magic that is worth preserving in the pages of a book.

Why am I writing this? These are my thoughts as a reader and writer combined. I read because I learn how to write and I write because I want to create that type of magic you don't see anywhere else but between bound pages of fiction. I think that as a writer, I read every book and put myself in the author's shoes and admire the work of art it is. I admire the work it took to write, too. Because after writing two novels, I know it's not easy. But every second is worth it because I fall in love with my characters. And I cry when I finish the last sentence of a book, those are the moments where I take a step back and say, "It was well worth it." And it will always be, no matter what. Published or not.