Encourage a Young Writer Day

April 10 is Encourage a Young Writer Day. #EncourageAYoungWriterDay

What a great idea! I know that I was interested in writing from a very early age. I have little construction paper books that I stapled together and scribbled in before I could even read or write. I have a number of stories and little books that I wrote while I was still in elementary school, and I wrote my first novel-length book when I was twelve.

I remember being selected to attend a young writer’s workshop at another school when I was in grade six or seven. I don’t remember who the speaker was, but he was a real writer and I was very excited to be there and to tell him about the book I was working on at that time (kids marooned on an island, a classic plot.) In High School, I participated in Writers Weeks at school, both submitting poetry for judging and listening to published authors talk about their books and their processes. when I was eighteen and joined some of the local writers guilds, I was always the youngest one attending meetings and workshops.

And now I’m not a young writer anymore! I am a mature author, passing my encouragement and expertise on to the younger folk. I always disliked the somewhat pat answers that adults gave young writers when I was one. Read lots. Write something every day, no matter how little. I was already reading 5–10 books a day and…