When?

I’m guess I get to be the lucky fella (feminine form, thank you very much: fell-a)that gets to make the first post. Don’t be fooled. That’s because Margaret’s too lazy to be the first one. Not that I’m not lazy it just… I’m less lazy than her. Except when it comes to being the first to write a book because she beat me in that by about a year. Well, she started SERIOUSLY working on her book a year before I did. I think.

(this time I actually am kidding. We're both pretty busy) 

But that brings me to my point of this particular blog entry:

When?

When is one of the, in my opinion, most underestimated and downplayed of the interrogative words (I would say pronouns but why isn’t technically a interrogative pronoun apparently). ‘Why’ and ‘What’ are used for their particular beauty and versatility. Why do you write? Why did you choose that word? Why do you not like Famous Person X’s newest album? Why would Ricardo kill Jonathan when he knew that Rachel’s baby was his?

What is this?

Why are these two interrogative words used so much more?

Which idiot decided for it to be so?

Who is this man and how long would it take me to get to him?

How does any of this have to do with writing?

Good question.

When. It’s not commonly used during writing or talking about writing except in one or two particular and notable instances. “When did you know you wanted to be an author,” and “How do you know when the right time to write your book is?”. Obviously both of these questions have been rephrased and re-asked to thousands of authors all over the globe and almost all of them have similar answers which do not, I repeat DO NOT, get any less true with each retelling.

I’m going to do the first question common courtesy, even though it’s the second that it actually the focus of this post. Keep in mind that I am in my teens, and not even late-teens, so obviously my answer is going to be different from an author who spent years trying out different jobs before deciding they loved to write. I grew up in a house where books are the most common decorations. My dad probably could furnish his own library if he wanted to. I really started loving books when I was about seven and read the entire Harry Potter series up to book six all in the course of about five months. Pretty impressive for a seven year old.

That was when the bug bit and I couldn’t get enough of books. Somewhere along the way I decided that if there was anything I wanted to do when I was big and grown up, it was that I wanted to be able to create worlds and mysteries for other people to enjoy as much as I did.

Pretty cute and heartwarming, right? I think I “daaawww’d” just writing it. And probably the best/most pathetic/cutest things about it is that the same holds true for now.

But now I’m talking about “why”s and not “when” so let’s continued with the second question.

This blog is for teen writers. If there are adult writers out there reading this as well, gee, thanks! I’m glad you think I have something to say for you too and please do try to get anything out of it that you can! But most of the teens here that have aspirations to be writers have exactly that. Aspirations.

When is it finally time to actually write one?

When do you know you’re ready to do it?

When do you know you’re good enough to write a book and try to get it published in the big evil world with publishers and editors who are going to tear your book and characters apart until they bleed inky tears.

There are different answers for every person but I maintain that it all comes down to one huge, important, pen-ultimate word.

Now.

If not now, never.

I mean that.

81% of people who walked into a Barnes and Noble during a study (stats found on Rick Riordan’s blog in his AMAZING post ‘Why Write Novels’ found here: http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/2012/08/why-write-novels-redux.html) said that they thought they had a story that they wanted to write. Why haven’t they? Well some of them probably have. But most of them have said “Maybe Later.”

DO NOT SAY THESE WORDS.

EVER.

They are evil words designed to trap you in a cycle and long life of loneliness and regret. And I’m not talking about in just writing. Maybe I’ll do my homework later…

Oh… I should probably be doing that…

Maybe later.

*pause for laughter*

You may think that I’m being unreasonable or overly dramatic, but I’m not. If you want to be a writer there’s one important thing that you have to do. Write. If you’re not, you can’t even call yourself that. My advice is very simple and there is no doubt in my mind that Margaret will back me up on this one hundred present considering she was the one who first gave me this exact pep talk before I dove headlong into my own novel. 

Well, not exactly. I’m adding my own flair J.

Just write it. Write it now. It’s not going to get any easier. You are NOT going to get more time. In fact I would say it’s better to write as a teenager because you’re not going to work for half the day (or maybe you are if you’re homework pile is REALLY huge).

The greatest thing is it doesn’t even have to be good.

Just write it.

Once you’ve written it, the whole thing, stop. Look back. Pat yourself on the back because you’ve already done something that most people can’t do. Just finishing that book, making it past the first five chapters even, puts you in a special place above a lot of other people in the world.

Now that you’ve done that, maybe resting on these self-given-laurels for a few weeks, months, even possibly years, look back at it. Remember how I said it doesn’t have to be good? Look at it and decide whether you think it is good. If it isn’t, that’s fine! Hopefully you already have another idea waiting in the wings, maybe even half written from you reprieve, and work on that. Don’t delete your little project, at the very least keep it to add to your blog when you are a famous author and people want to see what you wrote like when you were a teen/a few years ago.

If you do think it’s good, great! Make it better. I can GUARANTEE it will not be good enough. But that doesn't mean it won’t be. Make it that way. Cry bitter tears of frustration. Buy four red pens. Find someone to read it for you and give you advice. Rewrite chapters five, eight, and twenty-two through thirty. Rewrite the entire book if you feel like it. Just keep working.

Do it now.

Don’t put it off.

I will use one of my favorite adages.

“I don’t find time to write. I make the time.” ~ Amanda Vinshire

What a wise saying from a wise person.

Make the time. Wake up early. Finish your homework in the car so that you can use those twenty minutes to write a two hundred word scene.

When?

How do you know when the right time to write your book is?

You don’t. So why not now?

~Amanda Vinshire