Surviving High School as a Writer

I was a teenage writer. I technically still am (At age nineteen, I have one more year left in teenagedom), but I’m in college now, having survived the dark, desolate whirlpool that is high school. High school is a busy time for everyone. Teenagers are expected to juggle the responsibilities of school, extracurricular activities and sleep, all while dealing with hormones and the struggle of finding their identity. Exactly how is a young writer supposed to squeeze writing time into all of this?

It can be done. As someone who has been through the trenches of high school and come out alive, I can tell you that it is possible. It is possible to write, maintain your grades and have a social life. I wrote HOUR OF MISCHIEF, the MS that landed me my agent, my senior year of high school  during dress rehearsals of the fall musical, without dropping my grades. This fact still baffles me. 

But I managed it. So how can a young writer dealing with the responsibilities of high school find time to write? Here are a few tips.

1.      Time Management- This is kind of a given but when you have a lot of things on your plate, scheduling is key. I knew when the work load got heavier. I knew when I wouldn’t have as much work. I squeezed in writing time around my work, taking advantage of the lighter days. But if you don’t schedule and manage your work load, writing time will be much harder to pick out. Get work done to make room for what you love to do.

2.      Writing Sprints- Get good at writing sprints. As mentioned before, you don’t have a lot of time. When you find time: make the most of it. Write as fast as you can. It might be crap but you are one step closer to a finished manuscript and that’s what counts. Writing sprints help you get as many words possible out of your writing time.

3.      Be Intentional- Your writing time is your writing time. Don’t allow this time to get pushed back by other responsibilities any more than you would allow your homework to get pushed back (though lets be honest, most of you are probably horrible procrastinators. Don’t procrastinate your writing is what I’m saying.) One of my writing times was in the morning. I woke up at 5:30 AM to get an extra hour of writing in before I had to go to school. For some of you, maybe an evening time just before you go to bed, works better. Or maybe an hour after school. Whenever that time is, make sure you spend it well.

4.      Accountability- Have friends and family who understand you as a writer. They are the ones who will keep you going when you hit a rough patch. They will encourage you to write and push you forward. They will give you funny looks when they see you playing video games during your writing time and passive aggressively bug you about it. Writing is a solitary profession, and yet you need to have a support system. The online writing community is great for this as well. When you’re having a busy day, there are always writers on twitter willing to encourage you.

These are four steps that helped me survive high school as a writer. It can be done. So good luck to all the young writers out there. And get typing. Every word you type puts you closer to your dream.

Of Young Writers, Fantasy and Alien Babies.

Greetings internet!

I have returned from my long slumber, at long last. For those of you who didn't know, I was basically away from the internet for most of July. Why? Well the first ten days I was on a cruise with my family in Alaska (Which was amazing. Don't worry, I'll have a separate post for that). But the day after I got back I packed up again and headed off to Shared Worlds Creative Writing Camp in South Carolina. Its a creative writing camp for young writers from ages 13 to 17. For three years, I was a camper. This year, I came back as a Residential Assistant.

A little background on this camp. When I was a young lass, only fifteen years old, I was still an obsessive writer. But I didn't know a lot of people who shared my passions. To remedy this problem, my mother searched high and low for a creative writing camp that might inspire me. She found Shared Worlds, a fantasy writing camp where campers band together to create their own worlds and write stories within them over the course of two weeks.

This sounded like heaven to a young Aimee. A safe haven full of other geeks and writers? Sign me up! I got there and it was everything I expected it to be and more. I made so many friends and met and interacted with a ton of amazing writers in the fantasy genre. Not least among them was Jeff Vandermeer, one of the founders of Shared Worlds. You might have heard of his books. I mean, Stephen King tweeted about ANNIHILATION, the first book of his 'Southern Reach Trilogy'. Which is awesome.

I got fantastic feedback on my writing while I was at this camp, and after my first year, I returned twice more before I became too old to go back. It was a sad day. Because I can safely say Shared Worlds changed my life. Without it, I never would have written HOUR OF MISCHIEF, the book that got me my agent. That combined with all the amazing experiences I gathered and people I met made those two weeks I spent at Shared Worlds for three years some of the best of my life.

And this year, I returned as an employee of the camp. I was able to work with and interact with the kids. I had the joy of seeing them light up when they talked about the worlds they were building. On our trips to the Hub City book store, I got to shove books in their faces and insist they buy them. And in most cases they did because these kids consume books like air. Some nights in the common room, they sat around me eagerly asking questions about the publishing industry and my own journey. These are kids who love to write and want desperately to get better.

One of the best parts of the week came on the last Friday. We had a huge stockpile of books donated to us by various publishing houses. When I went to Shared Worlds we didn't have a lot of donations and most of the books weren't very interesting. This year we had tons of books. Tons of good books too and ARCs! We stacked all of the books (over 300 of them) on two tables at the bottom of the theater where we met. The fifty seven children, all jumping in their seats, eagerly awaited the buffet of words. Row by row we let them run up to the front and pick three books--just three--in a span of three minutes. They got to do this twice. Every kid got at least six free books and it was AWESOME. Who cares that they had no way to fit them all in their suitcases? They found a way! Young readers like that always find a way.

It occurred to me, watching them, that this is why I write. For the reader that comes along and snatches a book to their chest as if its a priceless treasure. For a reader that has their friend hide a book they are eyeing under a stack of other books so that no one else will take it before they get the chance. For the reader who sits late into the night, falling in love with paper and ink.

I write for myself first. Because I love it. But in the back of mind, there has always been a dream. I have always dreamed that one day, my books will be in the hands of a teenager who can't stop grinning as they walk to the check out line of Barnes and Noble. I have always hoped that one day, someone might read my books late into the night. I've always wanted to use writing to make people laugh. To make people cry. To make them fall in love.

To make them feel.

This is why I write. And the campers at Shared Worlds reminded me of that. They are all budding authors and I hope one day their query letters will flood the inbox of my agent and of other agents. I'll be cheering them on.

Thanks to all the amazing authors and organizers at Shared Worlds and to the campers for being so awesome. And if you know a young writer who loves fantasy, TELL THEM ABOUT SHARED WORLDS. Do it. Like right now. It might be one of the best things that has ever happened to them.

That's what it was to me. That's what it still is and will continue to be for years to come.