April Henry
To a person who wants to be a writer of any age, I would say:
- Read a lot - and think about your reading. If you start losing interest in the book or even disliking it, try to think about why. If you love a book (and this is harder) try to think about why.
- Write a lot - and think about your writing. Re-read it and try to make it better. Try to apply some of the lessons you learned from other people's writing. You can even put your own twist on something they did.
- Don't give up. It can take a long time to get published. I got over 150 rejection letters from agents, quite a few from editors, and it wasn't until I wrote my fourth book that I got published. I'm so thankful I stuck it out! (And that my parents believed in me.) In the long run, it's not necessarily the best writers who get published, but the ones who are most tenacious.
- Read a lot - and think about your reading. If you start losing interest in the book or even disliking it, try to think about why. If you love a book (and this is harder) try to think about why.
- Write a lot - and think about your writing. Re-read it and try to make it better. Try to apply some of the lessons you learned from other people's writing. You can even put your own twist on something they did.
- Don't give up. It can take a long time to get published. I got over 150 rejection letters from agents, quite a few from editors, and it wasn't until I wrote my fourth book that I got published. I'm so thankful I stuck it out! (And that my parents believed in me.) In the long run, it's not necessarily the best writers who get published, but the ones who are most tenacious.
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