Teen Writers Publish!

Robin Patchen - Author and Freelance editor

I had the privilege of meeting my friend Robin at Bricktown in Oklahoma City today while my son registered for college. After trying to find a quiet and windy free location to record out podcast we settled on a restaurant's breezeway out of the breeze's way. We had a great conversation, but what we didn't expect was the squeaky doors or the "tin can" rattle to the audio. Hopefully, we'll edit it out. So if you can look past the sound quality and listen to our words, I'm sure you'll find inspiration to carry you in your writing journey. Here are some show highlights. Stay tuned for when it will go live. 

Robin shared how when she was 16 she had a secret desire to be a writer, but she was too shy to tell anyone, so she placed all her hopes on being a writer in the hands of her English teacher. If she got a good grade on her essay, then she'd be a writer. If not, she'd choose a more sensible career. 

Unfortunately, she got a "B" and gave up her dream of writing. It wasn't until much later in life she decided to write fiction and found that was her true passion. Now she's a published author, and if she could do it all over again she would have entrusted her dreams with her parents. She would have started writing when she was a teenager.

She shared a whole bunch of helpful stuff from writing her first novel to how she got an agent and eventually self published. But the most important thing she shared was to write. Write different things. Keep trying until you find what you love. Until you find your passion. Then go for it!

Teen writer, is writing your passion? Are you keeping your dream of being a writer a secret like Robin did? If so, what do you fear if someone finds out your secret? Think about it. Which would be worse: to keep it a secret and abandon your dream? Or give it everything you have? Only you can decide!