How I did it: I wrote a short story. Well it wasn't short, it was about 10,000 words long. I basically wrote it, gave it a title, printed it out and sent it into Windows Publications (an Irish publishing company thing :D) And alas! I was invited to an award ceremony in Cavan (a place in Ireland, lol) and given a prize for 'Most Promising Young Writer.' My story is being published in an adult anthology of stories that will be available nationwide (in Ireland) in September. I was quite elated. It's not exactly winning an Oscar but it felt great :D My work was appriciated and hopefully will now be recognised! I started my novel (a story that was long brewing in my head) shortly after the ceremony (which was last May) and I'm writing ever since. If all goes well I should have most of it written by Christmas.

Lessons & tips: I know I'm only amateur (I just turned 18!) so I won't write much. The only thing I pace myself by is this rule: Never write for the sake of writing. If your just trying to make a story long by filling it with meaningless lines and thoughts, it destroys a story. I always think about a story, a poem, a paragraph for my novel for AGES, I mull it over until I'm totally happy. And then something just clicks, and I write it all down in one go and almost all the  time I'm happy enough with it. If someone is pressuring you to write when your not ready to or don't want to- don't. I think its a waste of time until you are :D

Resources: Music. Music music music. The most inspiring thing ever. One single lyric of a song can provide a wave of inspiration- at least for me anyway. I never underestimate it. Also, knowing many different and fun people is great for creating characters, and also helps with putting across different emotions. Traveling is cool too. Basically, writing about anything beautiful or odd- or anything that most would ignore or forget about.

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Aug 06, 2009, 10:34AM PDT | 0 comments | 5 cheers