From Author to Author

When I in grade 7, I wrote a short story, Escape from the Taco Shop, which went on to win the Kids Write 4 Kids contest in 2014. Winning the contest gave me a glimpse into the world of publishing and introduced me to Ivy Wong, the head of Ripple Digital Publishing. A few years after the win, Ivy asked if I’d be interested in interviewing Dorris Heffron and writing about the experience for publication on the Ripple website. I met with Dorris and had a terrific day, but then I struggled with writing this blog entry. I finally decided to ask myself some questions: what did I want to accomplish and how would I achieve that? This was my thought process…

What do I want to accomplish? I want to tell people what an amazing experience getting to know an author was. I want to get people inspired to write, to get out of their comfort zones, and do things they’ve never done before. I want them to laugh a little.

How do I do that? First, I can talk about my visit with Dorris. I can talk about meeting her and her husband Don, their incredible house in the country, their friendly dogs, and the chairs by the fireplace. I can talk about how I felt, how I had to step out of my own comfort zone and do something I’d never even thought of doing. I can talk about how Ripple has helped me immensely, too, in many different ways.

The point of this blog entry is to let kids know to try things they have never done before. Putting yourself out there does make you vulnerable to defeat or embarrassment, but that the situation is never as bad as you think it is, and the reward is infinitely greater than the risk.

I can also make the connection that writing doesn’t have to be completely solitary. I’ve met a whole host of new people by writing Escape from the Taco Shop, including Ivy, the crew at Ripple, Dorris and her husband Don, and many people who’ve read and apparently liked my stories.

And the really cool thing about stories is that they touch the lives — even if only for a tiny bit — of whoever reads them. You meet people face-to-face through writing, but you also meet many more; or rather, many people get to know you just by reading something you have created.

This is kind of diverging from actually talking about my interview with Dorris, but since I’m not writing an account of what happened this should work instead. Maybe it can be centered on what this interview has shown me about being an author:

• It has shown me that being an author is not actually solitary work (Dorris met many, many different people when gathering research about the Yukon).
• It has shown me that getting out of your comfort zone, no matter what kind of an introvert or extrovert you are initially, leads to great things.
• It has shown me the realism in becoming an author professionally. Dorris is an amazing example that this is actually a possible career, and if you enjoy writing, it could be a great way to live.

Meeting an author for the first time is absolutely amazing. The memories that came with meeting Dorris will stay with me for many years to come. Having a great conversation with Dorris about books before we started filming is something I’ll never forget.

That’s my plan for my blog entry. And then I’ll finish with this:

After the interview, Dorris gave me some very good advice. She said to always write, even if it was mundane or boring material. Just putting pen to paper helps incredibly in improving your skill.