Age Doesn’t Matter
Yes,
you read that correct. I said (or typed)
“Age doesn’t matter.” It doesn’t,
okay? Let me back up. Of course age matters in some things. I’m not saying it’s a good idea to drink at
fourteen. I’m not. Please don’t do that. But in writing, age does not matter. I’ve been writing for as long as I can
remember, but I think I really started becoming serious about it in middle
school. I started writing this story
that ended up filling up three or four notebooks. Yeah, it was ridiculous. But that’s not the point. I stopped writing that story after a while
and moved on to other things. In high
school, maybe ninth or tenth grade, I wrote my first full-length novel. It’s a little short, but nothing too
crazy. After that, I couldn’t stop. I loved writing and I was determined I wanted
to publish my book. I wanted to be an
author.
So I started researching. I read blogs from authors and advice for
writers and all sorts of stuff. And
occasionally, someone would address the issue of young authors. And they’d always say things like, “You need
to wait to publish until you’re older.”
“You’re writing isn’t good enough.”
“You’ll look back at those stories later and realize they suck.” And that was so disheartening. Everywhere I looked, everyone said, slow
down, wait, you’re not old enough, you’re not good enough. At first, it was enough to make me stop
researching. And then the anger seeped
in. And the stubbornness. I’m notoriously stubborn. And I decided that I was going to publish my
book. I was going to be an author, and I
wasn’t going to wait fifteen years just because there was some sort of age
requirement.
I started querying my first novel
when I was 17 or 18 I think. And I
actually had a decent amount of interest.
I even had an offer for publication.
In the end, I turned it down due to moral/creative differences between
myself and the company, which is a perfectly fine thing to do, let me add. You don’t have to take the first contract
offered to you. It’s important to find
the right company to work with, because you’ll have to work very closely with
them.
Anyways, around that time, I
finished the Timekeeper, which is what the Duo started out as. I then learned it was way too long and still
needed more detail and scenes, so I broke it into two books and finished
editing Timekeeper Rising. I queried it
for a while, but the idea of angels and demons seemed to turn everyone
away. I believed in my book, though, and
in myself, so with a lot of support, I decided to self-publish it anyway.
Here’s the part that applies to my
point. I am twenty years old. I just turned twenty in May, actually. And I am publishing a book. I am an author. Now, does that suddenly mean all those
authors and professionals were wrong, and my book isn’t crap? Well, I guess not technically. Not many people have read it yet, and you can
publish anything these days. So,
technically speaking, it could be absolutely dreadful. But I don’t think so. Several people have read it for me so far,
and they all seem to love it. Is it the
best book ever written? I sincerely
doubt it. But is it good? Yeah, I think so.
I don’t doubt that one day I’ll
look back at this book and think it could be better. But let me tell you a secret. I know of several authors who do that. They look back at the early books and it’s
amazing to them to see how far they’ve come.
And some authors won’t even look back at them, because they know their
new books are way better (at least in their opinion). And these are real adults, guys, not fake
adults like me. These people are thirty,
forty, fifty years old, and they still do that same thing that people said
teens would do. They look back at their
early work and know it’s not as good as it could be. Why?
Because they’ve grown. We all grow,
especially as authors. The more we
write, the more we read, the more advice, reviews, and comments we see, the
more we learn, and the better our books become.
So if this is true for adults, why can’t it be true for teens? Why does age have to matter?
It doesn’t. Age doesn’t matter. Maturity?
Sure. Writing ability? Most definitely. But if you’re mature enough, dedicated
enough, strong enough, and you have the writing ability, you can be an
author. I don’t care if you’re fifteen
or a hundred and fifteen. If you can
write a good book that people enjoy, and you have tough enough skin and enough
dedication to stick through all the unenjoyable businessy stuff of being an
author, you can publish a book too, no matter your age. The point is a simple one: Age doesn’t
matter. Ability does.
About the Author 
