I Want to be an Author

Hello!I’ve read your Alice books and I just want to say thank you because the books were so good.I was fascinated by your imagination-strong and wonderful.Besides,you are so clever too!!!I feel so lucky and honoured to send this email to you.

 

I am 12 and I want to be an author.But how do you find a publication company?And how do you exactly write a book,like did you do millions of planning…or you do things like researching and stuff?I am sorry for asking you such obvious question but to know all these stuff you are the only who can answer it.

 

Also,my english is quite poor and school and I am trying to catch up.But the problem is,when I settle down on my study room desk and start revising,I couldn’t concentrate and drift off to do something else.No matter how many ways I’ve tried to make myself concentrate,I just can’t do it.What should I do?

 

I’m not sure if you’re telling me that you have trouble with school subjects in general or if it’s the writing and revising that is difficult for you.  You have many questions, and they can best be answered if you will read my book “How I Came to be a Writer.”  If it’s not in your library, ask your librarian to get a copy for you on inter-library loan. 

A huge amount of work goes into writing a book–getting the idea, planning the whole thing, researching, then writing and revising and writing and revising, over and over until you’re sure it’s the best you can do.  You may find that it’s the idea of “being” a writer that is more appealing to you than the actual “doing,” the writing part.  If you can’t buckle down to revising and your concentrations keeps drifting, it may be that you are better suited to something else.  My advice to everyone is the same: figure out what you love to do most, what it is you do best, and then see if you can combine these two and make a living at it.