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Guest Post: Too Young to Write?

by Kellyn Roth |
December 21, 2016

Hello guys! Today we’re having another guest post. It was written by Miss Libby Beth, who … I just met. I mean, I feel like I just met her, but I kinda know her from YWP NaNoWriMo.
At least, I think I do … but I keep getting people mixed up. I even mix up ‘famous’ NaNo folks. I suppose that’s because I’m not on there often enough anymore to know who’s ‘famous’!? XD
Anyway, you can find her blog (The Author with an Allergy) here. Be sure to check it out for more posts like this one.
{Oh, and I added some comments in … just like this! Sorry, Libby. I’ll remove them if you want!}

guestpostlibbybeth

Dear Writer,
Everyone, and I mean everyone has heard the phrase “You’re too young to {insert fun activity here}” I know I have. A lot. {Tell me about it. My older siblings are 14, 15, and 16 years older than me … I was a very furious toddler who never got to stay up …}
But a few weeks ago, I was sitting in Apologetics class and my teacher said something that I’ve been dwelling over ever since. She said one of the biggest lies teenagers believe is “What can God expect of me? I’m just a kid.”
Wow.
I hadn’t really thought of that before, then I began to think of what else kids thought they were too young to do, and I thought write.
When you’re thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen writing a novel can seem impossible, kids aren’t supposed to be writing novels! Old ladies with fifteen cats sipping tea are supposed to be writing novels, you think I can’t do that! I can’t even drive!
Don’t think that, Writer.
One of my favorite authors, Rachel Coker, got published at fifteen and then again at sixteen. She isn’t an old lady with fifteen cats! She’s a teenager with school and drama and friends just like every other teenager in America {I don’t have any of those … haha, just kidding!}, but she wrote a novel because she believed she could.
God gives everyone different strengths, if writing is yours then you are never too young to write. If you think God gave you the gift of writing then go for it, start that story, you can do it.
You see, we Americans (sorry if you aren’t from here!) put a lot of stock in age, you can work at fourteen, drive at sixteen and vote at eighteen, so when is the age to start writing?
There isn’t one.
That’s the beauty of it, it doesn’t matter whether you’re nine or ninety, a writer is a writer, and you are never too young to start.
Eragon was written by a 19-year-old, Chasing Jupiter by a 16-year-old, what about you? How old was the author of your book? 12? 14? 39?
You’re never too young to start writing, Writer, if you have an idea, go with it. You never know, the book you wrote when you’re fourteen could be the next Harry Potter. {Or the next Emma. What? I’ve never read Harry Potter. I thought y’all might want to know what I want my books to be … which is Jane Austen fanfiction, apparently …}
Writer, if you think you’re too young to write that book, that you’re going to wait until you’re older – don’t. You’re the only one who can write your book, and your book needs to be written by you, not the you ten years from now.
You can do it, Writer, I believe in you.
-Libby

Libby Beth is a homeschooled, God loving, drama queen who is convinced she was born in the wrong era. She spends her time writing contemporary and historical fiction to somehow immerse herself in the worlds she wishes she was a part of, as well as run cross country and compete in speech and debate. Her blog is theauthorwithanallergy.blogspot.com


What do you think, guys? Remember to comment! It keeps this blog up and running. Well, not really. If anything, answering your comments distracts me from writing more posts. But I didn’t write this post. :O Deep thoughts, right?
Why do I think everything I say is a deep thought? That’s so conceited. I’ve got to stop saying that …
~Kellyn Roth

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21 Responses

    1. It bugs me, too! I think people think 15 or 14 or 12 or 10 are a lot younger than they are. For instance, most authors write kids in books waaay younger than they are. Some ten-year-olds act like five-year-olds! What’s up with that!?!

      1. yes!! its so annoying!! and then when their like: “i remember feeling this way too…” ugh! IKR! it’s teenagers acting like they’re 7!
        and one thing that bugs me the most: babies. do not. say. goo-goo ga-ga.

        1. Not that I know of, anyway! Babies coo sometimes, but yeah. Goo-goo ga-ga is not their normal expression, despite popular opinion. 😉
          Yep, either kids are too mature for their age (5 years old who are super wise and know everything) or super young for their age (eight year olds who are so simple it’s silly!).

  1. Great post! Weirdly enough, I don’t think I ever had the thought process of “I’m too young” when I first started writing, and I wrote my first novel at 12. Maybe it was because nobody had ever told me I was too young at that point? But I did start hearing things like that later on, and I remember being so frustrated, because why couldn’t I write at a young age?
    Anyway, great post.

    1. I never was told I was too young to write, either. I very rarely have been, actually. About other things, yes … about writing, no. Although sometimes I’ll think things like, “Wow … I should write this book when I’m older … so it’ll be better … and not waste the time writing it now …” But I really do need to just write.

  2. Very true, very true. Of course, I have to say that, since I’m an author and I’m not an old lady with cats. 😉 I’m so blessed that God has allowed me to write, and self-publish, when I haven’t even graduated high school yet. 🙂
    CutePolarBear

  3. Reblogged this on Buzz About AG and commented:
    I know I JUST posted something, but this post was too good to NOT reblog. I knew I had to do it “write” away. 😛 Okay, I’ll stop with the puns! Now read this post.

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