December 2005: Getting Started (cont.)

More important, though, is that you simply keep writing. If you focus on getting published you will try to write what you think "the market" wants—and this is something I say to adults as much as to kids—you will write pieces that look like everybody else's. And that isn't what publishers are looking for. They want work that is new and fresh, but work that is written with the authority that comes from lots and lots of practice. And do you know what? If you keep writing, if you keep writing what you love—and then rewriting to make your work better—one day that new and fresh piece may come from you. And then you, too, will be published.

In the meantime, what matters is that writing is fun. I can't think of a better career than being a writer. I get to do what I most love to do every single day of my life. And if you love to write, you can do that, too. If you love to write, you are already a writer!

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