I started writing when I was 14. Officially. That’s when I wrote my first short story, and it was pretty good. So good my dad took it to work with him (the school I went to—he was a teacher there) and he showed it to a number of teachers. My teachers. I was both horrified and pleased. I felt proud of the story, and was even more pleased my dad was proud enough of me to show it to his peers. But that’s where the trail went cold.
When I was a young writer there weren’t many resources or places for me to turn. There wasn’t any Internet then (can you imagine?), so it was much harder to connect with any kind of writing community, let alone other writers my age. I wish there had been. Connecting with writing peers is an important part of the process—it builds confidence, provides feedback, and you develop a greater sense of what makes good writing good.
This project was developed with you in mind. I want Unleash Your Creativity to inspire you. I want it to help you feel connected to this crazy thing we call creative writing. I want it to give you the courage to keep going, to keep writing, to keep expressing yourself, no matter who that you is. Welcome to your community!
I hope you can participate in one of the creative writing workshops I offer in the Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area. There aren't many writing classes or workshops for young writers, and that's an oversight on the part of those who do offer such courses, but not to young writers. I would have loved a writing workshop when I was a teenager, so I hope you think the idea is good, too.
If you aren’t nearby, I welcome you to submit a piece of your best writing for possible inclusion in an anthology of creative writing I'm putting together. I want to collect the best of fiction writing by teenagers and publish it, likely in e-book format to start. Those who take my workshops will have their best work published in the anthology, and those of you who live further away can also be part of this great project. Email me and I'll let you know how.
Thanks for stopping by! Follow me on Twitter, join the Facebook page, or send me a message. Let me know what you’re working on, what questions you have about writing and publishing, or what should be added to the site. It’s evolving every week. I’ll answer every email personally.
When I write, I feel alive. Grab a pen and paper, or begin mashing on that keyboard, and start feeling alive too.
Alethea