Well … hi, me!

Well, wow! Thank you so much, Jacob — that’s some company!

By all means, come again! I don’t believe in any age limits. I think they do that for marketing reasons, and I can’t imagine they would enforce. If they do, I’ll bring you in personally! Hope to see you again. I really enjoy the Miami Book Fair!

Thank you so much, I was honored to have been given that opportunity to speak to you, and I am delighted that you were inspired! Yes, I do have some words of advice. Here’s some advice I usually give people who are serious about writing books:

1. You have to want it more than anything else in the world. You have to be the kind of person who doesn’t settle for no.

2. Reading voraciously — all the time — is the single best training to become a writer.

3. It helps to be intensely curious about how your favorite authors make their work so good. What kind of words do they use? What kind of words do they leave out?

4. You need to practice. Like a musical instrument or a sport, writing gets better with constant work. Write some things for yourself, pieces that no one else sees. Also write stories that you show to people you respect — teachers, librarians, parents, siblings, other authors, etc. Listen to their feedback. Learn to recognize useful and useless feedback. Useful feedback is your best friend, even though it may feel painful.

5. You must collect ideas. Write them down. A pad or a writer’s notebook is great, but anything will do, even a receipt or a scrap of paper. Collect your ideas from conversations, things you observe in everyday life, dreams, other books and movies, etc. When you have a bunch of them, read them over and decide which is the best. Which one makes you the most excited? Start working on that one. If you like it, chances are your readers will too.

6. You need to recognize that the stakes in your story must be super-high. Even in stories about everyday life, there must be some dilemma that seems impossible to solve, something the readers will hang on to until the very end.

7. Regarding step 6, think hard about what you want to leave out of your story. That’s the thing that will pull your readers in.

8. Live life to the fullest. It’s easier to write compelling stories if you’ve experienced compelling events in your life.

9. Don’t worry about getting published right away. Almost no one is published at a super-young age, and that’s OK.

10. Did I say practice?

11. Practice.

Aww, thank you, Mustafa! You guys were amazing. I had a wonderful time and was honored to have received such a polished and heartfelt introduction. I hope you’re able to get Book 1. Jashanmal Books has some autographed copies. Thanks for your kind words and I too hope we meet again.

Hi, Jacob! I’m glad you’re enjoying the series so much. You know, for years I wanted to write a book where kids were stuck on an island, not knowing why they were there. The problem was, I couldn’t figure out why they were there either. When I visited Greece, two things happened: I went to the island of Rhodes and got really interested in the mystery of the Colossus. I also went to Crete, and I discovered that they believe the island of Atlantis sank off their northern coast. Because I don’t generally write nonfiction, I didn’t think I’d do a good job writing about the Wonders. I also was dying to write about Atlantis. But it had been the topic of so many books, I didn’t think I’d be able to think of anything fresh about it. But when I began combining those three things together, it was a BIG “Aha!” moment. And the rest is history!

Me too, Eric. Please be sure to introduce yourself to me!

Hi, Mia! I always wanted to be a writer. You know, some kids want to be fire fighters or police or bankers or doctors, but writing is what I dreamed about. Honestly, I don’t even remember not wanting to write. On one hot summer night when I was about 11 or 12, I was reading a story called “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London — a survival tale set in the Arctic — and it was so vivid that I started shivering with cold in 90 degree heat! I was amazed that this author could practically change my body chemistry, just with words! I began thinking I wanted to do THAT to other people someday — make them feel things deeply with the power of writing.

WHAT baby picture???? 🙂 Glad you liked the presentation, Hailey.

Thanks, Garrett! There is a lot of amazingness among all of you, too!