Why I'm Glad I Wasn't A Teen Author

[This post has been sitting in my drafts for a year or more, for no good reason, so I'm posting it now, with some minor edits.]

So before I start, a disclaimer: teen authors (by this I mean published teen writers) are great. There are a ton of them, and as a young teen I collected those names to stuff into my mental box of heroes. (I actually have some blog posts listing teen authors, in fact). I think it is awesome that teens get published young, and I say good for you, if you accomplish something like that.

However.

I wouldn't be surprised if every young teenage writer aspired to get published before their 18th birthday. I daydreamed of it so many times. I would get an agent. People would email me, asking for interviews on how someone so young would get an agent. My local newspaper would have an article about me. My teachers would hold up my book in class. Peers would suddenly be name-dropping my name. "Oh, yeah, I went to school with that girl. Yup, she had poofy hair and didn't talk much, but she was so cool. But yeah, I knew her."

This post is maybe just a way of making myself feel better for not being published as a teen, but I think that's legitimate. I think it's okay to say that I like how my life has turned out, and the reasons for it.

So, here are some reasons why I'm glad I wasn't published as a teen.

1. My writing still has a long way to go

I thought my writing was pretty good (at least my family told me so haha) as a teenager. Maybe it was, comparatively. But when I look back on anything I've written, especially stuff I wrote as a 13-15 year old, I cringe. Everything needs work, as far as I can tell. (And that's just me. I'm sure any critique partners would notice much more). But I'm glad I didn't put that work out into the world and that instead I let myself just write, practicing and improving over time.

2. No pressure

This might not be a good thing, considering how much I don't prioritize my writing, especially when I have schoolwork to do. But I'm glad that I am able to write on my own terms, and don't have to worry about deadlines or anything. I can make my own goals for myself, and jump all over the place with genres and such, and just enjoy writing and creating story and characters.

3. No job

Publishing a book is a business. This is obviously something not a lot of 13-year-olds would realize, and I certainly didn't. But publishing a book is a business, and being an author is a job. What 13-year-old wants that kind of responsibility? I sure didn't.

4. I can still have fun

I've had so much fun with my writing. I enjoy writing, because I do it for me. I enjoy reading, because I do it for me. Once you become an author, you have to be careful of everything you say about books and fellow authors. And your writing is always being picked a part. As a non-professional reader and writer, I have a lot of freedom.

5. I learned a lot

I have had the opportunity to learn so much, about publishing, about writing, about interacting with writerly people online (almost entirely thanks to this blog). If I would have been published at a young age, I think I would have stumbled through a lot of the process, and rather messily at that.

All of that being said, someday I still hope to be published, but I definitely don't think it's too late just because I'm exiting teenagerdom. Being a success at a young age doesn't make you more of a success, which is definitely something that I've had to come to terms with.

Basically I'm just really thankful for the way that my writing and reading and thoughts about both have been developed, as well as my involvement in the online writing community.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. What are your thoughts on teen authors? Did you daydream about being one? Do you wish you would have worked harder to be published earlier? 

Editor's note:
So I probably wrote this more than a year ago, since I said I was "exiting teenagerdom", and I have been a legal adult for four years now. To be fair, I never really did the work of trying to get published - writing queries, researching agents, committing to a thing for more than three drafts... But that's because I didn't want to. My 13-year-old self might be horrified at me now - I'm already so old and I still don't have a book out! Sorry, 13-year-old me, I've been busy doing other things, and you know what, it's been great! Also publishing is maybe not all it's cracked up to be! Leave me alone!

Basically, if you happen to be a young writer reading this, just write. Worry about everything else later. 

I'll leave you with this quote from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird:

"Publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is.”

Interview With Young Author Steph Bowe!

I'm sure a lot of you may have heard of Steph Bowe, the young Australian author of the book Girl Saves Boy. She's also quite well known for her blog, which you can find here. I love her blog posts, they always give me something to think about.

Anyway, guess what? Today I have an interview with her!

You can find some more information about Steph at her about me page here. Now, onto the questions!

Why did you decide to put in the effort to get published as a teen? What motivated you?

I've loved reading and writing for as long as I can remember, and I've wanted to be a published author since I was about seven. I was motivated to pursue that by my enjoyment of writing, and the need to finish stories and share them with people, in the hopes that they would be affected by my writing in the same way I am by the brilliant books I read. At the time I was completing high school by distance, so I had the time to work on my novel, and I was blogging and communicating with lots of writers and readers of YA fiction. Once I had finished my novel (my third novel was the first one published), I figured I had nothing to lose by sending out my work.

How were your parents involved in your journey to publication?

I asked my mum if she would mind if I tried to get an American agent. She has always been aware of my passion for writing, and I had sent a couple of submissions to publishers before (for a previous novel). Apart from that, my family was hardly involved at all - I had mum there to discuss things with, and she met with publishers with me (and of course, before I was eighteen, she had to sign contracts on my behalf) and went with me to interstate speaking appearances. My life as a writer is mainly my own, though, but the support of my family has been very important in giving me confidence to pursue writing professionally.

What have you experienced in the publishing world that adult authors might not have to deal with?


Criticism involving my age (for example 'You were only published because you are young, you're not actually a good writer', 'Teenagers can't write!', etc.), which overall has been quite minor. There is also an expectation from some agents and publishers that because of my young age I would lack professionalism.

How do you think being a teen affects or influences your writing?

I think I haven't had as much time and practice to improve my writing as, say, someone who started writing young and is now forty. But I think the fact that I am the same age as my characters, and often my readers, means I can relate to the emotions and experiences they're going through as teenagers much more keenly than someone who hasn't been a teenager for a decade or more. I hope that my youth makes my writing more honest.

What do you hope your readers get out of reading your book, Girl Saves Boy?

First and foremost, I hope that they enjoy it! There is lobster emancipation and garden gnome theft, and it's always nice to read a book that makes you laugh. I hope that my story is real enough for the reader to escape into for a few hours. It's ultimately a novel about the loneliness and uncertainty of being a teenager, and I hope if the reader relates to that, it helps them feel a little less alone. This is pretty much the goal of everything I write. There is an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote that sums up what I love about reading and writing pretty succinctly: “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”

What does life look like for you in the near (or far) future? Any new projects?

I'm editing my second novel at the moment, have just finished high school, have a few festivals and school appearances ahead, and am working on first drafts of three more books (I am easily distracted!). Lots of writing and adventures ahead!

Thank you so much, Steph, for the interview!

You can find Steph Bowe at her website, Facebook and on Twitter @stephbowe. If you want to check out her book, you can find it here on Goodreads.