How I became a non author “author”

I was 12 years old when my English teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up. She knew I had a flare for writing. Everybody did. I was always reading wherever I went. I had books in my hand, my bag and my heart. I was a reader not because I had no life, but because I wanted to live many.

Our school came up with a program that enabled young authors to attend a writing program and at the very end of it, we would have a chance to publish our very own stories. It was like a dream coming true.

The first session was held after school, and I remember everything even though it was 9 years ago. With young, vibrant and eager to learn group of teenagers, TRAWL wasn’t anything but a fabulous experience.

This was our teacher’s note when we had published our book.

“The stories you see in your screen will transport you through time and space. All you have to do is choose a cozy armchair, sit back, and let the TRAWL students take you on a roller coaster ride through history.

Perhaps I should rewind and tell you how this book came into being. TRAWL is short for Teaching Reading and Writing Links. Seven brilliant writers were selected and handed over a book to read. The book was The King of Shadows by Susan Cooper, and it featured a young boy who slips through time and goes into Shakespeare’s England.

This fired the imagination of our young Trawlers, who then diligently researched a period of history that interested them. Inspired by true events, each painstakingly crafted a story that featured a time-slip.

The fruit of their effort now lies at your fingertips. Enjoy the stories and I hope they, in turn, inspire the writer in you.”

She was our mentor, our tutor. We would stay back after school, one day each week. I believe it was every Wednesday that we had our TRAWL sessions. The seven of us used to wait for the day to get over so that we could start our training. We were all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

We would read and discuss and contemplate and collaborate. We would talk and chat and speak and relate and argue and defy and declare and debate. We were given a voice and we used it. We encouraged each other and dreamed of the day we would see our writing in print.

We read The King of Shadows by Susan Cooper and we learned a few basic principles of time travel. Inspired by her book, we began our writing journey. A few sentences, an idea, some doodles and a cup of coffee. This became our daily routine. We would submit our writings a couple of minutes before the deadline, and we tried to complete our assigned chapters almost always on time! One of the quotes I remember to this day was this: “I always kept two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” -Robert Louis Stevenson.

Writing is the best way to talk without getting interrupted by someone else. When I write, I lose myself in these words. I want to experience different worlds because the one I’m living in cannot be the only one. Finally, the day came when we started typing. I’ve never experienced more happiness in my life than the moment I typed my last word of my story. I wrote a thank you letter to my teacher in my email, and I attached the word file.

Let us fast forward to when the task of compiling the stories, editing and printing was over. We got a book cover, and we got our blurb. We had taken pictures of ourselves for the ‘about the author’ section. We also had bookmarks which matched our book cover. It was a small event; our parents came to buy our books. Our friends came with their parents and a few of our teachers. We sat there in our school library, and we signed our books whenever someone came to buy them. It was magical.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” ~ Richard Bach. We were not professionals, but we were not amateurs either. We had started our journey and we had a long way to reach our destination.

We were 12, making memories and having fun. Our writing seems unprofessional and silly now, but WE wrote it. It is something that we will always be proud of. I know I am.