Should Your Kid Write a Book?

Write? or Publish?

Via

Hey friends,

I hope you saw my news yesterday! Write Through It has a cover and preorders are live! Thank you so much for all your support so far. It really means a lot to me.

Today, in not-Kate’s-book news, we’re going to talk about kids and books. I frequently get questions from parents about their kids’ work, and I thought I’d expand on that here. Whether they’re your kid or a kid in your life, if you’re a writer, you’ve probably talked to a young person who wants to write (and/or publish???) their book. Maybe you are that young person reading this yourself! (Is so, sorry for all the outdated memes.)

Who’s a young person?

Young, of course, is relative. To me someone 25 is young, but when I was 25 and hadn’t written or published a book yet, I felt like time was running out. (Time is not running out.) I also don’t think there’s many specific reason why 18 should be the line in the sand, but being on either side of that does make a difference of who can sign the contract. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I think the young person I’m talking about here is in kindergarten through high school, not because the school part matters, but it represents a stage in life where the focus (usually) is still on being a kid, and not a pre-professional or professional person. (Most of the time.) Are you or someone you love a freshman in college? This may or may not apply to you. You’ll know if it does.

Should a young person write a book?

YES. Emphatically yes. You all can think of that first book you wrote as a kid. Mine was The Case of the Missing Flute. (It was under the duvet.) I wrote a novella in high school and I was VERY proud. My own kid talks about writing a book all the time!¹ We have notebooks and paper aplenty. We have pencils and pens galore. We talk about the books we’ll write together all the time. Yes, this is very gratifying as a parent and a writer. I love it.

My kid also talks about publishing their books. They know what it means to publish a