Anna Staniszewski

It’s time for another installment of the “Letter to Myself” series in which authors write letters to their younger selves giving advice, encouragement, or words of warning. Today’s letter comes from children’s author R.L. LaFevers. I had the pleasure of meeting Robin at a signing she did in the Boston area not too long ago. Not only was she incredibly nice, she also showed everyone pictures of herself as a child with a medley of wild animals: the audience was hooked!

Dear Self,

You will hear, from many sources, that the path to publication takes a good ten years, but you will be certain it will never take you that long, your journey to publication will only be two or three years, or at the very most five.

You will be wrong.

You will tell yourself many lies as you work up the courage to put pen to paper. That you write so your kids will have the sort of books they want to read, to make a financial contribution to the family bank account. Those are all lies and the sooner you admit that, the better. You are writing to feed your soul. You are writing because that is what you have always wanted to be, ever since you were a child, and you simply didn’t have the courage to claim that dream. Claim it now. Own that dream, and be willing to feed and nurture it for the rest of your life. There is no shame in that. Honoring your dream does not diminish your love for others. By dreaming you do not cheat them, rather you give them the courage to do the same.

Enjoy your apprenticeship more. This is an exciting, wonderful, fertile time, if you let it be. Read thousands of books, experiment with genres and voices and structure. Learn the rules inside and out so that when your story demands that you break them, you understand exactly what you are gaining and what you are losing. Focus more on the journey and much, much less on the end goal. Contrary to popular sayings, focusing on the end goal will not necessarily get you there any faster. It might do precisely the opposite.

Have the courage to speak your truth and explore what fascinates you. Give that part of yourself that has been silent for so long a voice, then let it say what it needs to say, no matter where it leads.

There will be times, many many times, when you swear you will never write again, that you will give up this discouraging, frustrating, seemingly soul-destroying path you have chosen, only to have a new story idea arrive and wrap you in its promise and refuse to let go. Be proud of this. Recognize it for what it truly is—a sign that you are a writer, it is in your blood, part of your bones and sinew and soul, no matter whether you ever get published or not.  Recognize also that sometimes, in the very moment we let go, we create the space for something new and wonderful to come into our lives. For that is what will happen to you; once you let go of the idea of publication, you will find it. The universe is perverse that way. Accept it.

R. L. LaFevers (Robin Lorraine when she’s in really big trouble) is the author of ten books for young readers, including Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, and her most recent book Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist: The Basilisk’s Lair. She lives in Southern California with her husband and a demonic cat.