Learning to Write

Gemma-Rose is sitting at her computer typing. I look over her shoulder to see what she is doing. She is working on her novel. She is a very advanced writer for her age (9). She is writing long novels with perfect spelling and wonderful characters. I often stop to listen to Gemma-Rose as she reads her novels out to Mum.

I think back to when I was her age. I had never thought of writing much then. I spent all my time playing and drawing. It wasn't until I heard of NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program when I was ten that I started to write a lot. 

At first my writing skills were horrible. I had bad punctuation and spelling. I would get bored of characters and instead of making them better, I would go and find a new character to replace them.

Now after a few years of writing, my skills have improved a lot and I am able to finish novels and make my characters have personalities. When I first started writing I even forgot to put speech into my stories.

I think of the children at school who do writing programs and fill in worksheets to learn to write. I think that doing the real thing is a better way to learn. My spelling and punctuation have gotten a lot better by writing novels and reading good books, than if I had filled in the workbooks. I am lucky Mum let me learn this way.

At the moment I am doing Camp NaNoWriMo. I have nearly finished my novel. I have written 40000 words. With luck I will finish all 50000 words by the end of the month!