I think that being an author would be a grand thing to do when I grow up. I love reading books, because it's like going to different worlds. And I know other people also like books for that and other reasons. But we wouldn't have these books without authors. I want to become an author so I can help make books for people around the world. I have learned things about being an author in different ways.
I have always thought of my language arts teacher as a great person to learn writing from. I was even inspired by one of his assignments to write a short book at home. It was 32 pages long and was about a boy who was wrongly accused of a horrid crime, who had to somehow redeem himself to the world.
I once met Rick Riordan and listened to a speech he gave about being an author. He gave up a teaching job, watching TV and probably the rest of his free time to write children's novels. He talked about how he became an author and writes books. He really inspired me.
I really think that being an author might be in my future. The job might change though. We already have e-books on Kindles, iPads, and computers. Electronic publishing is much faster than printing and shipping paper books. You can just download them and instantly start reading.
If I definitely want to be an author, I should major in language arts in college. I could illustrate and edit my books, or I could send them away to have these things done by other people. I could also self-publish online. I like to read science-fiction, mystery, adventure, action, and comedy books, so I think that's what I'd like to write.
Liam's essay appears here as written, to preserve the young author’s unique voice and individual writing style. However, we have deleted personally identifiable information to protect the student’s privacy.