10 things teenage writers should know

10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know. 

I’m a teenager myself and this was a huge wake up call. Really inspiring, hope it helps other writers out there. 

~ paradox-x

(From Livia: This is SUCH a good article. I couldn’t have said it better myself. I hope you’ll all read it!!)

Q: What’s your favorite time of day to write?

I usually get inspired RIGHT as I’m about to go to bed, late at night, or even as I’m falling asleep.

I’m also with the people who said they think of ideas in the shower, and get really inspired while reading other peoples’ work.

I like asking questions on here because I love reading the responses—I’m going to post some more often, so that our discussions can be more succinct.
I’m on the train right now and I finally gave a name to something I’ve been semi-subconsciously musing about lately: “Profession guilt”. There was a time that I really wanted to be a lawyer, and I filled my head up with all the justifications (pun intended) that most aspiring lawyers probably do: I want to be a vehicle for social change, I want to help people, and so on. But that idea has kinda flown out the window.
Now that I think I want to do something that combines young writers and the web (if anyone has any ideas about how to turn YW! into a multi-million—or, okay, multi-thousand—dollar empire, LEMME KNOW), I’m really happy. But I struggle with the feeling that even if I help get a lot of kids to write more, or publish a novel, I’m not really contributing anything of *critical* importance to society. This feeling comes, of course, from comparing myself to peers. I have one friend who just graduated with her degree in Chem and landed her dream job in Boston, doing HIV research. I know another girl who just became an RN, one who wants to be a special ed teacher, and so on. A friend at school is getting his masters in biomedical engineering, which (I think) means that he wants to patent new technology that will help diagnose and heal people. My best friend growing up studied international political science and wants to help impoverished children in third world countries. And even if all my business-school guys friends are selling their souls to Wall Street, at least they’re gonna make a shit-ton of money doing it (some of which, maybe, they’ll donate to charities? Well, we’ll see about that).
And what do I want to do? Write stories.
I know the “What does art contribute to society” debate has raged for a kajillion years. I’m not really concerned with the big picture (I know art is essential to society, and proof of our prosperity) so much as the qualms I have with my own conscience.
So my question to you all is, do any of you other die-hard creative types ever feel this way?