Letter of Encouragement to a Young Writer

Dear Young Writer,

Wow, I love what you're doing with all those words and characters and plots! I can tell you really love it. And I want you to know that I love it too – I especially love all the ways you're sharing yourself with the world, and the way you're making this a priority in your life. 

You may not believe it, but truly I can see how it's changing you, and it's also changing me. Thank you! 

Whenever you get discouraged please remember I'm right here, eager to read your words and honored to get a glimpse of your big heart. And I'm not the only one! The reader who needs you most is out there, waiting. 

So KEEP GOING! It's important and worthwhile and generous, and I'm rooting for you all the way.

Love,

Irene

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Irene Latham lives on a lake in rural Alabama. Winner of the 2016 ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, she is the author of hundreds of poems and nearly twenty current and forthcoming poetry, fiction and picture books from publishers including Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Lerner, Boyds Mills, and Charlesbridge. Her books have been recognized on state lists and honored by NEA, ALA, NCTE, SIBA, Bank Street College and other organizations.