Students from schools in the South West came together to learn and brainstorm ideas with children’s author, H.M. Waugh during the Young Writers Collective sessions. Ms Waugh started writing children’s books eight years ago, but her love for writing began as a kid.
“I used to write a lot when I was a kid, and then I kind of fell out of love with it and became an ‘adult’. I came back to it later in life when I had a change of job and had the stories popping up in my head. After some inspiration form my sister, Cristy Burne, who is also a children’s author, I remembered the fun I had as a child reading books – the joy and hope you get in children’s books, and the adventure. So I started writing kids books after that.”
The Young Writers sessions are tailored to different year groups with Ms Waugh talking about her life, her creative process and things that help with her writing. Students then have the opportunity to brainstorm ideas and work on their own stories.
“I love to see all the different ideas from the students, and as they start bouncing off each other, you can feel the creativity growing in the room. And the beautiful part is that they are all supporting each other, then they start writing, and then silence! They come to you with so many things that are different and amazing, and you can see it in their eyes the joy they are having. That joy in writing is one of my favourite things, and I love seeing it in these students,” said Ms Waugh.
Harry from Year 5 enjoyed the session with Ms Waugh saying, “My favourite part was when she started telling us about her life as it was just really inspirational. She taught us that you do not need to rush and finish things really fast, and you can take time and figure things out before you write it all out.”
Ms Waugh thoroughly enjoys these sessions with students, and hopes she inspires them to keep writing.
“I hope to inspire them, and they realise that real people can become authors too! And even to give them ideas of some things that work to help get their creative juices flowing. Even if they don’t become authors, just writing is a healthy thing for them.”
