I’ve been working with 3rd-8th grade students for more than three decades. One of my greatest lessons is knowing that students are often the best teachers in the room.

Avery, the fabulous third grader pictured above, is a student who loves ramen and books that aren’t too girly. I met Avery and her mom, Pamela, during Family of Writers. I’ll never forget Avery’s story about missing her old home, and Pam’s about summiting Mount Kilimanjaro.

Here, Avery shares details about her writing process. But first, let’s get to know the person behind the writer.

People are surprised that: I don’t like being underestimated because I’m a girl. Right now, there are only three girls in my class so I’m getting a lot of practice.

I would like to meet: One Direction even though I know they broke up.

I currently love: reading and tennis lessons. I love hitting the ball back and forth.

It’s tough to pick my favorite food, but my favorite right now: is ramen and boba. We love eating at Kitakata Ramen and Presotea for boba. Both places are in Torrance.

My favorite place: is Oahu, Hawaii, where we visit my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. We have been to Hawaii at least twelve times.

The piece I picked to share with you is called: “My Room.” I picked this piece because it is a good memory of my old house. Right now we’re renovating our new house, and I miss our old house.

My Room

Here is my room in my old house: The other two rooms, occupied by my brother and parents, are on the other end of the hallway. Mine, alone by itself. The white door hangs open, banging against the wall as a strong breeze hits it. The brick pathway leads to my front door. The pathway is just in my view when I look at it from the inside of my room, from the white squared windows. I have one bed in the far corner of my room. The blankets are decorated with very colorful shapes and patterns lining row after row.

     And in my room, my treasures: My stuffed animals, all squished into one closet. Every time I open the tiny closet, the stuffed animals come pouring out of the closet like lava. My knick-knacks separated into four tiny different cabinets, all of them piled up. But my special things that I really like sit on a shelf. The shelf has two things--my Rubix Cube and my pencil with a sketchpad. My books are piled on my bookshelf, probably needing more storage to put them away. Whenever I open a book, it whisks me to a land where anything can happen, good and bad. I am on an elevator, being teleported back to reality when I close the books.

     The fluffy carpet is like a blanket on the floor when I lay on it after I am tired. It is waving in the breeze like a grass field when I turn the fan on. When I lay on the carpet, the overhead fan spins once, then twice, then three times. My dresser, living in the far corner, straight across from my bed, is always sitting there. Another door is right next to my dresser and it leads into my bathroom that I share with my brother, Edison.

     My room felt special. But then, we moved. As I packed up my room, I knew in my life there would be more treasures and bedrooms I would find. But in that room, I was happy beyond measure. 

My favorite books right now: are Chris Colfer’s A Tale of Magic and A Tale of Witchcraft. I can’t wait to read A Tale of Sorcery. The books are full of adventure and themes about friendship. They are not too princessy.

I love to write: about my memories. With memories, I don’t have to make anything up. I also love writing fiction. When I hit a wall about what to write, it makes fiction writing hard. If I get stuck, I usually pause and think about what could happen in the story. I take two or three days to make seed ideas and then I can start writing again. I might even walk around the house to get myself unstuck too.

In case you don’t know, seed ideas are tiny ideas that might eventually be my final topic. When I begin, there are usually just random ideas, and I don’t put much thinking into it. But as I continue my writing process, I put more thinking into my meaning and if the idea meets the criteria of what I want to express. It is called a seed idea because it starts with something tiny that can become bigger.

When writing at home: I have three main journals.

The black one is for my memories.

The blue one is for my daily updates. I put my updates in the first pages. I put sketches in the back. I don’t really draw pictures, but I draw lines and faces and arrows and designs.

The red journal is for any kind of fiction, but mostly fantasy and adventure stories. Right now I have a fantasy story that’s about six pages long. Since this might become a longer story, I flip about ten pages ahead before I start another piece.

The last writing piece I finished: is an acrostic poem about ice cream. I try to include descriptive words. Since these pieces are often shorter, I don’t write them in my journals, but on pieces of scrap paper.

To get myself back into writing after I’ve stopped: I reread what I wrote earlier. This refreshes my mind so I can pick up where I left off. I also like having deadlines.

When I start a new piece: I walk around and look at things in my life. Sometimes, common things inspire me like food or even furniture.

My favorite writing tool: is a mechanical pencil. I like 0.9 leads in Bic pencils. My blue journal is a favorite because it’s spiral and when it’s open, the pages lay flat.

Writing Workshop: is fun. I like it when I get suggestions from my teacher during writing conferences. I don’t like it when I have to go back and edit and revise, but I do it on my own anyway.

Right now I’m working: on having better starting sentences and adding bigger words. I’m also working on checking spelling and punctuation in my final drafts.

The best writing advice I ever received: Just write!

My advice for younger writers: If you have a writing idea you like, don’t be scared to choose it even if other people think it might be silly.

Special thanks to Avery and her entire family for making writing a priority amid the demands of busy lives.

The next young writer interview will be published in the fall.