I’ve been impressed with each and every young writer who comes to the Loft, and Rachel Bongart is no exception. This morning, Rachel came in to chat with me about her projects—and she has a lot of them!
Rachel/Ivy, age 15
Among other passions, Rachel lives to read and write. At age 15, a rising high school sophomore, she is already more productive and prolific than most of the adult writers I know. In addition to maintaining a book review blog, she’s written several novels of her own.
Rachel began blogging in 8th grade. She reviews books under the nom de plume Ivy Hawthorn, a name she thought of for a character and really liked. She decided to use it because she was a self-proclaimed “scaredy cat,” afraid of publishing under her own name lest she make mistakes or write badly. She must have grown more confident in the years since, though, because she’s preparing to launch a personal site under her real name in the next week or so. She’s already very well-versed in social media and self-promotion, though she does get some help from her mom, who works in that field.
Rachel is grateful to free blogging sites for helping her to create a strong voice and get her name out there. Voice is very important to her. “I think I’d read anything if it had a good voice,” she said, though her favorite books to read and write fall under the genres of young adult fantasy and romance.
“I’ve always known what I wanted to do,” Rachel said, and she’s already on that track. While it’s “not a big blog,” hers has already gotten her a job that she loves. She was recently hired at the Bookcase of Wayzata, where she is in charge of the youth board and their book review blog. As if loving her job weren’t enough, there’s another perk: she gets free books, too! Reviewing books on behalf of the store has challenged Rachel to expand beyond her personal favorites. “I know what books are going to be good,” she said, “so I read those.” For work, though, she now has to read more middle grade fiction (she prefers young adult) and “boys’ books.”
“I’m not a fast reader,” Rachel said, but she has nonetheless read at least 10 books so far in 2011. When I asked how she does it, reading books to review and working on a book she hopes to publish this year—and, oh yeah, being a high school student!—she told me that she has “no particular routine,” though she is a night owl. She had to quit playing volleyball and swimming, and although she misses sports, she’s glad to have more time for writing.
“I have a hyperactive imagination,” she said. Of no fewer than 25 ideas for books, Rachel has completed 4. This year, she hopes to publish the first book of a trilogy she’s called the Dark World series. First things first, though: next week she’s heading off to archaeology camp.
“Indiana Jones got me interested in archaeology,” she said, even though she knows that’s not how it really works. That’s right—reading and writing aren’t enough for her. While Rachel does hope to become a published author, that will be a side job. She hopes to pursue anthropology and archaeology. She dreams of travel because she wants to study the histories of world cultures.
I was so impressed with Rachel’s ambition that I think I was a bit relieved to learn that she has some quirks, too. “I like flowers and bones,” she said to me. She likes bones so much, in fact, that she asked for a human skeleton for Christmas. “My friends think it’s creepy, but he’s nice,” she said. His name is Mo. (Not surprisingly, her favorite TV show is Bones.)
While Rachel already seems to be a master of her craft, she admits that it’s challenging sometimes. Combing through her work to edit is the hardest part, she said. Rachel’s hard work just goes to show that it really pays off. A job, free books, possibly publishing this year—lots of good can come out of the stories you dream up!
So listen up, young writers! (And older writers, too, for that matter…) Don’t give up. If Rachel can do it, so can you.
–EJ
