Choosing Topics

When you sit down to write something . . . anything, don’t choose a topic you think will please a teacher or anyone else. Write about something you love. Write about something you want to share with other people or that you want to learn more about yourself. If you love soccer—or you collect dolls—write about soccer or dolls.

But don’t always write about the same subject. That will get boring for you as well as for your readers. Even if dogs feel like the most important thing in your life, consider your other interests, too . . . like the way you have always wondered what makes countries go to war or how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

I write many different kinds of books. I write for kids of all ages, toddlers through teens. And I write about many different subjects. But when I’m going to start a new book, I always start with something that interests me. For instance, I live in the upper Midwest where weather changes constantly and I love weather, every kind of weather. Weather makes my days interesting. So when I decided I wanted to try writing some nonfiction books for early readers, I chose weather as my topic. I knew I would want to learn about what makes rain or why the wind blows as much, so writing about those things would be fun. Being interested in my topic or in the story I want to tell, makes the work of writing easy.

Make a list of the topics that interest you, ones you want to learn more about, topics that feel like fun. Then choose one idea from your list and write an essay about it or an article for a newspaper. Or make up a story about it. I hope you will enjoy writing about one of your favorite topics as much as you like the topic itself.